People with learning disabilities celebrate their successes

04 November 2022

People with learning disabilities from across the south coast have been crowned as award winners to celebrate their achievements.

Wednesday afternoon (2 November) saw a packed-out Hanger Farm Arts Centre in Totton full of family, friends and supporters of Minstead Trust.

The Trust is a charity that supports more than 270 people with learning disabilities to live in their own homes, learn new skills and find employment.

The audience came together to celebrate the achievements of people supported by the Trust, and to watch a superb performance from the Hanger Farm Community Theatre. The day also addressed key issues faced by the social care system, and how Minstead Trust’s new system of support is attempting to tackle those concerns.

The event began with members of the talented community theatre group speaking about their passions through the mode of movement and comedy. The group helps dozens of people to be more confident, make friends, and ensure their voices are heard by society.

The celebrations continued with the annual awards ceremony, showcasing the winners of seven different awards for people with learning disabilities:

Luke Brindley, We appreciate each person award

Luke has developed his relationships and skills at Lily&Lime, one of Minstead Trust’s social enterprises. He’s been hugely supportive of other members of staff and trainees. Amy Enright, venue supporter at Lily&Lime said: ‘Luke has a great relationship with everyone he works with at Lily & Lime. He has been supporting the apprentices with the running of the café and using his initiative to develop his skills’.

Find out more about Luke:

Abbie Carrier, We are always learning award

Abbie has shown excellent work in supporting at weddings and serving coffee to members of the public at Hanger Farm Arts Centre. Serina Mall, events manager at Hanger Farm, said ‘She is so lovely, we have a few different groups that come in on a Friday. Abbie will go and take orders, serve the coffee and she always stays for a lovely little chat.’

Find out more about Abbie:

Silas Pink, We are always improving award

Silas has been supported by the Trust for a number of years now and he’s a huge advocate of the charity. Connor Brown, a senior instructor for Minstead’s day service said: ‘He’s had many ups and downs, as we all have but, going through that, it’s fantastic how he’s kept a positive attitude towards life. I think a lot of us should learn from Silas’.

Find out more about Silas:

Jason Carty, We push for change award

Jason has demonstrated amazing growth over the past year. He’s become a much more confident person and is now ready to move on to supported living, which is a huge step in his journey towards more independence. Dom Catton, residential manager at Minstead, said: ‘He has done fantastically well over the last 12 months in becoming a much more confident person, able to speak his mind and tell you what he’s thinking and feeling, and also developing a huge range of skills’.

Find out more about Jason:

Jon Clutterbuck, Joy in every day award

Covid was a real challenge for Jon, his routine is very important to him and he often doesn’t enjoy any changes to it. But he’s done excellently in becoming more spontaneous and to engage more in social events and outings. Dom Catton, residential manager at Minstead, said: ‘He is now far more prepared with going and doing things off the cuff and trying new things, trying new foods, which is huge for him.’

Find out more about Jon:

Robert Guy, Rotary award

Bob can now do his washing independently, as well as cook meals for others in the household. He’s a very chatty, friendly man who has made friends with many people throughout Portsmouth, including Harry Redknapp! Janice Hewitt, supported living team member in Portsmouth, said: ‘It’s just wonderful to see how far he’s come in the last year… he actually does loads more for the whole house with everybody who lives here, including cooking meals for everyone, so we’re very proud of him’.

Find out more about Bob:

Tyler Morgan, Jenna Dixon award

Tyler has excelled on the Step Up For Work programme, and is now in paid employment at Hanger Farm Arts Centre. He’s shown considerable growth and hopes to work with children in the future. Chris Hillman, Head of Employability at the Trust, said: ‘We are so proud of Tyler’s achievements this year from winning an award from the mayor for his volunteer work to joining the Step Up For Work programme and excelling through his training’.

Find out more about Tyler:

Adam Dodd, CEO of Minstead Trust, then detailed the Trust’s new five year strategy and, specifically, how the strategy will attempt to overturn challenges faced by the social care system, and improve how the charity puts people with learning disabilities at the heart of what they do. The three pillars of the strategy include ‘exploring and nurturing potential, educating and inspiring society and involving the people that we support throughout our organisation.’

Adam said: ‘In the past, we’ve been good at looking after people in their homes and supporting them in day opportunities but the reality of the funding structure mean that certain things, certain aspirations from the people we support, could get lost. What we’ve tried to do with the new strategy is to build a more joined up organisation where we can fully listen to the wants and needs of people we support.’

The day was rounded up by Elizabeth Selby, Chair of Minstead Trust: ‘The reason we work as hard as we do to grow Minstead Trust and to achieve what we have to achieve is because we want to improve the lives of the people we support.

‘The learning disability community has a lot to offer and we can help them become much more a part of society’.

Elizabeth then went on to detail ways in which people can offer their support to the Trust over the winter period, including the ‘Me, not my disability’ Big Give fundraiser, which will match fund donations from 29 November – 6 December.

 You can find out more about the Big Give fundraiser at https://www.minsteadtrust.org.uk/big-give/