Amber transforming lives

get set!The twice yearly newsletter from Amber - Spring 2007

Amber,Shurnhold Estate, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 8DE

Telephone 01225 792622 Fax 01225 792629

Amber Ashley Court, Chawleigh, Devon EX18 7EX

Telephone 01769 581011Fax 01769 581379

Amber Bythesea Lodge, Bythesea Road,Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 8HR

Telephone 01225 759900 Fax 01225 759909

Amber Dextrous Ltd, Shurnhold Estate, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 8DE

Telephone 01225 792610 Fax 01225 792631

Email info@amberweb.org Registered Charity Number1051388

amberweb.org

"Amber is one of three charities chosen by FruityFaces Ltd to receive funds raised throughthe sales of their products - a new innovative range of inflatable fruit cases that arepositive, fun and cool. Featured on ITV This Morning & GMTV and BBC 2’s Dragons Den,visit their web site at www.fruityfaces.comto find out more."TM

Amber’s solution

An MP’s perspective on Amber

When I visited Amber at Ashley Courtin February, doing the Inner CityChallenge for the Centre for SocialJustice, I wasn’t really sure what toexpect. I knew Amber was there tohelp young people get their lives backon track and I’d seen the Amberwebsite but I arrived wondering whatthe next few days would be like.

As it turned out, my time at Amberwas an amazing experience which Iwon’t forget. I shadowed a TeamLeader for 3 days and had a chanceto talk with lots of the Amberteers.

The common message that keptcoming through was that for many

Amberteers, coming to Amber was theplace where their lives turned around.Those lives were previously focusedon drugs, alcohol and possibly prisonbut gradually instead they becamefocused on sorting out the rest oftheir lives, in terms of what they hadto offer and what opportunities wereout there for them to take.

Amberteers at Ashley Court have tobe self-sufficient - everyone isexpected to take care of themselvesand the place itself. As importantly,everyone stays clean from drugs andalcohol. Amber works because theAmberteers know that they’ve a much

better chance of making the most ofbeing at Amber if they support oneanother.

I discovered that the other importantpart of what happens at Amber is thestaff. It takes a special kind of skilland care (and sense of humour!), to beable to help Amberteers at Amber seefor themselves what they can do andthe positive routes their lives can take.For me it was fantastic to shadow thestaff of Team Leaders for my 3 daysthere and it was a massive learningexperience. To be able to workalongside John, Hilary and the rest ofthe Ashley Court team was brilliant.

Taking Amber’s solution back toWestminster

Justine swapped her Londonconstituency for rural Devon as partof the "Inner City Challenge", aConservative party initiative designedto enable its MPs get first hand,personal experience of Britain’stoughest social problems. Throughouther visit she was shadowing Amberstaff and helping with the day to dayactivities wherever possible. And justin case she was missing the thrust ofWestminster, the Amberteersorganised a ‘Question Time’ session

I became an MP because I believeeveryone has something to offer ourcountry and I believe everyone hassomething to say that is worthlistening to. Sometimes, for all sortsof reasons, we need to bother to lookmore deeply than we otherwise wouldhave done and that takes effort. Ifever there was a place and a projectthat demonstrated why making thateffort is worth it, it’s Amber. Thankyou and I hope to see everyone againat some point soon.

Justine Greening, Conservative MP for Putney

at which they asked questions rangingfrom the war in Iraq to why therewasn’t the money to open an Amberin every county!

experience about life at Amber.Justine was totally non-fazed by theAshley Court environment, and wascompletely happy interacting withboth staff and residents alike. It wasa pleasure to host her and shedemonstrated an excellent attitudetowards the work we do, and towardsus. Justine was a breath of fresh airand not your stereotypical MP. Shewas more than happy to roll up hersleeves and have a go. I even offeredher a job as a team leader…" "I wishshe had taken up my offer"!

John Anderton, Centre Manager,Ashley Court

Amber’s solution

"Justine saw Ashley Court from theinside out, and had a very honest

84% – the proportion of young people who left in 2006 having found a job,started college or achieved a major goal.

Amber talent

different crimes, got differentpunishments and accordingly, hadvarying levels of success with their‘rehabilitation,’ as such.

Truly, it was hard work from beginningto end. I asked an awful lot of theAmberteers and they gave me backeven more. The play, which wasperformed in front of about 30 of themost important people within thecriminal justice system in Devon andCornwall, had an immediate impact.Talks are ongoing on the topic ofbringing our play into schools, whilstother organisations are chomping atthe bit for us to write and performplays for them. String of Pearls is one

Hanging on every letter

The Amber competition had comeround again and the challenge was to make a papier-mâché model ofsignificance. At Bythesea Lodge wethought the word Amber should beshouted from the roof tops - well,maybe hung from the ceiling couldbe equally effective.

The Amberteers chose to makeeach letter of the word Ambermean something - A for Activities(photos of activities), M for MaryRose (model of our narrow boat),B for Bythesea Lodge (model of ourhouse), E for Employment (a CV) and R for Residents (face masks) - and hangthem from the ceiling of our workshop.Everyone wanted to make their ownface masks and it became natural tosee people walking around with bits of papier-mâché in their hair.

The entrepreneurial spirit continuedwhen 3 days before judging it all felldown and then the house caved inbecause it wasn’t drying quicklyenough! Some strong fish wire andbasic structural changes to the housesoon overcame the problem and wewere ready for the big day.

Heather Everall, Support Worker

Tiger power

What’s prowling around the meetingroom at Ashley Court? Is this fearsomecreature the reason staff at AshleyCourt are kept in check?

Is this what makes the Amberteersbreak into a sweat when they are called to the Manager’s office?

This fabulous life size papier-mâchétiger was made by Ian Bennett, MarkJohnson, and Billy MaCleod amongstothers as part of the inter-house Amberwide screen TV competition. In thewinter it roams the Admin block but inthe summer it will be released into thewoods so watch out!

The brush is behind you...oh no it isn’t...oh yes it is...

Artistic talent was in full swing onceagain at Ashley Court as Amberteerstook up their brushes to paint thebackdrop for the local Chawleigh villagepantomime. The local amateurdramatic group was so impressed withlast year’s art work that they asked forAmber’s help again this year.

As one of the artists, Amberteer Anniesaid, "It’s great to see the scenecoming alive before your eyes. We allhad great fun doing it." So, after 3weeks on the project the finishedresult was taken down to Jubilee Halland as the curtain came down afterthe show the performers and localresidents thanked Annie Hoskin,Jodie Swannick, Bradley Nelson,Trevor Chapple and Alex Meldrum fortheir hard work, and for ‘doing themproud’ again with the sceneries.

Jamie Davies, Team Leader

Sharing life experience

We were asked to give a presentationon homelessness and our experiencesto 100 students at Trowbridge College- a daunting prospect! It was hopedthat by sharing our experiences, wemight be able to make some of thepeople there think about what reallyhappens when you are homeless andhow hard it can be. We felt scaredabout sharing our lives with thestudents but we had support from our Team Leader, Paul and from thecouncil’s homeless team, which helpedboost our confidence. The talk was sosuccessful that we have been askedback to do some work in the lessonsthat are going on at the college.

Adrian Fellman and Tash Coull,Amberteers

More powerful than words

After months of planning, scripting,throwing pieces of paper in the bin andtense rehearsals, the latest Amberdramatic production finally got itspremiere in Plymouth on November 20.

Snappily titled ‘You can go your wayand I will go mine’, the play waswritten on request after the LocalCriminal Justice Board (LCJB) wasimpressed with our previous dramaticefforts. They wanted us to write andperform a play which demonstratedthe strengths and weaknesses of thecriminal justice system.

The play followed the fortunes ofthree main characters, Rachel, Peteand Will, all of whom committed

Amber talent

such organisation that we later workedwith to produce a play based on theeffect prison has on family life thatwas performed to an audience ofprobation, prison and social workers inTruro. A question and answer sessionwith the Amberteers at the end ofperformances was so well receivedthat members of the audienceconfronted those who controlled thepurse strings, asking why there aren’tmore centres like Amber.

Drama, it would seem, gets through topeople in a way that stuffy meetings inboardrooms do not. Watch this space.

Sam Tarn, Team Leader

"Once again I would just like tocongratulate you all on your performanceyesterday, it was the most inspiration Ihave had since doing this job!"

Kerry Carruthers, Newquay Police Station

Amber fundraisingBythesea Lodge gets a makeover

For Sue Thomas, the Centre Managerat Bythesea Lodge, it was likeChristmas all over again when 2major companies offered to help re-paint the inside of the house. It was a job that had been pending for some time and it was fantastic thatvolunteers from the corporate worldwere prepared to spend time givingthe house such a wonderful face lift.

First...a workforce of 35 peoplefrom Debut Services Ltd inBath and Bovis Lend Leasecame and spent 4 daysdecorating the building’sinternal hallway. Not onlywas it the enormous taskof redecorating the 3 storey stairwayand halls but they also cleaned thecarpets and replaced missing lightfittings on all the floors. It was anamazing transformation.

The Amber 10K Race

Amberteer Jamie was inspirational ingalvanising fellow Amberteers andlocal villagers to join him in asponsored 10K Race in the lanesaround Ashley Court. Jamie hadorganised the fun-run to raise moneyfor Amber but also the British HeartFoundation in remembrance of hisMum who he sadly lost to a heartattack in 2002.

Jamie devised a circular route fromAshley Court, notified the police andorganised road marshals and the StJohn Ambulance as well as organisinga barbeque, music and entertainmentat Ashley Court to which everyone inthe village was invited.

Painting for Amber

Beautiful paintings and hot waterbottles? An unusual combination butat the Amber drinks party it proved agreat success.

The Countess of Verulam is adistinguished painter and Ambersupporter and in January 2007 shewas exhibiting her works at TheFleming Collection. We were so thrilledwhen, not only did Dione Verulam offerus one of her private viewing eveningsfor an Amber reception, but she alsooffered to donate 50% of any profitmade from the sale of her worksfrom the whole show.

Dione’s paintings were awonderful backdrop to ourreception and over 100people came along to enjoya glass of champagne,superb canapés verygenerously donated by Finns

of Chelsea, and to find outmore about Amber. PLUS there

It was thanks to CRASH, theconstruction and property industrycharity for the homeless, that DebutServices learnt about Amber. BryonyChannon of Debut Services (South

West) Ltd who led the team ofintrepid decorators, said "I have the utmostrespect for what you atAmber do to help youngpeople and I was only too happy that DebutServices was able to help in a small way."

...and then a team from Virgin Mobile’s logisticsand finance department in Trowbridgedonned overalls and armedthemselves with paint brushes

was the chance to buy a unique‘Amber hot water bottle’! Afterexcellent speeches from AmberteersAlan Ralph, Jamie Davies and IanSimpson, and Chris Russell whosestory you will see at the end of this

newsletter, people slowly beganto make their way home.

Over £20,000 was raised,tremendous!

A big thank you to DioneVerulam and to the committee of Julia Bannister (Finns ofChelsea), Tita Granda Byrne,Simon Darling, Tessa Gaisman,

Lavinia Hadsley-Chaplin, Ali McGinley,Piers Russell-Cobb and Catherine Smith.

"It was such a great day" said Jamie "The race was harder than I thought butit was worth it to see so many peopletake part and they really enjoyed it. It has been such a success that Amber is thinking of making it an annual event. I think maybe the Amber Annual Fun Runhas just been launched!"

Amber fundraising

to give the dining room and adjoiningutility area a spruce up. Virgin Mobileteam manager Nigel Denny said "Notonly is it of great benefit to help sucha worthy cause but it is also goodteam-building". The Virgin team werechallenged to undertake the task byWiltshire Cares, a not-for-profitprogramme run by Business in theCommunity.

Help Amber, apply for the new Amber

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Virgin Mobile’s help didn’t end there.Money collected from a raffle, adonation from their CharitiesCommittee and two computersfollowed. This inspired what can onlybe described as pure dedication andlove for his work by Amberteer AndyRawkins who designed and built ahigh quality, totally unique computerdesk which will stand the test of time

for all those who followin his footsteps atBythesea Lodge.

A big thank you toeveryone, Bythesea Lodge looks amazing.

Remember a Charity a campaign run by charitiesto help people understand the importance oflegacy donations and how to arrange them.

Visit www.rememberacharity.org.uk or call 0808 1 80 20 80 for more information.

Amber visits

Aiming high and settling for nothing less

In crisp autumn morning sunshine ateam of intrepid adventurers fromAshley Court and Bythesea Lodgeheaded north to the Lake District toface the elements.

Lord Lieutenants’ visits

For Amber resident, Tony Martyniuk,showing the Lord Lieutenant ofWiltshire, Mr John Bush, aroundBythesea Lodge was the perfect end toa highly successful few days. Born inEngland but having spent most of hislife in Czech Republic, severe andtragic circumstances in Tony’s life

Following a long 350ish mile trip wearrived at the lodge that was to be ourhome for the next 5 days. We werebowled over by the fantastic sceneryfrom our balcony of Derwent Waterlake enclosed by the beautifulmountains of the Borrowdale Valley,home and playground to manyclimbing and mountaineering legendslike Sir Chris Bonnington. Here wewere ready to follow in their footsteps!

Each day started at 7 am with a quickrun and dip in the lake followed by ahearty breakfast before beginning theday’s activities, the most memorablebeing the assent up

Recycling carpet tiles

It is not unusual for Amber Dextrous tobe asked to do a house clearance manymiles from its base in Wiltshire andwhen it involves a journey to somewherelike Worcester it means a very early startto the day. "Right lads and lasses" says

Works Manager Jeff, "6 ‘o’ clock starttomorrow!". Now, getting any youngperson up at that time can be quite achallenge and it is no different atBythesea Lodge but there is never anyshortage of Amberteers keen to help Jeffwith his work. "It’s all part of preparingfor the world of work. They are greatworkers - and good company too".

Amber Dextrous has recently taken inslightly used carpet tiles to save themfrom going to landfill while at thesame time generating a small incomefor the business. Some are given awayfor free and are suitable for garagesand workshops or even on allotments

Scafell Pike high, the highestmountain in England at 977 metreswith views as far as the Pennines,Scotland, and the Irish Sea. "At timesit never seemed it was going to endbut we all made it. This has been thebest and most memorable thing in mylife" Simon Holcroft, Amberteer. "Inever believed I could do it but now Ibelieve I can do any thing" Ed Loydd-Jones, Amberteer. This was no walkin the park and there will be manypeople who will not have achievedwhat the Amberteers achieved.

It was a week in which theAmberteers were asked to step

out of their comfort zone and withoutexception, they all learned somethingnew about themselves and did Amberand themselves proud.

A big thank you to Tony Allen formaking this experience possible.

John Farrer and Claude Pool, Team Leaders

Amber adventurers

Boxing icon visits Amber

It was a hive of activity at Amber’sBythesea Lodge centre as theyprepared to welcome two boxing greatsto their centre.

One of Britain’s greatest sportingheroes with a string of featherweightchampionship titles, Barry McGuigan,came along with the 1999 IBFflyweight champion Mickey Cartwell.In an improvised boxing ring, the twochampions demonstrated to theAmberteers a few basic moves of thegame before asking if there wasanyone who would like to have a go.The opportunity of learning boxingtechniques with Barry McGuigan wasone not to be missed and there wasan immediate queue of young peoplewaiting to ‘take to the ring’ - includingAmber’s Chief Executive!

Barry McGuigan explained that boxingwas a tough sport, only a fraction of

made it impossible for him to interactwith people when he first came toAmber. More than a year later, Tonysuccessfully completed an intensive 20 hour TEFL (Teaching English as aForeign Language) course and is nowteaching english in London. "I couldnever have achieved this withoutAmber’s support" says Tony.

"I was enormously impressed by thededication of all the staff" said MrBush "Amber actually achieves what it aims for - a successful fresh start for young people whose lives have gone seriously wrong."

At Amber’s other centre The LordLieutenant of Devon, Mr Eric Dancer,was seeing just how much Ashley Courthad developed in the three years sincehis last visit. Mr Dancer was impressedwith the new Resident OrnamentBusiness (ROB) and the PracticalHousing Units course and then ofcourse, there was the life size papier-mâché tiger made as part of the inter-house TV challenge! "I enjoyed myvisit" said Mr Dancer, "and what Ienjoyed particularly was meeting andtalking to the young people and seeingtheir enthusiasm for the project."

boxers earning enough money to makea living. It was this that motivatedhim to set up the Professional BoxingAssociation to help boxers who do notmake it to championship level to re-train so that they have a careeralongside boxing. His passion to helpdisadvantaged young people drew himto Amber, which he described as "aunique place that takes youngsterswho are socially rejected and offersthem a helping hand. I am thrilled tosee these young people making arecovery. It warms my heart."

for weed control; others are washedand put in the shop for sale. Theseare suitable for offices, shops,showrooms and even houses and theprices range from 20p to 75p each.To date we have taken in 100tonsand have recycled about 20tons,including re carpeting the two housesat Ashley Court and Bythesea Lodge!

Amber successes

Amber successes Peter’s story

Peter came from an unsettledbackground in Cornwall. He had lostcontact with his family and fostercarers. He was living in his car andfinding the basics of finding somewhereto live and looking for a job impossible.

When Peter came to Ashley Court in2006 he found the structure hard tosettle into and missed theindependence of life in his car, butafter the initial period he determinedto make the best of his new situation.The change in him was remarkable.He thrived on the stability that Amberhas to offer, always working hard,always friendly and willing andgrabbing every learning opportunitythat Amber could offer. His workexperience with the local gardenerwas so successful the gardener wasready to offer him a full time job!

Towards the end of his stay Petermade contact with his family whowere delighted at his progress andwanted to help with his move on. He is now in Cornwall living in a flatnear his Dad, working full time forParceline as a warehouseman anddelivery driver and saving money tostart a course in architecture. He isalso the proud owner of a new car!

Chris’s story

I come from a single parent family,was kicked out of home at 15 andspent two to three years living on thestreets here and there. I did a lot ofdrugs, committed criminal damageand got caught for piracy andorganised crime and was put on aDrug Treatment and Testing Order. It was my Probation Officer whosuggested Amber and I thought why not, it’s worth a go.

Amber gave me a whole newperspective on life. It gets to the coreroute of all your problems so you canreally deal with the underlying issuesmost people ignore.

I really want to go into the army andwhen I left Amber I successfullycompleted a Coldstream GuardsInsight Course but was told I’d haveto have a cooling off period, keep mynose out of trouble and prove I’vechanged. So I went and got a job atthe local leisure centre where I wasmade Senior Recreational Assistantafter a few months. I’ve alsocompleted a Pool Plant OperationsCourse and am now a MaintenanceTechnician. I really enjoy my workand the opportunities it has given me,but I will make it into the army!

Darren’s story

I was at an 18th birthday party when myfriend made a large roll up fag. That wasmy introduction to cannabis. Harmless Ithought but after a 6 year habit I wasbecoming paranoid and frustrated andone night I had a panic attack that reallyscared me. I tried to stop but after acouple of months I started again but thepanic attacks returned and I thought Iwas going to die. It was about this time Igot in with the wrong crowd, got arrestedfor burglary and ended up doing 6months in prison.

Then I went to Amber. I was scaredabout living on the streets so I knuckleddown with my drug days behind me. InSeptember 2006 I started a collegecourse and a few months later movedinto a room in a shared house. I comeback to Amber regularly to see my oldfriends for it is thanks to Amber that mylife has changed.

Natalie’s story

By the age of 18 I had taken severalwrong turns and ended up homeless.I had the opportunity of going toAmber to make use of the time out,support and a new start that it offeredme. It was a turbulent yet poignantand beautiful 2 year experience whichshaped me into the person I am today- at 25 I have my own flat in abeautiful city and a career with theYouth Development Service workingwith young people which is (as I amsure I was) challenging but sorewarding.

Whilst at Amber I became involvedwith the local church and my faithsince then has been a great source ofspiritual and personal growth for me.Amber taught me to make the most ofopportunities that come your way and

in November I was part of a Christianministry team that spent 10 daysworking with the villagers inKakamega in Kenya, one of the mostbeautiful but poorest places on theplanet. It was an amazing experienceand I am going again to do more workwith them next November.

I cannot imagine where I would bewithout the support and opportunitiesAmber gave me. I will always beeternally grateful to Amber and thewonderful people I met. For me, inthe words of a well known advert, itwill always be "the future’s bright, the future’s Amber".

I was proud to talk about my successat the Amber reception for if itwasn’t for Amber, without wanting tosound too dramatic, I don’t think I’dbe alive today.

"Chris has had to learn jobs which he initially thought quite difficult buthas excelled in maintaining anddeveloping these areas of work. I findChris helpful, truthful and very muchreliable, a quality needed when he is dealing with just under a millioncustomers a year"

Alan Waistall, Contract Manager,North Devon Leisure Centre.