Activities

We believe that all our clients and tenants should be able to access new and exciting experiences whatever their ability or interest. We are always striving to find new activities to offer to the client and tenant group. Each has their own personal set timetable that is established with themselves and others involved.

We actively seek employment opportunities for people who wish to work. Many of our clients and tenants give back to the community by volunteering in local charity shops and some have even gained paid employment (see Day in the Life: Guy to find out more about Guy's job at Asda).  To date we have 20 people who are carrying out work experience; two of those are in paid employment. It is our aspiration to get more involved in paid employment.  At present our clients and tenants carry out work experience in various places. These include; Asda, Tesco, Argos, charity shops, Holmbush Farm, private estates (working in the gardens), Furnistore and garden centres.

Many of our clients and tenants attend college. They go to Central Sussex College, Brinsbury College, East Surrey, Thomas Bennet Community College - who have provided bespoke courses for our clients - and Caterham College. Courses are varied and include; numeracy and literacy, woodwork, horticulture, art, cooking, travel training, independent living skills, performing arts, animal husbandry, land-based learning, life skills and citizenship. Our College Coordinator is Caroline Hill who works for Cavendish Care but is based at Central Sussex College. Caroline acts as a point of contact between colleges and our staff to ensure support from home to college is seamless and any problems are dealt with as efficiently as possible.

We recognise that many of our clients and tenants have no wish to attend college and choose other experiences. In this case, there are many and varying choices to suit individual taste and ability; Hydropool, music, sensory rooms, Mud Pie (Pottery), drama, Y.M.C.A, gym membership, swimming, dance, trampolining, horse riding or carriage riding, going for walks, personal shopping and in-house management including meal preparation. We are able to meet the needs of clients and tenants and are always prepared to access other activities of their choice.

The evening and weekend activities are as varied as during the day and our clients and tenants choose to access some of the following, Footloose (dance group), Blooming Arts (drama group), Weight Watchers meetings, dance night, Dovers (club night), K2 (club night), football and rugby matches, theatre trips, bowling, day trips out, shopping, cinema, meals out, trips to the pub, ice skating, overnight camping, concerts, music festivals, night clubs.

We have also built a close working relationship with local fitness group Chase Fitness. Our clients and tenants can attend a range of activities from golf to horticulture to boccia whilst mingling with their peers from our other houses.      

All clients and tenants have a holiday of their choice whenever possible; they are fully supported with 24 hour care and go on holiday for a time scale that they can manage. Some of the locations over the years have included Scotland, Butlins, caravanning holidays, New Forest, Ireland, Alton Towers. Tenerife, Isle of Wight, Hastings, Devon, Center Parcs, Euro Disney and many other locations. We appreciate that not all our clients or tenants manage holidays well and for these people we arrange specialised days out; some of these have included day trips to theme parks, an overnight stay somewhere close to home, day trips to the Isle of Wight, flights in light aircraft and boat trips.

We understand the need for consistency and identified that during college holidays timetables became disrupted. Caroline Hill runs a holiday club during the Easter and summer breaks. Days out are arranged which meet the needs of the group attending. They are often educational but always fun. This project was set up four years ago and has proved very successful with clients and tenants alike.