JANUARY, 2012

• PASTEL sets up New Office in Saxmundham

DECEMBER, 2011

• PASTEL Wins another Award!

Suffolk County Council presented PASTEL with a Prove & Improve Award as a social enterprise that: "delivers training to young people with learning disabilities to enable them to compete in the world of work. 13 students have gained qualifications. PASTEL's young volunteers give up their time at weekends to help to support other young people with learning difficulties. The running costs are very low as this is a completely volunteer-run organisation." The photo shows Cllr. Colin Spence (left), portfolio holder for community enterprise, presenting the award to Don Tricker, volunteer director with the PASTEL Community Interest Company. The award was presented at the Suffolk Foundation AGM.

NOVEMBER, 2011

PASTEL Partners with the Suffolk Discrimination Law Service

PASTEL co-produced 2 special workshops, with the Suffolk Discrimination Law Service. These focussed on the topics of "complaining" and "campaigning" , leading on from PASTEL's earlier work on customer service skills and encouraging the team's self-advocacy skills. These workshops involved some of the parent / carers.

A legacy of this work will be the introduction of a PASTEL Facebook site for members and their parent / carers to express their feelings and to call for improvements to the lives of themselves and their families - both individually and collectively - as a living expression.

OCTOBER, 2011

• PASTEL ventures into horticulture

On Saturday morning, October 29th, an advance party of the PASTEL team ventured into the overgrown secret garden belonging to the Fromus Centre. The team were given two plots to clear and prepare for spingtime vegetable planting...

Here are the before and after photographs.

They came armed with spades, forks, rakes and trowels and got straight to work. Joe kindly brought two bags of manure, which were turned in once the ground had been cleared of weeds and roots. Several wheel-barrows were needed to clear the ground of unwanted growth.	Many hands make light work and, within a couple of hours, not only were the two plots ready but the team helped Darren take over another two plots - such was his enthusiasm! Then there was a well-earned break for lunch and reflection on a job done. Excellent team work.

Our special thanks go to Annalise, Anne, Annette, Christian, Clive, Colette, Daniel, Darren, Dominic, Joe, Luke, and Steve for volunteering to come in and help out.

SEPTEMBER, 2011

• PASTEL to move to larger office premises

PASTEL are in discussions with The Saxmundham & District Community Interest Company (SADCIC) to rent office space in the building being divested to them by Sufolk County Council. These are the same premises where PASTEL holds its workshops.

For further information, click here.

JULY, 2011

• PASTEL Starts Healthy Eating course - with a Lebanese theme

Running through July, August and September, PASTEL is introducing healthy eating combined with food hygiene and preparation skills training. Clients are embarking on six morning sessions which culminate in the group sitting down to eat what they've just prepared. And, to make it all a little more exciting, there's a Lebanese theme! Marcelle, our Lebanese food expert, will take two groups of five through their paces, starting with cleaning hands and work surfaces, how to avoid cross-contamination and leading through to food preparation and cooking. The PASTEL clients were supported by a group of volunteer peer mentors.

Here are some volunteer peer mentors modelling the latest in disposable catering aprons! PASTEL would like to take this opprtunity to publicly thank our pool of seven volunteer peer mentors (aged 15-26) for giving up their personal time on a Saturday, throughout the year, to help those less fortunate. PASTEL workshops run 10.30am - 3.30pm. on alternate Saturdays. On behalf of PASTEL and our clients, our very sincere thanks go to Adam, Annalise, Chris, Christian, Emily, Jo, and Steve. To learn more about volunteering for PASTEL, whatever your age, please click here.

The PASTEL group will be preparing and eating a very healthy range of starters, main course and dessert, covering such dishes as

1. Humous (a chickpea dip)
2. Baba Ghanouj (an aubergine dip)
3. Manoush (a Lebanese-style pizza) + Kafta (a minced lamb kebab)
4. Cous Cous (a dish of semolina with a spiced vegetable stew)
5. Khoubz (a Lebanese flatbread)
6. Namoura (a Labanese pastry made from semolina, soaked in honey and decorated with almonds)

For the recipes, please click here

Here are some photos from the first session, where the two teams prepared a raw vegetable platter of snap peas, carrot, cucumber and celery to be eaten with a Humous dip. Everyone played a part in peeling and cutting vegetables and blending the Humous ingredients. The Humous dip was then garnished with fresh coriander, olives and roasted pine nuts. Then each team took it in turn to sit down and have a very sociable, and healthy, meal!

These sessions have been kindly sponsored by the Saxmundham & District Rotary Club.

MAY, 2011

• PASTEL runs inclusive First Aid Training

On Saturday May 28th a PASTEL team, comprising volunteer members of the management committee, volunteer peer mentors and PASTEL clients with learning disabilities, took part in an all-day first aid training course. A qualified instructor took them through a range of life-savingand and accident management techniques. Everyone had fun while learning very valuable life skills. At the end of the day everyone sat a test and PASTEL now proudly boasts eight qualified fisrt-aiders on the team. Well done to all!

• PASTEL wins Suffolk Training Accolade - May 19th

The award was part of the Suffolk Adut Learner Awards 2011, sponsored by LEAP and the Suffolk Partnership for Informal Adult Learning. There were 9 categories of awards. It is the first time these awards have been given in Suffolk and formed part of the national celebrations of Adult Learners Week. PASTEL was selected as "Winner" of the "Learning Project" Award in recognition for its outstanding learning project - The Museum Apprentice. This was an innovative training programme, delivering "An Introduction to Customer Service Skills". embedded in the Museum Apprentice project run in partnership with the Long Shop museum. Ten PASTEL learners successfully completed the training and received an Open College Network accreditation in customer service skills. Further Education Minister Sion Simon , said: "The Adult Learners' Week Awards are a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements of learners around the country. As the awards show, learning in all its many forms leads to a host of benefits not only for the individual learner, but also for their families and the wider community."

The Suffolk Awards were hosted at the University Campus Suffolk and presented by Mark Murphy, leading radio presenter with BBC Radio Suffolk. PASTEL's award was collected by Don Tricker, Chief Executive of the PASTEL Community Interest Compny and PASTEL's lead tutor / asessor Helena Mecrow. The photo above shows Mark Murphy with Helena.

Don said " The whole team - the PASTEL management, the museum staff, the tutors, the peer mentor volunteers and the learners - had a great fun with this employability skills training and learning project!"

For further details of the project, pease scroll down to April...

• Town 102 supports PASTEL

If you tune in to Suffolk's fastest growing local radio station this month you may get to hear the dulcet tones of Don Tricker helping to raise the profile of PASTEL and its fun weekend workshops for young adults with learning disabilities...

For the PASTEL: Town 102: Action Line promo, please click here.

TOWN 102

breakfast with Nick Pandolfi

www.town102.com

NB> The next series of fun Saturday (10.30am - 3.30pm) workshops

starts on Saturday April 30th ,

at the Saxmundham Resource Centre.

Enquiries

.

APRIL, 2011

• Museum Apprentice Workshops - captured on video!

Adam, from newdawnmedia (www.newdawnmedia.co.uk), has produced these 3 videos, for the Leiston Long Shop Museum,which can now be found on You Tube;

1)   A Brief Look Around

2)   The Museum Apprentice Project

3)   The Victorian Apprentice Day:

The Museum Apprentice workshops were a joint venture project between PASTEL and the Long Shop Museum. The participants, peer mentor volunteers, training assessor and internal verifier(for the embedded "Introduction to Customer Service Skills", an Open Colege Network trainining unit) were provided by PASTEL. The Long Shop Museum provided the overall project management, museum tutor, museum presenters and, of course, the venue. Further details of this project can be found in the news items below...

March, 2011

January, 2011

• Thumbs Up for the Quality of PASTEL's Training Programme

An external review of PASTEL's training policies, processes and paperwork has been undertaken each year for the past three years, as part of the Open College Network Eastern Region's ongoing training centre quality monitoring. These reviews monitor PASTEL's effectiveness and efficiency in providing the best service for clients. As the past three years have yielded positive outcomes the lengths between visits has now been extended.

December

• PASTEL, in partnership with the Long Shop Museum, is launching new training programme in the New Year 2011.

Aimed specifically at young adults aged 15-25 who have a learning disability, this exciting Museum Apprentice project, funded by Activities Unlimited, will give participants an opportunity to discover what goes into running the Long Shop Museum , in Leiston, and along the way learn a whole range of new personal development and employability skills.

In each of the sessions young people will have the opportunity to take part in role play activities, have a go at some hands on conservation experiments, meet some of the team who make the Museum the exciting place it is, take part in quizzes and celebrations, they will even have the chance to interview a Victorian. Along the way participants will learn communication and customer service skills, increase their confidence and will at the end of the project have the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised accreditation in customer skills.

Each of the six sessions are run by fully trained and experienced PASTEL teachers, staff and volunteer peer mentors, and will take place at Leiston in the Museum's education room and around the museum premises. The museum is closed to the public until Saturday, April 2nd.

The project will consist of 6 x 5-hour sessions running on:

1. Saturday Jan. 8th
2. Saturday Jan.15th
3. Saturday Feb. 5th
4. Saturday Feb. 19th
5. Saturday Mar. 5th
6. Saturday Mar. 19th

newdawnmedia has been commissioned to produce three short videos capturing the project and training in action.

September

PASTEL is running a new course "Introduction to Digital Photography" starting on Saturday mornings at the Saxmundham Community Resource Unit - click here for directions. This free course runs over 6 Saturdays:

1. Oct 2nd
2. Oct. 16th
3. Nov 6th
4. Nov. 20th
5. Dec 4th
6. Dec.18th

Along with bringing their own packed lunches, clients will need to bring a digital camera from home. The course will cover everything from operating the camera to composing the photograhs to uploading them onto the internet. The course is open to adults over 19 with a learning disability. As with any PASTEL training session, clients are encouraged and supported by professional tutors and volunteer peer mentors. For further information, please check the "programmes" page and use the "contact" page.

August

Over summer 2010, the PASTEL team had great fun devising radio plays. The group split into 2 teams and created and produced a radio play each. Starting from scratch clients had to discuss amongst themselves and , as a team, create a storyline, characters and dialogue. It was an excellent case of decision-making, communicating and teamwork - ably supported by Anne, their drama  tutor. To hear the results, please click here.

July

• Suffolk County Council awards Grant To PASTEL

From its Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities fund, Suffolk County Council has awarded PASTEL a grant to run a new Digital Photography course, for young adults with learning disabilities, aged over 19.

May

• PASTEL features as a Big Lottery Fund case history

To read the PASTEL case history, please click here.

April

• New "Radio Plays" workshops underway...

The new series of PASTEL transition training workshops started on April 17th and centre on two teams competing with each other to produce a short "radio play". These radip plays will be recorded as podcasts and uploaded onto the PASTEL website and sent to local community radio stations, in September. For more information and to hear the radio plays, please click here.

March

• Founder of PASTEL recognised for service to the community

The Evening Star and Suffolk County Council sponsor the Stars of Suffolk Awards to find and recognise “people of inspiration, bravery and compassion …shining lights in the lives of others because of their extraordinary achievements.” There were over 200 nominations for the 2010 Stars of Suffolk Awards and the founder director of PASTEL, Don Tricker was one of three finalists in the “ Community Group or Champion of the Year” category.

This placing was in recognition for volunteered services to the community, which apart from PASTEL also covered being a founder/director of The Saxmundham & District Commuity Interest Company and founder of the Brook Farm Residents Association – the largest residents' association in Suffolk.

January - 2010

• PASTEL Clients Achieve National Open College Network (NOCN) Awards

Of the 16 clients registered with PASTEL in 2009, 13 were registered as learners with the Open College Network (Eastern Region) and 11 went on to be awarded National Open College Network qualifications at Entry Level 3. The PASTEL Transition Training Programme ("Introduction to Personal Development") was based on national credit-based learning units and 8 PASTEL clients successfully gained 9 credits and 3 finished with 6 credits!

The training was embedded in fun activities - driven by the young adults themselves. They wanted to involve rap and rock music, street dancing and create a graffiti wall.

Their personal development training was designed to boost self-esteem and confidence and increase their decision-making, communication and team-working skills. Thus they had to work as a team, supported by the tutors and volunteer peer mentors, to create ideas, put them into practice and deliver to an invited public audience.

During their PASTEL training course, these young adults produced a public Hip Hop Theatre show (involving art, dance and drama) and a short comedy-horror film which also had a public showing. Everyone had a good time learning while enjoying themselves!

July - December 2009

• PASTEL Workshops to produce a Short Film.

PASTEL started workshops on "Making a Video"in July, as part of its "Introduction to Personal Development" transition training course - leading to an Open College Network certificate for successful clients. Thids project culminated in public "world premier screening" of the resulting short video on Dec.19th combined with an awards ceremony for all clients.

Working a sa team, the PASTEL clients, discussed and agreed the film genre, the characters, the storyline and the dialogue. They took on all the key drama and make-up roles. With professional support, this is their film. The full credits are shown at the end of the film, which runs for about 20 minutes.

To view the short film, please click here

May - June 2009

• PASTEL presents "Hip Hop Theatre"

Starting in February, and culminating with a public show in June, PASTEL clients wanted a new challenge involving rap music and street dancing. The PASTEL management eventually found suitable drama, dance and art tutors to help pull a show together, as devised by the PASTEL clients. A “Hip Hop Theatre” production was born- combining music, dance, drama and art. This was a particularly ambitious, and age-appropriate, programme - ably supported by our drama, dance and art tutors.

Below is the link to the record of the latest milestone in the PASTEL public events – to build client's self-esteem, confidence, decision-making, communication and teamwork.

As well as serving their personal development, these occasions also help to educate the public on their abilities.

The concept certainly went down well with our clients… Now visit the programme poster and see the video

… www.pastel.org.uk/evaluation.asp

March - April 2009

• Big Lottery Fund - Sustainability Event

PASTEL supported The Big Lottery Fund (East of England) who put together a a one day workshop to help enterprises, who are coming to the end of their Lottery funding, plan for their long-term funding future and the sustainability of their projects and organisation. The day covered such topics as business planning for organisations, social enterprise in practice and commissioning and contracts. Don Tricker, PASTEL CEO, led the workshop on "Becoming a Community Interest Company (CIC)." The event took place on April 2nd (9.30am- 3.30pm) in Cambridge, and was attended by around 80 delegates.

January - February 2009

• Transition Training Workshop Taster Sessions

On the Saturdays Jan.31st & Feb.14th, PASTEL will be running taster sessions for potential newcomers. For further information, please click here and here.

November -December 08

• PASTEL runs "Ristorante Pastella" - December

Fired up with enthusiasm our clients jumped at the opportunity to run their own restaurant and put their new found knowledge and skills into a live scenario! PASTEL arranged for the hire of a community hall on Saturday, December 20th (2008) to run our first lunchtime restaurant - "Ristorante Pastella" . This was publicised and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis (advance bookings only).

Our team of clients prepared and served a five-course meal for 45 covers. There was a suggested donation at the end of the event of £5 per customer, as a contribution to our costs. For more information and the video, please click here.

• Big Lottery Fund showcase film of PASTEL - October

The Big Lottery Fund commissioned a TV production company to make a professional record of a public event staged by the PASTEL Community Interest Company - to help illustrate the breadth and depth of their funding benefits.

• To view the Big Lottery Fund  3 minute video, please click here.

• To listen a 5 minute radio interview, please click here.

• To view the PASTEL extended video diary of the preparations and the show, please click here.

August -October 08

• Big Lottery Fund films PASTEL's Shadow Puppet Show to Showcase its Positive Funding Outcomes

Back by popular demand! The PASTEL clients worked on their own brand new PASTEL Shadow Puppet Show for public showing in the Saxmundham Arts Festival. at 11am on the morning of October 30th. This was during the school half-term and was aimed at the primary school age group. This PASTEL Shadow Puppet Show was an original youth production especially created for the Saxmundham Arts Festival and incorporated shadow puppetry, music, poetry and singing, with a little audience participation.

The PASTEL Transition Training project, funded by The Big Lottery Fund made it to a final ten selected nationwide for a film recording! A TV camera team from TwoFour were on hand to film the event and talk to some of those involved. A DVD will be produced in November and the short film may also be eventually broadcast on TV...

Despite a heavy downpour on the morning of the show, with accompanying thunder and lightning, the cast all showed up, along with an audience of around 70 children, parents and grand-parents, and the PASTEL Shadow Puppet Show went on. It was well received by all and the cast had plenty talk about when at home and back at school/college!

The PASTEL clients had worked together as a team, communicating their ideas and making all the key decisions. It was very much their own show and their self esteem and confidence was boosted by the enthusiastic audience response!

Here are some photos...

It all began by brainstorming the story and characters, and went on to creating the set, the props and some shadow puppets...	The cast arrived on the day for the full dress rehearsal at 10am - using the actual stage for the first time!	The cast also helped with setting up the PA system, the screen and props...	And, before the live public show at 11am, there was still time for the film crew to record the opinions of some parent/carers.

April -June 08

• PASTEL becomes recognised Open College Network Training centre

PASTEL registers as an Open College Network training centre ready to offer national accreditations for the progress of its clients.

• PASTEL's Food Hygiene/ Preparation/Catering workshops and Accreditations

The first series of workshops in 2008 focused on food hygiene and prepararation, with the opportunity for clients to gain the national Level 1 Award in "Food Safety in Catering", awarded from The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Working in competing teams - the Green Peppers vs the Red Tomatoes - clients had fun learning not only about food hygiene and food preparation but also addressing the PASTEL desired outcomes of building their self-esteem and confidence and gaining skills in communicating, decision making and team work. For a fuller case history, please click here.

January - March 08

• PASTEL's Transition Training

PASTEL launched its 2008 Transition Training workshops programme on Saturday , March 15th - and this will run fornightly throughout the year until Saturday, December 6th These workshops are for young adults with learning difficulties and/or disabilities ( aged 11-25). Referals can come from parent/carers, Youth & Connexions, Social Care or JobCentrePlus. For more information, click here.

• PASTEL's Best Practise used for National Research

PASTEL has communicated some of its learning and best practise from the transition training programme, in the form of a case study, to help raise the profile of the work that PASTEL is doing to involve our clients in the programme. The research was conducted by Voluntary Action Westminster on behalf of the Government sponsored Performance Hub, which has culminated in a publication, in which PASTEL are credited, entitled “Centre Stage? Making choices about involving users - available from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).

September -December 07

•  PASTEL signs Suffolk Compact

On Wednesday November 7th, PASTEL attended the launch of the Suffolk Compact - in the lecture Theatre at the Cathedral, Bury St.Edmunds - to acknowledge and celebrate the commitment of PASTEL in signing the compact. PASTEL was presented with a certificate recognising the social enterprise as a founding signatory to the the Compact in Suffolk.   The Compact is a set of guidelines and principles for voluntary and community organisations and public agencies to adopt in order to improve working relationships between the two sectors. Having a robust Compact in Suffolk ensures that effective partnerships can develop and thrive, working together for the benefit of communities in Suffolk .

•  PASTEL delivers uplifting Arts Festival Performance

On October 25th, the PASTEL team delivered their shadow puppet show,"The Princess and the Penguin", to an audience of around 60 children, parents and grand-parents - as part of the week-long Saxmundham Arts Festival. The group had come up with an original fairy story, created the characters, puppets and props and acted in the final performance.

Meanwhile, a video made of the show will be making its way on to this website early in the New Year...

• PASTEL becomes a Community Interest Company

On October 12th, PASTEL converted from a Company Limited by Guarantee to a Community Interest Company. The name changed from PASTEL (Personal Development) Ltd to PASTEL Community Interest Company. This move is designed to reassure future stakeholders and funders of our committed community interest and benefits and paves the way for enhancing operations and expanding future activities.

June - August 07

• PASTEL delivers Inclusive Team Training

On Saturday August 4th, The PASTEL team — clients, volunteers and members of the management committee took part in a very successful and well-received day's training in first aid – together. This training was delivered in partnership with The British Red Cross and was designed to produce an innovative workshop with a more flexible approach to suit all the team's wants and needs. Very importantly, this course recognised that everyone's a potential lifesaver. However, as with all PASTEL Transition Training workshops, this first aid-course was not just about learning first aid skills, it also helped our clients to increase their confidence and their ability to act independently.

The day's training covered a wide range of subjects from incident management, calling the emergency services, caring for an unconscious casualty who is breathing, caring for a casualty who is not breathing normally, management of blood loss and shock and management of burns and scolds.

Students were observed in practical skill tests as well as interviewed individually to test their knowledge.

All the students received a Candidate Record Book as a record of their achievement and a certificate. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much on the day that they voted to repeat the exercise as part of their ongoing training programme!

•  PASTEL Newsletter produced (to view, click here)

• Help on the way from PASTEL
  Ipswich Evening Star
  11 July 2007
  
  

Youngsters of the PASTEL group enjoy a Punch and Judy show at the Riverside Centre in Stratford St Andrew

A HELP group for youngsters with learning difficulties set up by parents and carers today vowed to help other families who feel left out in the cold.

Last month, headteachers from the three Ipswich special schools which cater for youngsters until their late teens lifted the lid on the lack of opportunities for their students once they leave education.

Today, leaders of the PASTEL education and training social enterprise, based in Stratford St Andrew, offered to help out in the wake of the schools' concerns.

Don Tricker chief executive of PASTEL, said not only would it open its doors to new families, but it was also willing to share its expertise and research with other parents wanting to set up their own groups.

PASTEL was started in 2005 by parents and carers in the Saxmundham area who felt isolated from facilities because of their rural setting.

The group, run by volunteers, now has funding to provide fortnightly workshops for the next three years, and said it can help others do the same.

Mr Tricker, who has an 18-year-old son Dominic with Downs Syndrome, said: “I agree with the schools in that children with learning difficulties are on a conveyor belt and, while they learn some excellent life skills in their education, the statutory world loses interest with them after school and they fall off the conveyor belt, transferring all the responsibility back to families.

“Out here in rural east Suffolk these youngsters suffer a triple-whammy - they are not only disadvantaged by personal impairments and the attitudes of others, but also their general environment.

“As a parent/carer, with the help of some others, we found the only solution was to form a social enterprise, bid for funds and get on with it ourselves.

“Now we are in a position where we can provide a working model to be replicated elsewhere, by other parent and carers.

“Anyone who wants to set up an enterprise like this can talk to us and we will help them.

“There's no point just sitting back and complaining when services are being cut. This way we are doing something about it.”

Pastel runs fortnightly five-hour workshops for 11 to 25 year olds with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

Workshops use performing arts and other fun activities, delivered by professional tutors at the Riverside Centre at Stratford St Andrew.

See www.pastel.org.uk or call 01728 604944 for details.

•  New website launched
•  New promotional leaflet produced
•  PASTEL becomes a member of Social Enterprise Network Suffolk (SENS).

March - May 07

• Set Up Progress

•  Venue for PASTEL Transition Traing Programme secured
•  Tutors selected and contracted
•  New promotion flyer/poster circulated to all stakeholders
•  First four Volunteers recruited.
•  New Transition Training Programme launched
•  First ten Clients recruited/referred

February 07

• Lottery Bid

Following the successful completion of a pilot trial, running from March to November in 2006, PASTEL successfully submitted a Full Application to the Big Lottery Young People's Fund to underpin a full launch and a sustained three year transition training programme - for young adults (11-25) with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

Click here to view PASTEL's press release.

The programme kicks off with the first taster workshop on Saturday, March 31st at The Riverside Centre, Stratford St.Andrew (on the A12). This will be the first of a succession of fortnightly 5-hour workshops (10.30am - 3.30pm, with bring-your-own packed lunch).