Wokingham Borough Connect
 Our community feedback event: Living in a place we can call home
On 13 May we filled a room at the Wokingham Youth Centre with a mix of residents, community groups, council staff from Housing and Adult Social Care and elected members to talk about homes. Living in a place we can call home is one of the five key changes in our Social Care Future charter, so we wanted to understand what is working locally, and what needs changing.
People had discussions in small groups, over drinks and biscuits, sharing their insights into housing in Wokingham. We heard that a home is more than just a building, which our guest contributor Will talks about too in his article below. We also heard about things that are working and things that are not.
Over the coming months we will continue to talk about housing and homes, with residents, providers and community groups, collaborating together to create a plan that will bring the Social Care Future vision to life in Wokingham.
What next?
Our final session in this series of community events, linked to the Social Care Future vision, is going to look at the things that help or stop us ‘living the lives we want to live’. We're holding it on Monday 3 June, from 11.30am to 1pm.
You don’t need to have attended any of the earlier events, you just need to be interested in the views of others and want to use your knowledge and experience to make services better for residents.
We will be talking about opportunities for work and volunteering, health and wellbeing, exercise and hobbies. If you have opinions to share and want to help us make changes for Wokingham borough residents who draw on support, please RSVP to getinvolved@wokingham.gov.uk or by calling 0118 2378916 to let us know you would like to come, and tell us if you have any accessibility requirements. We will then share more detail about the event.
For those unable to make the event in person, we will also be providing other ways to share your views over the summer. Keep an eye out for more information in a future newsletter.
 Living good lives in a place we call home
By Will Reeves, guest contributor
Home. It could be a bungalow, mansion, flat, regular house or within an assisted living community. Despite the different forms a home can take, it’s safe to say everyone deserves and needs one. It is really important that your home meets all of your specific needs, not just as a safe, warm place to live, but as a place you can enjoy your hobbies, have friends over and feel proud of.
My experience with housing as a disabled person has been interesting, to say the least. In most cases, houses aren’t built with physical differences in mind, so they aren’t very accessible. Having moved home a couple of times, I have experienced some frustration with the houses’ layout. However, I have recently put my needs at the forefront, which helped my family make the best decision about our living situation. The house I live in now is open-plan and is so much more accessible. I feel much more independent since I don’t need to ask for help constantly. It has boosted my confidence tremendously. It is so important for disabled people’s voices to be heard on these issues
 Quick wins from the Direct Payments project
Earlier this month we met with people who use our services, supported by Social Care Future, to talk about direct payments and help us understand how we could improve the service. We are looking over all the great ideas to create action plans that we will update you on, but there have already been some changes.
We heard that some people would like more support setting up and managing their direct payments to personalise their support and live gloriously ordinary lives. To help with this we will be launching a newsletter for people who receive direct payments. The newsletters will respond to topics and questions suggested by readers, so it covers what you want to know. Information and advice will come from other direct payment users who want to share their tips, as well as the direct payments team.
We also heard that the direct payment card system was not as easy and accessible as it could be. The direct payments team has shared our examples and ideas for improvement with PFS/EML, the company who provide the direct payment card system. PFS/EML are now creating a plan of changes to make and want to involve people who use the services so keep an eye out for more on this in the future.
 Get involved with Carer’s week
This year Carer’s week takes place from Monday 10 to Friday 14 June. We will be taking a Social Care Future stand to an information event at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, on Monday 10 June from 10am to 2pm. We want to hear from unpaid carers what is helping or getting in the way of living the gloriously ordinary lives of the Social Care Future vision.
There are are lots of other different events happening around the borough that you might also want to go to, including:
- Walk at Dinton Pastures*, Tuesday 11 June, 1pm to 3pm
- Quiz night at Sedero Lounge*, Wokingham, Tuesday 11 June, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
- Carer’s lunch at the Winnersh Community Centre*, Wednesday 12 June, 12.15pm to 2.30pm
- Coffee afternoon at the FBC, Finchampstead, Thursday 13 June, 1pm to 3pm
- Bingo evening at BJs Bingo*, Reading, Thursday 13 June, 5.30pm to 9.30pm
- NHS bus and information event in Woodley Precinct, Friday 14 June, 10am to 1pm
Events with an asterisk must be booked in advance.
For more information or to book any of these events, please email maxine@promiseinclusion.org or shelley.mills@ageukberkshire.org.uk, or call 0118 9594242
We would like to thank the Centre for Ageing Better for some of the photos we have used in this newsletter which belong to their free Age-Positive image library.
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