Disabled Living

Category: News

Disabled Living’s 120th AGM at the Yang Sing Cathay

Friday 13th is unlucky for some. However, this can’t be said for Disabled Living. The team put together a lot of plans and preparation to hold their 120th Annual General Meeting at the Yang Sing Cathay in the Trafford Centre. And it was a successful and enjoyable afternoon for all.

Gerry Yeung OBE, owner of the Yang Sing, President of Disabled Living, and Higher Sheriff of Greater Manchester welcomed our guests and did his introductory speech.

Gerry Yeung opening Disabled Living’s AGM

Dean Styger, Chairman of Disabled Living

Debra Evans, Chief Exexutive of Disabled Living, giving her speech

This was followed by talks from our Chairman, Dean Styger, and Chief Executive, Debra Evans. A lot of information was provided to our guests, which guided them through key parts of our Annual Report for 2016/2017.

Thank you to our speakers

We were pleased to be joined by Joanne Beamish from Lloyd Piggott who spoke about Disabled Living’s annual accounts over the past 12 months and how we are in a stable financial position. The election of Honorary Officers and Council successfully took place followed by other business discussions.

Joanne Beamish from Lloyd Piggott

Anthony O’Connor, Director of Fundraising and Development at Manchester Cathedral

It was wonderful to have our guest speaker, Anthony O’Connor, Director of Fundraising and Development at Manchester Cathedral. Many of us were impressed by the success of the cathedral and it was good to gain a bigger insight on it’s history. After the talks were complete, it was time for food. The part which many, if not all of us were looking forward to!

For starters, we were served with pork spring rolls, spring onion pancakes (vegetarian option), chicken balls with satay sauce, and beef dumplings with ginger and spring onion. The lovely choices of dishes were followed by aromatic crispy duck with pancakes, leek, cucumber, and hoisin sauce. Finally, the main course was a choice of goujons of white fish with sweet and sour sauce, crispy chilli shredded fillet steak, mixed vegetables in Thai green curry, and boiled or egg fried rice.

Natasha and Joanne’s first experience of Disabled Living’s AGM

This AGM was Joanne and Natasha’s first one that they have attended. Both Joanne and Natasha thought the event ran smoothly and really enjoyed meeting everybody.

Natasha, Marketing Coordinator & Content Writer at Disabled Living: It was an honour to be part of such an important event for Disabled Living, having only been in the team for a short period of time. I’m glad I was invited along. It was great to network and enjoy a variety of food at the same time.

Joanne Mulligan, Team Leader, Kidz and Business Development: My first time at the AGM had lovely surroundings, ambience and food. It was great to hear Anthony’s talk on his role at the Cathedral and also to put faces to names.

We would like to thank Gerry Yeung and all of his team at Yang Sing Cathay for their excellent customer service. They made sure our drinks were topped up and promptly served the courses of food.

October 17, 2017
Disabled Living are Celebrating! Would You Like to Help Us?

Disabled Living has been awarded £58,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting project From Donkeys to Innovators that celebrates its rich and unique 120 year history.

Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project focuses on the charity’s history from its establishment as an organisation teaching children to be kind to animals into its current day role working with disabled people to provide innovative advice and information.

From Donkeys to Innovators celebrates the lives of the people involved with Disabled Living sharing their stories and contribution to the charity’s past. It also provides an opportunity for the public to learn more about Manchester’s social history as the charity has links with the city’s economic, cultural and health heritage, involving diverse community organisations and institutions.

Importantly, the voices of disabled people will be recognised, preserved and celebrated, documenting an important part of disability heritage.

Having nearly lost all of its archive in a fire in recent years, one key element of the project will be to ensure that the charity’s stories are preserved for the future by digitising all materials. This will also mean that the rich and vibrant stories can be viewed and shared with the general public.

Young disabled people will be involved in making their own film reflecting on being disabled in the past compared to their own experiences today. They will use Disabled Living’s archives to gain an understanding of how disabled people lived years ago.

This is where we would like to hear from you…

We would like to talk to young people (14-25 years) who have a disability or additional needs who would like to be involved in making a film by interviewing older disabled people about their experiences when they were children. We are looking for six young people who live, ideally in the North West of England who could travel to Manchester for filming.

This project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

For further information about any of the above please contact Disabled Living on 0161 214 4590 or email; debra.evans@disabledliving.co.uk

July 13, 2017
Disabled Living’s Dementia Tea Dance – Celebrating Our History of 120 Years

On Tuesday 4 July, Disabled Living hosted our very own 1940’s Dementia Tea Dance in coordination with Health Information Week. The aim of this event was to kick-start our celebrations for providing 120 years of service.

The event was for people with dementia and their carers to enjoy an afternoon filled with music by The Daisies. Many of our guests got into the celebratory spirit as they danced and sang to songs from the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s.

Disabled Living hired The Daisies to perform at a 1940’s themed tea dance for people with dementia, their relatives and carers. This event was to mark the start of Disabled Living celebrating 120 years of providing services.

Debra Evans, Chief Executive of Disabled Living said:

It was essential we had a very interactive and upbeat performance as photographs and videos which we taken on the day will be used for social media and our website. In addition, Disabled Living have been awarded Heritage Lottery Funding for a range of projects showcasing our history and this event will be captured within elements of these projects.

Our guests and staff absolutely loved the show The Daisies put on; their compilation of tracks was spot on, with an extremely polished and professional performance.

We were delighted to have representatives from Slater and Gordon Lawyers who came along to provide people with advice about wills, trusts and mental capacity issues. To ensure our guests, relatives and carers had up to date knowledge on the range of services available to support people with dementia we also welcomed our colleagues from the Alzheimer’s Society.

To fit into the 1940’s theme, we had vintage posters displayed around the room including ‘We Can Do It!’ and ‘Dig for Victory’.

Tea was served in our vintage tea pots and cakes were displayed on these lovely vibrant floral two-tier cake stands. The whole selection of food enjoyed by all included sandwiches, cakes, scones and of course, plenty of cups of tea and coffee. The china plates, cups and saucers made a wonderful contribution to our 1940’s theme.

Thank you to Le Mange Tout for your catering service – you never disappoint us.

Our guests also had the chance to experience our multi-sensory rooms to get a feel for the vibrant and relaxed atmosphere that they have to offer.

Members of staff happily joined in with the 1940’s theme and wore clothing which represented that era. Many of the female members of staff wore 1940’s cocktail dresses, polka-dot dresses, and another included a land girl outfit, with our hair styled in waves, curls, and rolls. Lawrence our caretaker suited up for the occasion too!

We would like to thank IAS, De Brook Lodge (Ideal Care Homes), all of our guests and members of staff who joined us to kick-start our celebrations for 120 years of providing services and being part of this special occasion.

A guide to alcoholism and dementia by Oliver Clark. This post also includes an infographic {showing|detailing|outlining the long-term effects of alcohol on the brain.

July 5, 2017