Hi Subscriber,

Welcome to our September E-Newsletter, offering a round-up of news from Birmingham Settlement. The summer months have been busy for us here at Birmingham Settlement and the Autumn looks set to carry on this trend.

Keep on reading to find out more about what we have been up to and the events and opportunities we have coming up.

Our Ageing Well Art Group members, Dorothy, Jean and Joyce, are extremely proud to have completed their first group collage, titled ‘A Sense of What We Know’, an abstract piece that shows various elements of nature. With support from our volunteer Arts Tutor Pam, the group experimented with different art techniques, depth and perspective to create a layered collage that could be a ‘scene from their window’.

The art work is now on display in our centre in Aston so please do come along and take a look. The group worked very hard on this piece for many weeks and are all really chuffed with the results.

If you are over 50 and would like to join the Ageing Well Art Group please pop along and join us on Tuesdays from 12.30pm to 2.30pm or give us a call on 0121 250 0777 to find out more.

July saw 2 teams of 17 staff from Zurich offices across the country come together to support Birmingham Settlement. As part the Zurich Community Trust Challenge Days these enthusiastic volunteers gave up their day jobs and volunteered their time to help us.

First came the Sutton Charity Shop Challenge – a team of 5 Zurich staff headed down to our Sutton Coldfield shop one wet and windy day and brought summer to us. They redecorated the shop front with a vintage beach theme, displayed the donations they had collected in the run up to the day and, dressed in Victorian beachwear, two of the team braved the elements and set out into the cold to stir up customers.

Just a few short weeks later came team number two – a huge team of 12 volunteers with an equally huge task ahead of them. Last year Zurich volunteers did a fantastic job painting our training rooms so this year we raised the bar and set them the challenge to paint all of the upstairs corridors in our centre in Aston. At 8.30am, raring to go, the team arrived and by 4.30pm the corridors in our centre in Aston had undergone a much needed facelift, bringing a new lease of life to the whole space.

We would like to say a massive thank you to both teams for all of their hard work and to Zurich Community Trust for organising such a fantastic programme year on year.

Looking forward to next year!

From October we will be running a free pre-entry level English for Speakers of Other Languages course aimed at people with low levels of English. The course will be aimed predominantly at women and will be running from October 2016 to March 2017. The course, run as part of the English My Way programme and funded by the Tinder Foundation, is aimed primarily at women with very limited English language skills, giving them the opportunity to develop their knowledge and confidence and to help them through day to day situations such as speaking with schools or booking GP appointments.

We will be beginning to enrol people from the end of September with 2 enrolment sessions taking place in early-October before the course begins. The course will consist of 2 compulsory classes each week and a complementary conversation group to enable learners to practise and develop their skills in a more relaxed environment.

If you or someone you know is interested in enrolling please contact us on 0121 250 0777 or pop in and visit us at 359 – 361 Witton Road, Aston, B6 6NS to find out more.

We would like to say a massive thank you to Arnold Thomas, an amazing volunteer who has gone above and beyond to help Birmingham Settlement and people from the local community, giving up his time, sometimes 5 days a week to support us. Arnold has volunteered with Birmingham Settlement since February this year. First helping out at our weekly Job Club sessions providing advice and support to people searching for work, he soon became an invaluable member of the team and an almost daily figure at the centre. From volunteering at Job Club sessions Arnold could soon be found at IT Club and supporting with Ageing Well activities.

Back in August we were all taken aback when, seeing the work of the Zurich Challenge volunteers, Arnold, a trained painter and decorator, offered to carry on their work and give our main staircase to the first floor a much needed make over. Working tirelessly with his paintbrush and roller almost every Friday since then, Arnold has made a huge difference to the centre, giving the stairs a fresh, welcoming look.

Arnold told us more about his experience volunteering with Birmingham Settlement: “Birmingham Settlement have done for me wonderful things. I’m more confidence in the things that I do. My awareness has grown within the IT world where I’m fault finding for more customers that come in. It’s really given me a self-perspective of where it is that I want to be in this world and what it is that I want to do. […] This, being a volunteer for Birmingham Settlement, has been the best thing that I’ve done.”

From everyone here at Birmingham Settlement, we would like to say a massive thank you to Arnold for all of his work and support over the last 7 months.

Working with Prospects we now have an Adviser from the National Careers Service joining us every Tuesday in Job Club. Job Club provides free advice and support to people looking for work, from CV writing and interview skills to online job searches, we tailor support around your needs to help you achieve your goals. The National Careers Service Advisor will help us provide additional support every Tuesday covering guidance on career choices, CV writing and advice around other aspects of job searching.

From October onwards we will also be putting on a series of workshops run by the National Careers Service covering topics such as building confidence, CV top tips and writing a covering letter.

If you would like help identifying suitable career options or support looking and applying for work, join us for Job Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm to 3pm at our centre in Aston.

To find out more visit our website http://bit.ly/BSEL1.

Women & Theatre, having been here before with their previous plays, The Christmas Box and Spring's Sprung, have once again joined forces with us to deliver their next play, the Autumn themed ‘Everything Changes’.

In the run up to the play Women & Theatre have been working with our Ageing Well members through creative workshops to develop the content of the play. Through the workshops members have shared their memories of autumn and ideas for the play to help build the play’s characters.

‘Everything Changes’ will be shown at Birmingham Settlement Aston on Friday 11th November. For more information, keep an eye on our website or call 0121 250 0777.

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