Headway Thames Valley

Newsletter N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8

6 5 S C L U B

September

J McKendrick - £65

E Stebbings - £35

D Horton - £20

D Johnstone - £15

S Graham - £10

P Cassidy - £10

D Armstrong - £5

E Ferris - £5

October

T Powell - £65

F Painter - £35

M Brown - £20

D Dorrington - £15

B Newport - £10

S Jalland - £10

S Graham - £5

B Graham - £5

If you would

like to

volunteer

with us at

Headway

Thames

Valley, please

get in contact

The festive season is upon us and once again

Headway Thames Valley has a pretty packed

Christmas calendar.

The Big Give – The Christmas Challenge 2018 - an

amazing opportunity for donations to Headway

Thames Valley to be doubled, at no extra cost to

supporters, for one week only. 12pm on Tuesday

27th November until 12pm on Tuesday 4th

December 2018. You can find details on how to

donate through The Big Give on page 4.

Henley Living Advent Calendar, Falaise Square/

Town Hall, Henley – Sunday 9th December ap-

proximately 6/ 6.15pm – if you would like to help

out on the night or would like more details please

contact Fundraising Manager, Zoe Lane.

Headway Thames Valley Christmas Lunch – Mon-

day 10th December, 12pm at the Christ Church

Centre. All clients, staff, volunteers and trustees

Festive Dates for your Diary

Headway’s Right First Time

campaign, which calls for

the government to improve

disability benefits assess-

ments for brain injury survi-

vors, has had a boost thanks

to MP Hugh Gaffney.

In September Parliament held a de-

bate on Personal Independence Pay-

ment (PIP). Leading the debate,

Hugh Gaffney MP said: “I have called

for a debate on the roll-out of per-

sonal independence payment, known

as PIP, because of the calls, the

emails and the visits to my surgery

from people pushed to breaking

point.”

The MP criticised the level of assess-

ments and decisions which were

overturned on appeal, or were in-

correct, citing research showing

that four out of 10 PIP claimants do

not appeal, as it would be too stress-

ful for them.

He said: “We have unfair assess-

ments that result in people losing

money, but they do not appeal be-

cause of the stress that would be

caused.”

Dr Clare Mills, Headway UKs Public

Affairs Manager, said: “We welcome

Mr Gaffney’s recognition of Head-

way’s work on the problems brain

injury survivors are facing over PIP.

We know the system needs to

change to take hidden disability,

including brain injury, into account.”

Right First Time

are invited to the Christmas lunch. Please let Jamie Hig-

gins know if you would like to attend.

Headway Thames Valley Christmas Concert – Join us

on Wednesday 12th December 2018, 11am at the

Christ Church Centre in Henley. The concert will fea-

ture the Headway Choir and the Henley Carol Singers.

Refreshments will be available afterwards.

Our Centre in Henley will be open as usual on Monday

24th December before shutting down until Wednesday

2nd January.

P A G E 2

East Berkshire Golf Club

Mince Pie Morning for Headway Thames Valley Support brain injury survi-

vors by enjoying some festive

treats in December!

Get in the festive spirit by hold-

ing a Mince Pie Morning for

Headway Thames Valley!

The Mince Pie Morning is a great

chance to raise money to help

those affected by brain injury,

while sharing some lovely Christ-

mas treats over a cuppa with

friends, family or colleagues.

Simply choose a day that suits

you in December, bake or buy

some pies, promote your Mince

Pie Morning - and enjoy!

We have a poster that can be

used to promote your event;

you can download it, print it

and add your event details.

How will your money help?

£25 per client funds a

group physiotherapy/

enablement session

£65 funds one day of

activities in our Henley

Rehabilitation and

Activity Centre

£200 pays for a day

trip for 6 clients and

their carers

team event, competitions, dinner,

auction and raffles.

With 20 teams competing, the four

-ball event was won by Crondon

Park from Essex with 90 points on

countback from team Headway TV

(one of our client’s teams, pictured

bottom right) with Reading’s Field

Seymour Parkes third on 87 points.

On Saturday morning, 80 members

arrived early for a Texas scramble

shotgun start. This brought togeth-

er new and old members, with

teams of four playing.

Sunday’s four-ball team event,

which attracted 128 members,

resulted in a victory for John

Wright, Richard Kaye, Max Kaye

and John Kerr with 89 points.

On Sunday evening Zoe Ovens,

representing Daisy’s Dream, and

Jamie Higgins, from Headway

Thames Valley, were each present-

ed with a cheque for £8,000, much

to their delight.

At the begin-

ning of the

year we were

chosen to be

one of East

Berkshire

Golf Club's

Chari-ties of

the Year.

Established in

1903 East Berk-

shire Golf Club is a members

club located in the village of

Crowthorne in the heart of

Berkshire.

Club Captain, Mike Bennett

and Ladies Captain Linda Skil-

ton chose to support Daisy’s

Dream and Headway Thames

Valley as their charities in

2018 with the funds raised to

be split between each charity.

While fundraising events have

been taking place all year, the

golf club’s Charity Weekend

kicked off on Friday 27th July.

The weekend, spread over

three days, included a four-ball

H E A D W A Y T H A M E S V A L L E Y

"Thank you so much

East Berkshire Golf Club,

your fundraising has

been amazing and

greatly appreciated.

Your fantastic donation

will help support our

'Living with Brain Injury'

programme, which bene-

fits the many brain in-

jured people in the com-

munity with a 'hidden

disability" - Jamie Higgins,

Headway Thames Valley Manager

The Henley Show Success P A G E 3

Striding Out for Headway Thames Valley

Throughout the year clients who

attend our Centre in Henley

work on art projects and love it

when they get the chance to

showcase them.

On Saturday 8th September Headway

Thames Valley clients showed their

work at The Henley Show and the

results were fantastic with an award

presentation carried out soon after at

our hub in Henley.

Well done to our amazing clients,

staff and volunteers who worked so

hard to produce these fantastic piec-

es. We will hopefully be putting on a

Headway Thames Valley Art Exhibi-

tion in the new year so watch this

space!

On Sunday 30th September

around 50 runners took part on

a cold but sunny morning in our

Headway Thames Valley 5k and

Children’s 2k.

Beale Park near Pangbourne was once

again the beautiful backdrop for peo-

ple to take on their personal challeng-

es, whether that was striving for a

personal best in the run or walking

the longest distance since their brain

injury.

It was wonderful to see our clients,

their families and supporters taking

part and achieving their goals. The

event also raised a fantastic £3,400

for Headway Thames Valley.

Thank you to everyone who took

part, supported the event, made a

donation or made the delicious sand-

wiches and cakes which helped to

keep everyone going!

Also a big thank you to law firm

Field Seymour Parkes LLP for their

funding support for the event.

We’d also like to thank the Grafton family for raising over £1,700 at their dog show and

Reuben O’brien who raised over £1,200 in the Henley Half Marathon.

P A G E 4

How to Survive or Thrive at Christmas ning, memory problems, and

intolerance to noise. For

some, the very thought of

Christmas can result in night-

mares!

So how do people with a

brain injury plan for a stress-

free Christmas? We posed

the question to our Facebook

and HealthUnlocked commu-

nities:

Planning: “Beforehand, let your

family know you will need lots of

breaks throughout the Christmas

period.

“Use lists; it’s the only way

Christmas happens.”

Christmas Day: “Try not to do

everything, accept help, ask for

it if needed, try and space out

the visits so not everyone all at

once.”

Doing what suits you best:

“Mellow out. Christmas should-

n’t be stressful…What I would

mostly want for Christmas is to

have a good time, good food and

good company.”

The Big Give – Christmas Challenge We have been given an amazing opportunity for donations to Headway Thames

Valley to be doubled, at no extra cost to supporters, for one week only.

The Christmas Challenge 2018 will run from midday #GivingTuesday 27th November –

midday Tuesday 4th December, when donations to Headway Thames Valley through

www.thebiggive.org.uk will be doubled, meaning we can help more people affected by brain

injury. A gift of £10 will become £20 or £200 will become £400. Please note that the mini-

mum online donation is £5.

Your donations will help us to provide vital support to more brain injury survivors and

their families.

Headway have put together

some tips for people living

with brain injury to ensure

they have the best possible

Christmas.

Christmas is a time when families

and friends come together to eat,

drink, and be merry – or so we’re

led to believe.

In reality, however, a busy social

calendar, family politics, complex

meals to plan and prepare, present

shopping to do, and an expecta-

tion to keep smiling can mean ‘tis

not always the season to be jolly!

This is particularly the case when

you combine these common

stressors with brain injury effects

such as fatigue, difficulty with plan-

Donating to Headway Thames Valley during the campaign:

1. Use the following link https://secure.thebiggive.org.uk/project/headwaythamesvalley between mid-

day Tuesday 27th November and midday Tuesday 4th December.

2. Or go to www.thebiggive.org.uk and in the ‘Find a charity’ box type in Headway Thames Valley.

3. Your search results will be displayed below the ‘Find a charity’ box.

4. Click on the ‘Double Your Donation’ button for our project, your donation will be doubled whilst

match funds last.

5. Follow the donation process and pay attention to messages regarding whether your donation will

be doubled.

“Don’t be

afraid to

say ‘I’m

going to

have a rest

now’ then

join back in

when you

are ready.”

Brunner Hall

84B Greys Road

Henley-on-Thames

Oxfordshire

Phone: 01491 411469

E-mail: info@headwaythamesvalley.org.uk

Website: headwaythamesvalley.org.uk

Headway Thames Valley promotes wider un-

derstanding of all aspects of brain injury and

provides information, support and services to

people with brain injury, their families and

carers. In addition, we campaign to reduce

the incidence of brain injury in the Thames

Valley.

Headway Thames Valley is an independent

charity responsible for its own funds and re-

cruitment and is affiliated to Headway UK,

the national charity established in 1979 and is

one of over 100 groups throughout the UK.

Farewell, Catherine

@HeadwayThamesV

facebook.com/headwaythamesv

Last month we said good-

bye to Catherine Baron

who has been the Office

Manager at Headway

Thames Valley for three

and a half years.

Many of our clients, supporters

and friends will have spoken to

or met Catherine at some point

and she was a big part of a small

team.

In true Headway Thames Valley

style, the clients, staff and vol-

unteers arranged some send off

events, including a special Head-

way Thames Valley Choir con-

Catherine will be enjoying her retirement by spending time at her holiday home in France and with her family. Clients, volunteers, staff

and Trustees would like to say a big thank you for everything Catherine has done for the charity and wish her all the best.

Jamie Higgins who has worked for Headway Thames Valley for almost 5 years has been appointed Manager.