MyLife News

The My Life Raffle is your chance to win from a huge range of amazing prizes and support My Life as we continue to make a difference to so many peoples’ lives.

Fancy a trip to see the animals at Knowsley Safari Park? A beautiful hamper from Next? Or maybe a delicious afternoon tea for two at our Stable Door Café?

Tickets are just £1 a strip. To comply with COVID guidelines, you can pay for them over the phone. Simply call 01257 472 900 and make sure you have your bank card details ready. We’ll hold your tickets here and tell you if you’ve won when we make the draw on Thursday 22^nd October.

The full list of prizes is below. We’d like to say a BIG THANKS to our member Adele, for all her hard work making this happen!

All proceeds go towards My Life’s important work.

• 1st Prize – Family ticket to any musical at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool
• 2nd Prize – Family Pass to Knowsley Safari Park
• 3rd Prize – A hamper from Next
• 4th Prize – Afternoon Tea for Two at The Stable Door Café, Standish
• 5th Prize – £40 voucher for The Boars Head, Standish
• 6th Prize – £30 voucher for The Olive Garden, Standish
• 7th Prize – Family Pass for The Roller Rink, Wigan
• 8th Prize – £20 voucher for Greggs
• 9th Prize – Buy One Get One Free voucher for Blackpool Pleasure Beach
• 10th Prize – Play Passes for Cheeky Monkeys  
• 11thh Prize – A handmade jewellery set
• 12th Prize – A handmade jewellery set
• 13th Prize – A hand crafted brooch

Everyone has been working really hard across the whole of My Life to ensure we continue to support people in a way that makes sense to them and in line with government guidance and local lockdown policies.

We have continued to get support on a local level from Councils, CCG’s and Public Health to ensure we are delivering a safe and effective service. The Wigan Public Health team came to the Standish site for a visit which was really helpful, as they recognised the hard work and thought put into the site and gave us the confidence our implementation was good.

We have equally been working hard to look at a variety of new options for young people and their families who are going through the transition process and for those who are looking to change what they do, as well as having to think hard due to Covid-19 still being present, so we are in the process of designing more options for more people.

This is still being thought through, but we are looking to develop micro-enterprises for people to make a contribution to their community, extend how we can support individuals from home to one of our sites, as well as considering a wide range of options for transporting individuals.

The highlight over the last few weeks has got to have been teaching members, staff and students alike to get riding our ponies. People have tried something new, conquered fears, experienced new heights (literally) and have fallen back in love with a hobby from their past.

This will be an ongoing offer both on our curriculum and for members who attend for the day at Standish and Leigh. It has become so popular we have recruited some new tutors to help meet the demand and we are looking to expand our equine stock.

Thank you to everyone who has donated rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens and hamsters, which will really help to expand the learning experience for all of our members and students. Watch out for the progress over the coming weeks as we all learn more about the wonderful world of the animal kingdom!

Caroline Tomlinson, 

CEO, My Life

We’re dedicated to the care of everybody who visits our sites and the families we support in the community and are closely following government guidelines.

All staff and volunteers are now wearing face masks on site and we are continuing with additional measures, including social distancing, stringent cleaning processes and regular hand washing.

We know each member well and will carry this out with the utmost care for their emotional wellbeing.

Track and Trace forms

We are now also asking everyone who accesses our sites to fill in a Track and Trace form.

We will keep the data provided for 21 days as part of the Track and Trace requirements and it will all be stored and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.  We will provide NHS Test and Trace with this data, should we be asked to do so.

This will help NHS Test and Trace to contain any potential clusters or outbreaks, crucial to reducing the spread of Covid-19, avoiding the reintroduction of lockdown measures and supporting the country to return to a more normal way of life.

We’d like to thank everybody for their help and support, as we continue to do our best for our members, staff and visitors.

When it comes to our services, we are continuing to make decisions based on guidance from the government and the local authority, as well as considering the specific needs of each individual.

My Life Support

Thanks to their ongoing commitment, My Life Support staff are working with all our families to keep support within people’s homes, regardless of the current situation.

My Life Learning

At My Life Learning, all our learners and most of our staff are on their summer break, although we’ve still managed to see learners who have been attending Day Opportunities  – some have even had their first go at horse riding!  We are busy getting our classrooms safe and ready to welcome back current learners, as well as giving a huge My Life welcome to our new learners. We have some brilliant new classrooms and spaces ready for action in September!

Day Opportunities

We are continuing to welcome Day Opportunities members back at a gradual planned rate and this is organised and planned for the weeks to come. Key to this is social distancing, however we’re all still managing to have a lot of fun – we’ve been very glad to welcome so many much missed faces back!

Advocacy

We are continuing to support people through our Advocacy service, on the telephone and through virtual meetings. We are undertaking face to face meetings only where essential and have been following guidance on social distancing and use of PPE.

We’re doing what feels right for every individual

We understand that some of our families feel apprehensive about the easing of lockdown and that they may want to take their time to prepare to mix with their communities.

It’s really important that we listen to them, and in this way, we’ve been able to give everyone a wide variety of options to choose from, whilst adhering to government guidelines. 

We know that this is a difficult situation for many people.  We will continue to communicate with, and listen to all our members and their families, as the government issues new information concerning each of our services.

Whatever you’re feeling, whatever your needs are at the moment, we are here to support you.

Finding life a bit monotonous? Stressful? Maybe you feel a bit isolated?

You’re not alone. Wigan Council are holding virtual coffee and chat drop-in sessions for anyone with a disability, their family and friends.

A relaxed way for people to connect, you can talk about whatever you want, maybe you want to share how you’re coping with lockdown and it’s easing, or about what’s happening in your life?

Chats are an hour long and take place on:

• Tuesday morning – 10am
• Wednesday afternoon – 2pm
• Thursday – 6pm  

To take part, simply download Microsoft Teams on your tablet or mobile phone for free, and register by emailing d.dowd@wigan.gov.uk or calling 07920 081 866.

We take our cowboy hats off to our members, who have truly embraced our summer theme as our sites have become transformed into the Ole’ Wild West!

Activities have included treasure map making, hunting for gold, tee-pee designing and building, cactus constructing, horseback riding, dream catcher craft and making and sampling authentic cowboy food (they didn’t really JUST eat beans around the campfire, you know).

If we’re honest, we think they’re a bit TOO good at being cowboys and girls.

Here’s just some of the evidence!