Shifnal Mha Charity, formerly Live at Home, had an open day today. They run numerous events through out the week every week, including meals, social gatherings, guest speakers, trips out. Find out more about how a small group of staff and volunteers help others.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 well. Hi ladies we're here in Shiffnal and it's the MHA charity, Live Later Life Well
00:06 and what's happening today? A bit of an event going on? Today's session is open morning, we want
00:12 to show everybody what we do, where we are and how to reach us basically. We've got people coming that
00:17 will help signpost and will refer into us. Yeah well I mean I'm new to MHA so you've just
00:24 been having a little chat off camera. It's basically supporting the more senior community.
00:29 That's it, that's the word. That's the word isn't it. Officially if you're over 55 you can come.
00:35 You know what I'm not far off but the list of stuff that you do here is fantastic.
00:42 You alright chap? He's off, he's off. Desperate to get on our video there.
00:48 And yeah the list of stuff you do just run kind of through what the ethos is and the sort of
00:53 things you do here then ladies. Well we support people that are living at home. Yeah. So they're
00:58 not in a care home, well they could be in sheltered accommodation but they want to try
01:03 and remain independent as much as possible. Even from the family really, give the family a little
01:08 bit of a break. So we organise events and activities here in this venue that we can get them to.
01:14 We've got transport available if needed with the Shiffnal shuttle we're using or volunteer drivers.
01:20 We've got some great volunteer drivers that will pick people up and bring them to groups.
01:24 We're always looking for volunteer drivers. Yeah.
01:27 How you doing ladies? Come on you could say hello. How you doing? Good thank you. Good cool. So we're
01:35 just doing a bit of in for the shop she's star. Rachel and Hayley have just been filling us in on
01:38 what goes on here. You are the work engine in a fashion, you're the volunteers.
01:44 Complete with amazing cakes. So what is it you girls get out of it then? Why do you come and
01:51 spend your time here? Go on. Gives me a purpose. Yeah. I've recently had a transplant so I wasn't
01:58 able to work. Yeah. So I found that really difficult being at home doing nothing. But
02:02 I wasn't well enough to work but I was well enough to volunteer. So this kind of gave me a sense of
02:06 purpose to get up in the morning again and give me something to look forward to and feel like I
02:10 was needed. Yeah. So that's what it's done for me. That's fantastic. So yeah. And ladies anyone else
02:16 want to chip in? Yes well yeah once you've retired it gives you purpose to get up in the morning
02:23 again and it's lovely to meet everybody and the members here are absolutely fantastic. Yeah. And
02:29 all the volunteers and we all get on so well together. Yeah so you've got that whole. You've
02:35 got that nice social click and I should imagine you go home and put your feet up and think you
02:40 know what I've changed people's lives today haven't you. Do you know what I mean. You really
02:44 have. Yeah. So fantastic work ladies. Anybody else want to chip in? My husband was a member. Yeah.
02:52 And they looked after him really well. Yeah. And so it's a way of giving back. Yeah. So some people
02:59 have kind of found the MHA via what they do and then they've ended up getting roped into
03:05 doing the hard work. Well thank you ladies. Thank you. So we have a friendship group on a Monday
03:13 with light lunch and game bingo or something. Yeah bingo or maybe a quiz. Yeah. You know some
03:18 kind of activity. Tuesday. Fish and chip supper. Tuesday. Chippy Tuesday is lunch actually. Yeah.
03:26 Tuesday we run a dementia group. Yeah. And the idea is it can give some carers a bit of
03:31 breast fight. If the person with dementia feels certain criteria they're not you know if they're
03:38 able to sit and join a group. Yeah. We do that on a Tuesday. That's really good. Yeah. It's very well
03:43 building. Very well. Yeah. Also on a Tuesday. Yeah. Chippy Tuesday. Wednesday we have a mini
03:50 trip or a little outing. Yeah. Last time we went to Tong Church. Yeah. We had a tour of all the
03:56 history there. It was very interesting. Yeah. And we went and had some lunch in Tong as well.
04:00 That was lovely. Thursday's the busy day. Thursdays we have an armchair exercise class. Yeah. Seated
04:07 so that they can all join in. It doesn't stop anybody. Yeah. And it's not weight loss. It's
04:13 to keep your joints moving and your muscles working. And it's a bit of support. Yeah.
04:18 Then we do a full lunch. We've got a team of volunteers that cook the lunch for us.
04:22 And then in the afternoon we have a social afternoon with a guest speaker or a quiz or a
04:28 game or a seated netball perhaps or seated bowls. I think, did you do netball last time?
04:33 We did netball last week. Yeah. So Billy, how you doing chap? I'm alright. Cool. And you're a member
04:40 of MHA. Yeah. So you come down and get involved in some of the events and stuff they have. Yeah.
04:45 And what's it meant for you having somewhere like MHA and the stuff they put on here? It's
04:51 so, it's marvellous. Yeah. Like the people you talk to and the help you get. Yeah. Has it made
05:01 a difference to your life? It has to my life, yeah. So if it wasn't for MHA, what would it,
05:08 how would life be for you? You know, more lonely, isolated? Not lonely. Yeah. No, I do a lot of
05:15 drawing. Oh do you? Yeah. Yeah. Alright, fair do chap. There's one in, a couple in there, I've done.
05:21 Oh, so you exhibit your artwork here as well? Yeah, more or less. I've got a load in those.
05:27 Yeah, yeah. Well thank you Billy, thank you buddy. Yeah. And then in addition to that we've got
05:34 tele-family friending. We have some, we have a couple of volunteers that go and help people do
05:39 their shopping if they're not able to go and do that themselves. Yeah. So you'll do trips to the
05:43 garden centres, David Austin Rosies, that kind of stuff. Yeah, our next trip is to, we're going on
05:49 the narrowboat. Yeah. In sort of Compton Way in Wolverhampton. Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, going along the
05:54 canal. That's in May. Yeah. It's another trip we're doing. These people have got a better social
05:58 life than me. I'm looking forward to being able to. I'm also a bit nervous to say that. I have to.
06:01 Yeah. Yeah. But it's very important isn't it, because you know, when you become elderly and
06:08 or senior, well I could say it's not necessarily that old really, you have to be, but you know,
06:13 you can find yourself looking around and in quite a lonely spot sometimes can't you,
06:18 which can affect you in so many ways. Even the volunteering. I still do that. I was at home
06:24 for a few days. Yeah. And it gets you out, gives you friends. Yeah. Quite often people have lost
06:30 someone. Like my mother actually comes to the groups now. Yeah. And she lost my dad quite a
06:35 few years ago and wasn't getting out so much. So I encouraged her to come here and she comes
06:40 every week now. Yeah. Loves it. Yeah. So it's... We do a diners group as well. That's quite,
06:45 that's a bit different. We set it up with the white tablecloths and flowers and things.
06:50 Yeah. I cook the three course meal in the evening or we do it as a Sunday roast.
06:53 Hello ladies. So you represent Gold Standard Care. Is that right? We do. Cool. That's your,
07:01 your project, your baby. Yeah. And so a number of the people you look after, they kind of make,
07:08 make use of the services here. Should we say that way? Yeah. They do. They love it here,
07:12 don't they? Yeah. It's absolutely their lifeline. I mean, some of our customers come three times a
07:17 week. Some just come once a week. They benefit from the fish and chips group on a Wednesday.
07:22 Cinnamonite on the evenings that they do. They really enjoy that. But it absolutely is their
07:27 lifeline. It really, really is. Yeah. I mean, we've had somewhere like this, it would be a
07:32 very different life for them, wouldn't it? You know, quite isolated it can be when you're...
07:36 It's really lonely for them, especially like, we haven't got any family, so it's what they look
07:42 forward to when they see that these are their family. So it is, it's really good to be here
07:46 today. I mean, I don't know about you girls. I'm looking at the list of what goes on here and I'm
07:50 thinking I need to up my social life. They've got a better social life than us. They really have.
07:54 They really have. Yeah. And you know, when they don't have a club, they get fish and chips
07:59 delivered as well. So yeah, it's a really good community spirit here. Cool, thank you.
08:05 So how is all this funded? The members do pay a small contribution to everything they access.
08:13 Yeah. Every service they use is small. It does not cover it. Unfortunately, as a charity,
08:19 most of my work is done for funding bids and reliance on trusts and donations
08:25 and fundraising activities. Yeah. It's always an ongoing thing. We're always needing to raise our
08:32 money. We are linking up recently. We have linked up with a lot of the local businesses through the
08:36 Love Shifnal and we're getting support. So, for example, Woods Dry Cleaners cleaned all the table
08:43 cloths for us from the diners group. Yeah. Which we really appreciate. Rachel the Flower Girl's
08:48 doing us a demonstration, a fundraising event doing the demonstration for us. And the Park
08:54 House are giving us a discount on the room to use for that night. That sort of helps, doesn't it?
08:59 Adam from Fields pays for all the printing of air by a quarterly newsletter. Yeah, fantastic. Which
09:06 goes out to all our members and it's used for publicity. Actually, they appreciate the newsletters
09:11 a lot. Yeah. Telling people what's on. It gives handy phone numbers for people they might need
09:16 and things like that. Yeah. Little stories in there. But also there's a programme of events
09:20 so they can work out if they like once a month for lunch, if they like fish or not, they'll come on
09:24 that week. Yeah, fantastic.