taff talkabout autumn 2014

#notjusthousingAboutTalk

How to stay safe in your homeHeart to Hart with KevinHighlights of our summer activitiesMeet the Tenant Support Team

And much more…

THE NEWSLETTER FOR TAFF’S CUSTOMERS | AUTUMN 2014

In this autumn’s edition of Talkabout we have information to help you keep safe in your home, details of a scheme to help you access a computer, as well as

some financial information to help you manage your money.

It’s been an incredibly busy and productive few months

for Taff and our Tenants. With record attendance figures at

the Family Fun Day in July, more activities than ever, we’ve

got a bumper section looking back at the highlights and

achievements of the Summer.

If you’d like to get involved in future editions, or submit articles, please contact Gwion ap Rhisiart on 029 2025 9168 or Josh Dowdall on 0800 121 6064.

CBP00098851407143153

CONTENTS

2 Words from the Editors

3 Heart to Hart

4 AGM and Tenants’ Awards

6 Meet the Tenant Support Team

7 Our Developments

8 How to stay safe in your home

10 Summer Activities & Drawing Competition

11 Riverside Festival

12 Family Fun Day is the biggest ever Children’s Eid Party at Taff

14 Knitters and Natters host charity coffee morning

15 Train with Taff morning Psychology course at Taff leads to University education

16 Volunteer focus

18 Help with your finances Save while you surf!

20 Have you pledged to beat flu yet and had your free vaccine

Words from the editors

(From top left to bottom right): This issue’s Editorial Team Mary Hayes; Xena Brunel; Josh Dowdall; Sam Shaw; David Moule; Fanwell Tandi; Sue Carleton; Elio Assuncao; Gwion ap Rhisiart; Keith Abdi; Janet Bochel.

Cover photo:

Created by Carrick - www.carrickcreative.co.uk

TAFF TALKABOUT | 2 | AUTUMN 2014

www.facebook.com/ TaffHousing

twitter.com/ TaffHousing


Many of you will know Kevin Hart, who has been an Electrician with Taff for the past three years.

On a daily basis Kevin and Taff’s other electrician, Phil Bowen, look after electrical problems at Tenants’ homes, as well as in the offices and hostels. This can mean anything from changing a lamp in communal hallways to part re-wiring of people’s homes.

Kevin said: “You never know what the day will bring and our work load changes with the seasons. Now we will start to see a lot more calls for outside lights as the nights draw in. We carry out all our duties under the watchful eye of Pam who keeps us inline and makes sure our time is well managed.”

Taff established its own electrical team three years ago. The Team is always busy completing tests on all properties to make sure that all homes are safe and up to standard.

The Team is constantly looking for ways to improve our service to our customers. At the moment they are changing lots of communal lights from old fashioned fluorescent type to much more modern LED lighting, which is more reliable and also very cost effective.

On a personal level, Kevin has spent about five years travelling around the world and was lucky enough to see some wild and wonderful places on all continents, including Antarctica. He was a chef in Australia and a goat farmer in New Zealand! He’s also travelled along the Appalachian Trail in the USA living in the mountains in tents.

Kev has a passion for all things Spanish. He’s spent a long time in the country and is getting married to a Catalan lady this month in Barcelona! We wish them all the best with their nuptials and best wishes for their future together!

Heart to HartProfile of Kevin Hart, Taff Electrician

DID YOU KNOW?

• In 2013/14 only 94 properties became available for us to let

• Over 50% of Tenants have lived in a Taff property for more than 5 years


Taff held its Annual General Meeting at the Cardiff City Stadium on 18th September.

Barrie Oram and Keith Abdi have been elected as Tenant Board members. Congratulations to both of them.

The Tenant Awards followed. These recognised the Achievements of Tenants and Residents in the past year.

The Joint winners for Best Taff or Community Group were the Tenants’ & Residents’ Association (TRA) and the Knitters and Natters Group.

Under the stewardship of Sue Carleton, Sue Stephens and Heidi Beverstock, the

TRA has this year become completely self-managing and have set up a massively successful food co-op at Taff.

The Knitters and Natters have raised money for a number of good causes during the year, including children suffering from Cancer and those affected by tragedy.

Sue Stephens won the Good Neighbour Award 2014. Sue won the Award as she is always willing to help out her neighbours and goes out of her way to welcome new Tenants.

Aidan Beverstock won the Youth Contribution to the Community Award as he helps at lots of community groups by making tea and coffee and has assisted with children’s parties at Taff.

AGM AND TENANTS’ AWARDS

AGM AND TENANTS’ AWARDS

The Award for Special Achievement by a Taff Tenant went to Christine Bolter for being actively involved in volunteering - both with Taff and in the wider community.

Some of our Service Users were also recognised during the evening - with Paula and Michael winning Personal Achievement Awards. Jessica, Mischa and Serafina also won awards for their Academic Achievement. Flourishing Families won the Supported Housing Group of the Year.

Last year, we started a volunteering project at Taff. We wanted to recognise the contribution that the volunteers have made, so we created a new Award. The Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Olivia

Hamlett. Olivia started out volunteering with the Taff Support Team. Olivia went on to successfully apply for temporary jobs at Taff before being awarded a place at University.

The Taff Tenants’ Association organise events to help Tenants and members of the community avoid social isolation. The raffle they had organised raised £242 to support these events. The raffle draw took place during the evening and the lucky winners won tickets to Cardiff City FC, a Cardiff Devils game, meals at local restaurants, as well as chocolates, wine and lots of other generously donated prizes.

Entertainment was provided by the Canton Rugby Football Club Male Voice Choir, and the evening ended with a fiery curry!

Photographs:Elaine Ballard presenting awards to (top): Tenants’ & Residents’ Association (TRA) and the Knitters and Natters Group(left to right): Sue Stephens; Olivia Hamlett; Christine Bolter; Aidan Beverstock


MEET THE TENANT SUPPORT TEAM

DID YOU KNOW?

• We received over 1000 responses to our Tenant Profiling Questionnaire

• 101 Taff Tenants are having their Housing Benefit reduced as they are hit by the bedroom tax

The Taff Team provide housing or tenancy related support for Taff’s Tenants and for those who have been offered a Taff property. The Team is made up of six support staff, a volunteer and a team manager.

The work they do ranges from helping Tenants to settle in, claim benefits and manage debts to helping them find training, employment or voluntary

work, as well as managing their physical and mental health.

The Team also provides a Service offering housing or tenancy related support to parents and children, and to both parents in the lead up to birth.

The Children & Families Worker can offer support with parenting skills, help with schools, find nurseries or crèches or parent and toddler groups, and child protection.

The Team receives referrals from outside agencies (such as community mental health workers), Taff staff (such as your housing officer) or from the Tenants themselves.

If you would like to discuss support, please contact the Taff Tenant Support Team on 029 2025 9100.

Photograph: Left to right: Chloe Beynon; Sheri Probert; Ollie John; Catherine Bain; Trevor Fletcher; Abdi Mohamed; Bex Gingell


OUR DEVELOPMENTS

Work on the old Canton Police Station finally got underway at the end of August with limited disruption for the adjoining neighbours. We are very pleased to report no issues with this tricky demolition.

The completion date for this development is set for November 2015. The scheme will include 17 one bed flats and a commercial unit on the ground floor.

Canton Police stationGoing... Going... Gone!

Cwrt Y Bragdy was completed in August providing homes for 26 new Tenants in Radnor Road, Canton

Cwrt y Bragdy


HOW TO STAY SAFE IN YOUR HOME

There are areas in your home that present a number of risks to your family’s health. We want you to be safe in your homes and by following some simple tips you can make sure your family stays safe and healthy.

WATER Legionnaires’ disease is an infection that

comes from contaminated water. Luckily, it’s very rare, but there are some very simple ways you can make sure your home is free from this dangerous infection.

3 Clean and sterilise shower heads at least every three months

3 Run all hot and cold water taps regularly as this will get rid of any bacteria

3 Set the hot water cylinder thermostat to 60 degrees Celsius

3 Let us know if water coming from the cold taps is warm


WINDOWS To ensure the safety of

your children, make sure they cannot climb or fall out of windows.

If window restrictors are fitted, make sure that you use them if the window is open.

Check the restrictors regularly to ensure that they work. Let us know immediately if they are broken.


FIRE Plan an escape route

and make sure that everyone who lives in the property knows how to get out if a fire occurs. Better still ask South Wales Fire and Rescue to carry out a free fire safety check. You can contact them on 0800 169 1234.

GAS Our Gas Team will service your boiler and check

the pipe work and flues every 12 months. This not only helps protect you from carbon monoxide poisoning but will make sure that your boiler is running efficiently. Please let us in to carry out this essential work.

ASBESTOS Some ceilings in our

properties will have a small amount of asbestos in them as asbestos was used in construction between the 1950s and the year 2000. If it is left undisturbed there should be no risk, but if you are carrying out any work to the ceilings please contact us for advice before you start.

SMOKE AND CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS

Test the detectors

every week and make

sure you let us know if

they’re not working.

IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY

Have your

circumstances changed

which mean you might find

it difficult to get out of

your home in the unlikely

event of an emergency,

like a fire or flood? For

example, you may have a

disability that means you

cannot get downstairs

quickly. If this is the case,

you need to contact

your Housing Officer

immediately on 0800 121

6064 to discuss what we

can do to help you.


This year Taff’s summer activity programme has been bigger and better than ever before with over 100 children taking part. We secured funding from Cardiff Council to run activities in Canton, Riverside and Grangetown. These included pottery, street dance, circus skills and Dr Bike.

For the first time we ran ‘Have a Go’ and gave children the chance to try something new. We arranged and paid for horse riding, white water rafting, orienteering in the Brecon Beacons and singing & drama workshops at the Sherman Theatre.

DRAWING COMPETITION

The activities got rave reviews:

“Really enjoyable want to do more”Denise Cohen

“I loved it can’t wait for next week” Shannan Miller

“Hard but fun” Isaac Mansfield

“It was awesome, I really enjoyed it” Chantae Davies

“It was amazing wish I could go there again”Leo Humphrey

Summer Activities


Riverside Festival

This year’s Riverside Festival took place in Despenser Gardens in Riverside and was as popular as ever!

Taff helped organise a jam packed day of fun activities for children and teenagers. Games included a football kick up challenge, colouring competition, ball in the bucket and guess the number of freebies in the jar. The stall was swamped with local children and teenagers wanting to join in, with over 120 children and teenagers trying their luck with the ball in the bucket game!

The colouring competition, colour the house, was also a big hit with over 50 people entering to win an all-time favourite board game. Come and say hi next time you see us out and about at a community event!

Children and young people who took part in summer activities were invited to enter a summer activities colouring competition. We received a number of creative and colourful entries which made choosing winners very difficult! Here are the winners.

Photographs (Left to right):

Shannan Miller, Aged 9

Jeorgina Woods, Aged 13

Leo Humphrey, Aged 9

Photograph: Winner of the colour a house competition


Taff held its 4th annual Family Fun Day at Fitzalan High School in July. With the temperature tipping 300C, over 1,800 people came along to enjoy fairground rides, rock climbing, owl display, face painting and much more - they even got to meet Rapunzel and Bumblebee from the Transformers!

Family Fun Day is the biggest yet!


Children’s Eid Party at Taff Eid-al-Fitr celebrates the end of Ramadan,

the Holy fasting month for Muslims. This means that Muslims abstain from food and drink from the hours of sunrise until sunset for a whole month, which is a requirement of Islam.

Children and parents watched in awe as magician Simon Sparkles entertained them with magic tricks, plate spinning and stilt walking as well as traditional party games.

The entertainment was followed by Halal food including jelly and ice cream.

Taff Tenants’ and Residents’ Association excelled themselves again this year by providing a fabulous Eid Party for children.

Family Fun Day is the biggest yet!


Members of the group donated home-made cakes and raffle prizes. The group raised an amazing £250 for MacMillan Cancer. If you want to know more information about our Knitters & Natters Group please contact Julie Maffey on 029 2059 129.

The Knitters & Natters group would like to thank everyone for coming along and supporting their 1st coffee morning and they hope to organise another coffee morning soon.

All donations of wool and ribbon are gratefully received. If you have any that you could spare, please drop at Taff’s reception desk in Alexandra House.

Knitters & Natters host charity coffee morning

Our award winning Knitters & Natters Group joined in the World’s biggest coffee morning to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support on 24th September.

It’s been a busy summer at Taff with lots of Tenants and members of the wider community coming to Taff for free training.

Since last April, Taff has put on 17 training courses for 123 people. The courses ranged from money management and childcare to card making with confidence. Two of our new courses, Computer Skills and an Introduction to Psychology with Cardiff Metropolitan University, were so popular we are already planning follow on courses as a progression route for learners.

TRAIN WITH TAFF


Psychology course at Taff leads to University EducationTaff recently hosted a Psychology Course here at Alex House in conjunction with Cardiff Metropolitan University. Following the successful completion of exams, six participants were accepted onto a Social Studies Degree Course.

Participants described the course:

“Life changing – it has given me the opportunity FINALLY to attend University… you will never know how much I appreciate this opportunity….. I finally have the ability to change mine and my daughter’s lives – Clare the tutor is amazing”.

“Really enjoyed the course, Claire made the subject easy to understand. Thanks for the opportunity”

“Amazing! Something I had no grasp of, has been put into an easier learning experience!”

“An excellent introduction to further education in social psychology – hats off to Clare and to Taff for bringing both together!”

Congratulations and well done to all those who completed the course and passed the exam. Please keep us informed of your progress from time to time.


Nigusu is a Taff Tenant from Addis Ababa and has been living in the UK since 2012. He is currently studying for a Masters at the University of South Wales. Nigusu was keen to develop his skills using IT in the workplace and found a place with the Equalities Organisation, Diverse Cymru, through Taff’s Volunteer Programme. He has been with Diverse Cymru for 6 months and through this placement Nigusu secured opportunities to attend a Web Design and Film Making course and a Summer School at Cardiff Met. Nigusu has really enjoyed his time with Diverse Cymru and this placement has given him the chance to develop some essential skills and knowledge to prepare him for the workplace.

Nigusu commented:

“Volunteering through Taff has provided me with quality experience and has been a good way to gain skills. I would like thank Taff for their help and advice and for providing me with much needed work experience and training.”

DID YOU KNOW?

• Last year we housed 242 people in our homes via the Common Waiting List

• Last year we helped 31 tenants swap their homes through mutual exchanges

• Dr Bike repaired over 90 bikes during the Easter and May school holidays

Taff’s Volunteering Programme Case Study - Nigusu Worku

Volunteer focus

Funded by


Love saving?

Love Christmas

Shopping?

Take a Low Cost Loan With Us:12.7% APR for loans above £1,000 &

19.7% APR for lower value loans.

www.cardiffcu.com

Tel: 029 2087 2373The Advice Hub at Marland House, Cardiff (near Cardiff Central Station)

Rep Example: borrow £800 over a year and repay £74 per month (last payment £66.18). Total repayable £880.80

Cardiff and the Vale Credit Union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Our FSA Firm Reference Number is 213467


SAVE WHILE YOU SURF! This autumn, in conjunction with the Cardiff and Vale Credit Union, Taff will be re-launching the Laptop Loan scheme. This scheme allows Tenants access to a Laptop with internet access - which will also help them save through the Credit Union at the same time! We have refurbished our laptops and they will be available from 1 November 2014.

Does that sound too good to be true? Well, here’s how it works…We help you to open an account with Cardiff and the Vale Credit Union. You make an initial payment of £8 to open you account and secure a loan of a laptop. This goes straight

into your saving account. This pays for a four week loan of the laptop,

with additional weeks loan due in advance. If you

require Internet access you can

rent a dongle from us for £1 a week. The best

thing about this is that your money does not go to us

but straight into your saving account - Save while you Surf!

Cardiff & Vale Credit Union was established in 1994 to provide safe savings accounts and affordable loans to anyone living or working in Cardiff or the Vale of Glamorgan. Like us, they are committed to a fair trade approach to finance: benefiting our members, the communities we serve and the local economy. They have no private shareholders and are a mutual organisation that exists for the benefit of our members who save with them.

They have over 7,000 members and over 100 Taff residents currently have accounts with them. This includes Adult Savers and Junior Saver Accounts. Many of the Adult Savers have also used the Credit Union to access affordable loans from £250 to over £5,000. Whether the loan is to replace a broken washing machine, to repair a car, consolidate debt or to pay for a holiday, the Credit Union can often offer a more affordable solution than other lenders.

You can join the Credit Union easily by:• calling in person at their

main office in central Cardiff Advice Hub, Marland House, CF10 1EP

• requesting a Membership Application by post by telephoning them on 029 2087 2373

• completing a Membership Application at Taff’s reception in Alexandra House

• applying online at www.cardiffcu.com

HELP WITH YOUR FINANCES

Our direct debit prize draw winner for October is… Mrs D from Riverside! Congratulations!

Pay your rent by direct debit and be in with a chance to win £20 of LovetoShop every month!


Manage your budget withDirect Debit

RentCouncil TaxGasElectricWaterTV licence

And know that your bills are paid securely and on time

a

A2 poster Generic5:Layout 1 25/06/2014 11:42 Page 1

Our direct debit prize draw winner for October is… Mrs D from Riverside! Congratulations!

Pay your rent by direct debit and be in with a chance to win £20 of LovetoShop every month!

Last year, only half (51.1%) of people categorised as ‘at risk’ protected themselves against what can be a deadly virus, which can and does kill every year. People particularly ‘at risk’ of flu and its complications are given the vaccine at no cost: it takes a minute, lasts a year, but could save your life.

People in ‘at risk’ groups - including those aged 65 or over, pregnant women and those with certain long term health conditions - are urged to protect themselves as early as possible and before flu starts circulating widely. Parents of children aged 2, 3 or 4, and those in school Year 7, are also being urged

to have their child vaccinated for free – in the form of a nasal spray.

Health officials warn that even if you had the vaccine last year, the flu virus changes every year so you must have it again now in order to be protected.

Dr Richard Roberts from Public Health Wales, explains why people in ‘at risk’ groups must not delay and make an appointment with their doctor today: “Flu is a serious illness caused by a virus that affects the lungs and airways. Symptoms generally come on suddenly, and can include fever, chills, headache, cough, muscle aches and fatigue.

For people with underlying health conditions, flu can even be deadly.

“Flu cannot be treated, but it can be prevented by having the vaccine. Make sure you don’t put yourself at risk by missing this potentially life-saving opportunity.”

Every year, flu circulates but every year thousands of people who are at a heightened risk of serious side effects fail to protect themselves for free. Join the pledge to beat flu, and protect yourself now.

Iechyd CyhoeddusCymru

Public Health Wales

You can find out more by visiting www.beatflu.org or www.curwchffliw.org, or finding them on twitter and facebook.

The annual flu immunisation programme in Wales is now underway in time for the coming flu season – and those in ‘at risk’ groups are being urged by authorities to take up their free vaccination as soon as possible.

taff talkabout autumn 2014

Documents

electrical team

kevin hart

tenants homes

family fun day

taffs customers autumn

taff morning psychology

summer activitiesmeet

tenants awards