Category Archives: Events

Events, Information & Advice

Carers Rights Day 2018

Next Friday, the 30th of November, is Carers Rights Day. This is a national awareness day to help make carers aware of their rights and entitlements – for things like benefits, flexibility from employers, supported housing and lots more.

It’s a special day for the Carers’ Centre as well as we are hosting our AGM and our first Caring Community Awards. These awards will recognise and celebrate people, places and organisations in our community that are taking carer awareness seriously and making carers’ lives easier. Thanks to our amazing sponsors Bluebird Care, Curo, Gerrard Financial Consulting, Minuteman Press and Mogers Drewett who have made the event possible.

We’re looking forward to sharing these stories on Carers’ Rights Day to make sure that we help foster a more carer-friendly community. This is one of our key organisational goals. If you’d like to come along to the awards let us know by RSVP-ing here (all the details at the link).

If you’re a carer and would like more information on your rights and entitlements, check out this useful guide by Carers’ UK – it tells you all about your rights in work, the importance of taking a break, and lots more practical information and advice.  (The linked guide is for carers in England, but you can find more resources and guides for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland here)

Here’s a sample from the guide:

 

There’s lots more useful information like this at the link provided. If you have a more specific question about your caring role or about local services, you can call us on 0800 0388 885 and speak to Sue, our information and advice officer. Sue has a wealth of information to help local carers in Bath and North East Somerset.

Visit our website  for more information about our work or to sign up as a carer with us. 

Centre News, Events, Fundraising

Sponsored Walk Set to Raise £2,000+ for Carers

We held our second sponsored walk last month on Saturday, April 21, to raise awareness of unpaid carers and the challenges they face.

Forty walkers (and a few dogs!) participated in the six mile walking route to raise money for carers looking after sick, elderly or disabled loved ones in Bath and North East Somerset. The group raised or pledged over £2,000 for the charity.

The group walked (some in fancy dress!) from Bath Carers’ Centre to Saltford’s Bird in Hand pub and back again, totaling just over six miles.

One of the walkers involved said: “It was a privilege to take part.”

Local solicitors Mogers Drewett were the main sponsor for the event, with support from Co-Op Mount Road and Co-Op Marksbury.

Kate Norris from Mogers Drewett, who also took part as a walker, said:

“We were so pleased to be involved in the walk, both as a participant and sponsor of such a fantastic event to highlight the great work that the Carers’ Centre does and the lifeline support it provides both to its members and their families.

We see the extremely positive effects and impact the Centre has on our clients and are keen to do what we can to support that. ”

The Carers’ Centre provides support to approximately 4,000 carers from the BaNES area, helping them to manage their caring role by offering information, advice, counselling, befriending and respite opportunities.

We also support young carers from as young as 5, who will often help with extra duties if they have an ill or disabled sibling or parent.

Centre News, Events, Volunteering, Young Carers

Celebrating Carers 2017: Success!

AGM blogFriday, 13th of October was the day of our annual general meeting and Celebrating Carers awards ceremony. Despite the unlucky date, the evening was a great success and was much enjoyed by all attendees.

We are so fortunate to have our wonderful host, Ali Vowles, return to us again this year to really make the evening special. She is such a fantastic presenter and this year was no different, even when some of the script pages went wandering off! As always we are incredibly grateful for her support, so thank you Ali.

The evening was an opportunity to recognise some very special people who have supported the Carers’ Centre, carers in our community or indeed carers themselves who have achieved so much.

Our first winner was one you would have read about before; young carer Becca who looks after her mum. Since being featured on Comic Relief, Becca has used her platform to educate and inspire her peers and adults alike, putting together a presentation and role-play for her school to explain what it’s like to be a young carer.  It was fantastic to reward Becca for her efforts and hopefully inspire her to continue to educate her community for years to come.  Continue reading Celebrating Carers 2017: Success! →

Carer Stories, Events, Young Carers

Celebrating Carers 2016 – the results!

Celebrating2016_logoOur annual awards ceremony was held in October and once again the event was hosted by the fantastic Ali Vowles of the BBC. It was a chance to recognise our unsung heroes: carers, volunteers, and partners and to look back over what we’ve achieved this year.

The evening was made possible by the generosity of Sirona Care & Health and by our other wonderful sponsors; Bath College, Curo, Gerrard Financial Consulting, Gradwell Communications, Minuteman Press Bath and Way Ahead Care. Continue reading Celebrating Carers 2016 – the results! →

Centre News, Events

Carers: the backbone of our communities

pcs8906cropped1-239x248Carers are part of the backbone of our communities and the annual awards night held by the Carers’ Centre is a fabulous opportunity to applaud their selflessness, says Sirona chief executive Janet Rowse.

Sirona Care & Health, which provides specialist community health and adult social care across Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and surrounding area, is the title sponsor of the Celebrating Carers event.

Janet said: “Our staff work day in day out supporting individuals and families but they do not do it alone. They are supported by carers, volunteers and other partners and all of these people working together really makes a difference to the lives of others. Continue reading Carers: the backbone of our communities →

Centre News, Events

Why Celebrate Carers?

Celebrating2016_logoEach year we hold an awards ceremony called Celebrating Carers. We’re delighted that Sirona Care and Health have agreed to sponsor this year’s awards, helping us to make it bigger and better than ever. But why Celebrate Carers?

The answer is very simple: carers are the unsung heroes in our communities. Tirelessly, day after day, they play a vital role in supporting the people they care for. Often, they have to juggle this with managing their own lives – going to work (or school for young carers); looking after other family members; doing daily tasks in their own house. It’s a role that can be tiring, stressful and lonely. And it’s role which doesn’t end at 5 o’clock, like most jobs. There is rarely, if ever, a holiday. It’s a 24/7 responsibility having someone relying on you to help with their care.

Group Shot

So Celebrating Carers is just that – our chance to celebrate all that carers are, and do. Although we have 12 different award categories, including awards for those who support carers, we hope the ceremony raises awareness of all carers, making us all more mindful of the challenges they face, and how we can all come together to become a more carer friendly community.

Celebrating Carers 2016 will be held on 14th October at Fry’s Club in Keynsham, 5-7pm. For more information, to nominate for one of the awards, or to request a ticket, click here.

Breaks, Carer Stories, Events, Young Carers

The YAC Bowling Night

FOR BLOGLast month, the YC team treated some Young Adult Carers aged 17-24 (YACs) to a night of bowling at the Longwell Green complex in Bristol. Luckily, there were just enough of us to squeeze into our minibus, which was donated to us by The Wheels Project a year ago. Steve (the Young Carers Officer) was our driver for the evening and ensured the journey there was almost as fun as the actual event!

At Longwell Green, we enjoyed a drink and a quick sit down before heading off to the lanes. We started bowling and within ten minutes Cherie had established that she was the strike queen getting two strikes in her first two turns. Steve and Joe were in fierce competition; as the only two males there they felt they had something to prove!

Continue reading The YAC Bowling Night →

Centre News, Events, Fundraising

Our Sponsored Birthday Walk

Walk1The sun shone on our Bath Centre last Sunday as 55 fantastic walkers completed our 20th Birthday Sponsored Walk through the Two Tunnels. It was amazing to see such a range of people walking, including some singers from the Jenny Peplow choir (who performed a fundraising concert for us just a few weeks ago!) and 9 year old Jack, who was eager to get going right away. After a welcome from Claire and Janine, the walkers set off at 11am, with smiles all round and even a few dogs!

Thanks to the fabulous weather, many of our walkers completed the full 9 mile route, only stopping midway for a pub lunch or a picnic –although Steve was on hand with the minibus for any carers that just wanted to complete the 4.5mile walk. Back at the centre, our walkers were rewarded for their time and effort with cream teas and mocktails, provided by our Chair of Trustees Jill Tremellen.

Continue reading Our Sponsored Birthday Walk →

Events, Fundraising

Our Fundraising Concert

The fabulous Jenny Peplow singers
The fabulous Jenny Peplow singers

A few weeks ago, the fabulous Jenny Peplow singers held a fundraising concert in Radstock for the Carers’ Centre. I got to attend as a spectator rather than a staff member, which meant I could relax as the volunteers did all the hard work! I also took my mum along, because all mums like a nice choir. We entered the venue to a sea of volunteers and thankfully, a room packed with eager audience members – some were carers that I recognised from my work at the Carers’ Centre which was lovely to see. Mum and I bought some raffle tickets and headed upstairs for a better view.

Soon, the choir came out, introduced by conductor Jenny Peplow. Dressed in black, the all-female choir looked so impressive, and when they started singing we all knew we were in for a fantastic evening. Covering our favourite pop and musical numbers in stunning three and four part harmonies, every voice of the 44-strong choir added something to the mix. My favourite song was a cover of ‘Jar of Hearts’ by Christina Perry, just because of the anger they managed to express while still sounding beautiful. However my mum started crying at “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ before they’d even started singing! Continue reading Our Fundraising Concert →