All in time for Christmas

Bright Sparks

We’re all gearedup for A14

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STAFF MAGAZINE newsDECEMBER 2014

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TALK TIMESYOU SAID – WE DID

I can’tbelieve thatChristmas isaround thecorner andthat we’vecompletedanother set of TalkTimes!

It waswonderful tosee so many of

you at the Talk Times in September andOctober; and thanks again for all of thesuggestions you put forward. That’s another156 things I need to look at!

But just like the Talk Times we had in thespring, colleagues came up with some greatideas about how we can become morecommercial and generate an income out ofsome of the great services we alreadydeliver. Some we’ll really want to do, others we might not be able to do butwe’ll take a good look and see which onesmight work for us.

I loved the ideas around doing more forprivate landlords and we’ve already seen arise in landlords wanting to us to let theirproperties for them. I also really like the ideaof doing more around gas servicing forprivate houses, providing health and safetyadvice and support for small businessesand extending our CCTV control room tocover other businesses or schools.

These things take time but I’d love to seethem come to life at some stage. I’ll let you know more about how it’s going at our nextTalk Times in the spring.

I also really enjoyed the chat we had aboutwhat we can do to help disabled and vulnerable people more and improve theinformation we have about them.

Ideas like creating smaller homes where wecan to help people out of the bedroom tax is already underway at Heath Town wherewe’re converting some 3 bedroommaisonettes into 2 bedrooms. I know ournew mental health worker Charmaine, isdoing some great work too. I think we allagreed that in an ideal world we could dowith about ten more Charmaines!!

But we talked about what we as individualscould do to be more considerate. Thingslike not parking in disabled parking bays, orparking on pavements, or just being a littlemore patient – there’s lots we can all do tohelp make other’s lives that little bit easier.

It’s difficult to put down on one page all ofthe ideas you came up with - there wereliterally so many! But I’ll keep you posted onhow it’s all going. In the meantime, thanksfor all your hard work this year. There’s areason why 24 Housing named us as the12th top social landlord in the country andthe 2nd best ALMO – it’s because of thegreat work you do.

Have a wonderfulChristmas everyone!

‘‘

‘‘Lesley

It’s as regular in the calendar now asChristmas Day, Easter and repeats ofTop Gear on Dave – that’s right,Arrears Fortnight is back!

Last year’s campaign was arguably the mostsuccessful so far. With volunteers from acrossmore than 20 different areas of the businesstaking part – the housing management teammanaged to recoup more than £215,000 in rent arrears in just two weeks!

What’s more – the campaign was that successful– we walked away with the Best CommunicationsCampaign Award at this year’s NFA Awards!

By the time you read this – we’ll be wellunderway for A14 in 2014. So we wanted to saya massive thank you to everyone who’s takingpart. Whether you’re knocking doors, answeringphones, making early morning house visits,picking up work for estate managers or justmaking lots of tea – you’re all stars!

Linda Evans, with the help of Andrew Finch, Julie Manning and Sophie Munn, is the brainsbehind the campaign – so, with A14 now in fullswing – we asked her what she wanted to say to

colleagues who are helping outagain this year.

“For the past two years I’ve co-ordinated ArrearsFortnight, I’ve beeninundated with peoplevolunteering to help outand be part of the

campaign.

I’ve really enjoyed meeting new faces from acrossthe organisation - the team spirit that is soevident during the fortnight is a real boost andgreat to be part of.

It’s so important that we get extra support fromteams who wouldn’t normally be involved in theday to day collection of rent- every little bit reallydoes help to bring the money in and keep ourbank balance healthy.

A14

Rent First!

PLEASE

Rent First!

PLEASE

Contact Linda Evans on 558336 or email:linda.evans@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

Want to help?

RENT ARREARS

It’s EVERYONE’S business

RENT ARREARS“It’s our business”

24 NOVEMBER 05 DECEMBER– Rent

First!

PLEASE

Rent First!

PLEASE

Contact Linda Evans on 558336 or email:

linda.evans@wolverhamptonhomes.org.ukWant to help?

RENT ARREARS

It’s EVERYONE’S business

RENT ARREARS

“It’s our business”

24 NOVEMBER 05 DECEMBER–

Rent First!

PLEASE

W

RENT ARREARS

It’s EVERYONE’S business

RENT ARREARS“It’s our business”

24 NOVEMBER 05 DECEMBER–

Contact Linda Evans on 558336 or email:linda.evans@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

Want to help?

RENT ARREARS

“It’s our business”

Rent First!

PLEASE

RENT ARREARS

It’s EVERYONE’S business

24 NOVEMBER 05 DECEMBER–

Rent First!

PLEASE

Contact Linda Evans on 558336 or email:linda.evans@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

Want to help?

RENT ARREARS

It’s EVERYONE’S businessRENT ARREARS“It’s our business”

24 NOVEMBER 05 DECEMBER–

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Thank you all very much for your valuedsupport and here’s to a successful A14 2014!

And we’re off! is well underway

Zac asked:There’s now a Heath TownAction Group and DecentHomes work is wellunderway – what otherinitiatives are there for thearea?We’ve got quite a few initiatives

going on. Decent Homes are converting some3 bedroom maisonettes to 2 bedroomproperties to help tenants that are affected bythe ‘bedroom tax’. There are three of usworking from the Heath Town office 3 days aweek now and we’ve also got Maria from theRefugee & Migrant Centre working with us tohelp us contact tenants where there is alanguage barrier. She speaks Russian andLithuanian which is really handy.

How are you encouraging tenants to ‘Do It Online?’

We’re giving out leaflets sotenants know how to register andwe’re promoting the WebWizards’ help. We’re also gettingup to date contact informationfrom our tenants and updatingNorthgate.

If you had a family motto, whatwould it be?“I don’t really have a family mottohowever, there is a saying that Ilove which is “Dance like no oneis watching, Love like you’venever been hurt, Sing like no oneis listening and Live like itsheaven on earth”. I can relate tothis saying, especially when Ihave had a glass of wine!”

Teresa asked:Voids Team have recentlybeen subject to a PeerReview. Can you tell mewhat was involved andhow it went? The peer review was carriedout in September. They spoke

to members of the team, and spent a fewdays out in the field looking at examples of ourvoid properties.

It turned out to be quite enjoyable andbeneficial; highlighting areas where we couldmake improvements but it also gave us theopportunity to demonstrate our strengths.I’m looking forward to reading the final report.

I’ve often seen you riding your VespaScooter, what fuels your interest in this area?I had my first Vespa at 15 years old and prettymuch messed around with them ever since.Over the years I’ve had a fair number of Vespaand Lambretta scooters which I’ve restored orrebuilt. I’ve enjoyed the social scene – themusic, rallies, clothes, that are associated with scooters but as I’ve got older, my maininterest is retreating to the peace and quiet ofmy shed to work on my scooter, and also themonthly scooter meeting arranged via theMidlands Scooter Club. The next one is theDecember Toy Run with all donations going to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

justask

We’ve been doing a lot of intensive work on HeathTown lately – so Heath Estate Manager Teresa Wyattand Voids boss/company ‘mod’ Zac Beech, met upfor a chat about how it’s all going.

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PROUD TO BE GIVINGSOMETHING BACK

In the past few months you’ve helped raise

thousands of pounds for great causes. In October

you raised more than £1,500 for MacMillan

nurses through baking cakes at a series of coffee

mornings and you helped Darren Baggs raise more

than £800 for the HemiHelp charity.

Our EqualityChampions were

doing their thing in October

by supporting OlderPeople’s Day wherewe held a specialevent for a group of older tenants.

We also supported World MentalHealth Day.

A record number of volunteers took part in thisyear’s Pride parade in the city. Nearly 50 of us tookto the streets of the city centre in what wasWolverhampton’s largest festival to celebrate ourLGBT community. A massive thank you to ourProud To be Me Network who helped organise itand to colleagues, gay and straight who turned up to support us.

When it comes to raising money for good causes there’s no one better than staff at Wolverhampton Homes!

Finally – we marked the 100th anniversary of the

start of World War One by laying wreaths at 17

war memorials across the city. More than 30

members of staff volunteered to lay the wreaths as we remembered

those fromWolverhampton whomade the ultimatesacrifice so we canenjoy the freedoms

we do today.

We Will Remember

Them

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SPORTS DAY SUCCESS FOR SHAUN’S BOYS!

But it’s penalty misery for Mick’s men.

More than 150 colleagues donned their sporting gear to get involved at this year’s sports day at Aldersley Stadium

back in September.

North Repairs’ bagged their second football trophy in as manyyears – clinging on to their trophy after beating South Repairs in

a penalty shoot-out.

Teams from North Repairs, South Repairs, Concierge,Neighbourhoods, Lettings and the head offices at Hickman

Avenue lined up to take part in this year’s tournament. But it wasShaun Mulloy’s men who were triumphant in the end.

But it wasn’t just football – staff took part in old-school egg andspoon races, space hopper sprints and bungee running too!

Ian Howroyd from North Repairs, playing his first game offootball for 8 years said:

It was a great day. A great experience andpersonally I was glad I could still play to a

good level. It was good to get out and keepfit, it was really well run…and we won!

‘‘‘‘

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‘‘

‘‘

BRIGHTSPARKS!!

Last month we paidtribute to the 50 or somembers of staff whohave been working hard to gain extraqualifications over thepast few years.

Lesley said:

Embracing learning is one ofour key values so it was sonice to see so colleagueswith their certificates. After aday’s work sometimes thelast thing you want to do isopen the school books andstart studying so it’s

wonderful to see so manycolleagues putting in such an effort to gain new skills and qualifications.

Our bright sparks came along to Tarmac Road to have a bite to eat and to talk to Lesley and

the other Directors about the work they’d been doing.

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Known by most as our mild-mannered Senior HR Officer, itcame as a huge surprise to hearabout Jane Tipper’s military-might!

A few months ago, Jane took part in a tank driving experience. It was a Mother’sDay gift from her son Daniel (who works in our finance team).

Jane made her way to the ‘Armageddonsite’ in Leicester. It’s a working farm, which caused Jane and her tank crew a few cattle-related problems! Jane said:“As it didn’t have a steering wheel it

was a bit scary at first but when I got toremember my left and right I was absolute fine…apart from acow standing in the pathway when I went around a corner.”

But it turns out when it comes to driving – this isn’t Jane’s first crazy experience.

I love things like this. I’ve previously driven an

Artic Truck and the next thing I would love to do is a monster truck...I really want to squash

some cars!

Tip

pe

r’s

Ta

nk

s!

‘‘‘‘

IT’S TIME TO TALKI’m not sure how to break this to you. It might come as a shock…but you know someone with a mental health problem.When people talk about health and wellbeing I’m sure most people think about losing weight,eating healthily and feeling guilty about the cakeswe ate at the last team meeting!

But it’s not just about our bodies and physicalfitness. It’s about our mental health as well. Foryears, mental health has been a taboo subject – especially at work. A sign of weakness – theend of our career progression, something wedon’t want to share with friends and families and we sure as hell don’t want to share it with

our colleagues!

But times are changing.It’s time to talk aboutmental health.

We all know someonewho’s affected by mentalhealth problems – even

if they’ve not told us about it. 1 in 4people will suffer from anxiety, stress or depressionthis year alone.

At work, it’s on average, 1 in 6. So, that means atWolverhampton Homes – there could be around130 colleagues who are suffering in silence.

But unlike someone who’s broken their arm orleg – the symptoms aren’t always that noticeable.

Life has got faster and we’re all really busypeople. Going to work, fetching the kids, cookingdinner, paying the bills, looking after elderlyrelatives – the list is almost endless. And it feelslike sometimes we’ve all forgotten to ask peoplethe simple things – how are you?

Are you feeling ok? Do you need to talk?If you’re feeling stressed and you need to talk –you don’t need to suffer in silence.

We run a counselling service as part of our healthand wellbeing agenda – if you need to speak tome then I’m here to help. All you need to do isbook an appointment through the HR team.

But if you don’t want to talk at work – then makesure you talk to someone; there is alwayssomeone there to listen.

There are lots of services who can help – check them out on our website atwww.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk/mentalhealth

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Sometimes – people just need to talk. So why not make a new year’s resolution; be that person people can talk to.

Known to most of us as HomesDirect’s original‘cheeky-chappy’,but believe it or not there’s more to Neil Mabberleythan meet the eye.

Neil’s a customer serviceadvisor in the contactcentre and has been withus for five years. He tooka break in the middle ofthat and joined up for theprison service (we shouldstate for the record that itwas as a member of staffand not a resident!)

Neil’s one of our Homes Direct heroes who can be found answeringmany of the 200,000phone calls a year.

But outside of life inHomes Direct, Neil’s been spending the lasttwo years volunteeringhis spare time with WestMidlands Fire Service.

“I’ve been a volunteer atthe fire service for aroundtwo years now, providingfire safety advice and alsoundertaking home safetychecks. We also carryout a programme calledwelcome to the WestMidlands which is to aidnewcomers to the

country about our rulesand regulations on firesafety.”

“I think the preventionwork the fire service do is key and I really enjoythat side of the scheme.Most of our preventionwork includes homesafety checks and givinginformed advice aboutkeeping safe around the home.”

We asked Neil whatmade him want tovolunteer for the fireservice; “I decided to get into the fire service to continue to help thecommunity – sort of likean extension of the work I already do withWolverhampton Homes”Neil said.

Neil, who is also a big Chelsea fan, waseven presented with avolunteer award for hiswork with the fire service as part of theQueen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Neil Mabberley, we salute you sir!

NEIL’S FIRE SERVICEVOLUNTEERING GIVES A WARM GLOW

I decided to get into the fire service to continue to help

the community ‘‘

‘‘

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ALL IN

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CHRISTMAS

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Charmaine is the latest addition to our Housing Support Team and isbased at the Wednesfield offices. Charmaine is a trained mental healthworker. Her experience and knowledge is already making a difference.

1. What do you like to do in your spare time? In my spare time I am a dancer and I love to Roller Skate at Birmingham’s Tower Ball Room every fortnight.

2. If you were on Come Dine With Me – what three courses would you cook? Starters: I would do Jerk Wings with a colourful Salad and a Mango & Scotch Sauce Mains: I have two dishes; I would do Traditional Curry Goat with Rice n Peas and fried Plantain and Pan Fried Tilapia Fish stuffed with Greens served

with fluffy rice & Coconut Sauce Desserts: My childhood Trifle and Nannies Jamaican Fruit Cake

3.What’s the last song you downloaded…and what’s the most embarrassing song on your IPod? Last downloaded was J.Cole – Work Out Most embarrassing but I love them are Etta James – At Last and Moon River (Galaxy advert)

4. If you could meet one celebrity who would it be and why? The lights of Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan and Taraji Henson

positive black actresses I see as role models and I highly admire.

5. If you had one message for staff about mental health and things like stress and depression, what would it be? Don’t keep it to yourself, when you keep things inside that have you incredibly stressed and low in mood you in turn have poor mental health well – being which can result in the manifestation of a Mental Health Illness. There is no shame in asking for help, support is out there for you.

GETTING TO KNOW...Charmaine Anderson

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