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Students on a roll at brunch club

Cartrefi Conwy's Kennedy Court Brunch Club, Old Colwyn with students from students from Llandrillo College doing the catering. Pictured is student Sam Hou Yau taking an order from residents.

A group of catering students are serving up tasty treats for the residents of a sheltered housing complex.

The students from Llandrillo College are putting the brunch into the weekly Brunch Club at Kennedy Court, in Old Colwyn.

According to housing association Cartrefi Conwy, who run the complex, it’s the “perfect partnership”.

For their part, the students get to hone their culinary and social skills in a real-life setting.

At the same time, the residents just love meeting up for a chat while enjoying bacon baps and cup cakes all washed down with a piping hot brew.

College tutor Trisha Hughes said: “All the students involved are studying the Introduction to Catering course on a full-time basis.

“While all have mild learning difficulties, they are thoroughly enjoying the responsibility of running the Brunch Club for residents.

“They organise everything themselves even down to deciding what uniform they wear. They do all the cooking and serving themselves and while the course is all about catering they are also learning other important social skills.

“It really is all about independence and learning about social responsibility. I am so grateful to Cartrefi Conwy for working in partnership with us on this project which we are already looking to extend.”

“We are delighted to work with Cartrefi Conwy with a view to future links for some of our mainstream students. There is the possibility of a gardening project and clerical work too.

“It is absolutely fantastic that Cartrefi Conwy are giving our students the chance to engage with the community while also having the opportunity to learn.”

Kennedy Court Warden Chris Bradley says the residents are really enjoying the Brunch Club.

She said: “The Brunch Club started in October last year and has proved very popular.

“It isn’t restricted to Kennedy Court as we have residents of other Cartrefi Conwy housing complexes coming along to meet friends over a cup of tea or coffee and a snack.

“The students have been absolutely brilliant and we all look forward to the them coming along for the Brunch Club. We are now looking to expand the scheme into other Cartrefi Conwy sheltered accommodation complexes such as Pentre Newydd.”

The Kennedy Court residents have nothing but praise for the students.

Sheila Jarvis, who has lived at Kennedy Court for more than 12 years, said: “It really is a pleasure to come to the Brunch Club. Well done to Cartrefi Conwy and the College.

“The students are  brilliant and work so hard making sure everything is perfect. It’s great for us to get out of our flats, meet up and have a chat. It makes for a really good morning and it’s always good to socialise.”

It was a message echoed by Yvonne Hicks, who has been a resident of Parciau Close, another Cartrefi Conwy sheltered housing complex, for six years.

She said: “It’s great, we meet up and have a good old natter and put the world to rights. The students are absolutely brilliant. At first they were a bit shy but you can see how they have developed and become more confident.”

The Rev Mair Jones, a Cartrefi Conwy board member, popped along to have a look at the Brunch Club in full swing and was “very impressed”.

She said: “This is a perfect partnership. Our strap line at Cartrefi Conwy is creating communities to be proud of and what better example is there than the Kennedy Court Brunch Club?

“Here we see students gaining valuable experience while residents are getting together and having a good old natter. It really is a good all round effort. I can certainly recommend the bacon baps, they are delicious!”

Cllr Bob Squire, who represents the area on Conwy County Borough Council, applauded Cartrefi Conwy for their links with Llandrillo College.

He said: “It is fantastic to see a partnership working in this way to benefit the community. I can see Kennedy Court residents really engage with the students and long may this wonderful scheme continue.”

Students Sam Hou Yau, 25, and Jasmine Richardson, 17, agreed that they really enjoy the Brunch Club.

Sam said: “I like serving people, everyone is kind. I also serve at the college and sometimes help my mum and dad in their restaurant.”

Jasmine added: “I am hoping to study catering in mainstream college next year if I can. I like everything about the Brunch Club, I like meeting people and having a chat. Everyone here is so nice.”

Thursday March 15th, 2012

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Head is top of the class for Welsh

Meinir Thomas Jones from Coleg Harlech at Nannerch School. Meinir with pupils from left, Lucy Caldwell, 4, Aidan Rothwell-Jones and Simon Jackson, 5.

The inspirational head of a village school is in line for a top award.

Jennie Lewis has been nominated for one of the prestigious Niace Inspire Awards for her work in boosting the Welsh language at Ysgol Nannerch.

Jennie took over as head of the 72-pupil school three years ago, just before an Estyn inspection which recommended that more be done to promote use of the language in the English-medium school.

She contacted Coleg Harlech Workers’ Educational Association to set up a group of learners among the parents and for herself, and the results have exceeded everybody’s expectations.

The first group of parents and staff was formed in 2010 and last September, following the success of the original class, a second beginners’ class was established.

Both groups are following Welsh for the Family courses run by Coleg Harlech which enable learners to focus on learning practical phrases and vocabulary.

The ultimate aim is to assist parents and staff to help the children with learning the Welsh at school and strengthen the home-school links.

Jennie has proved so inspirational and enthusiastic that she has been nominated by Coleg Harlech co-ordinator Meinir Tomos Jones, who is also one of the tutors, for the Teaching the Family category in this year’s Inspire Awards.

The awards are organised by NIACE (The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) England and Wales  and are presented to recognise outstanding contribution to adult learning.

“Instead of creating policies or guidelines for the use of Welsh in the school, Jennie has taken direct action, which has resulted in the status of the language being raised,” said Meinir. “She has ensured that parents as well as children have an opportunity and favourable conditions to learn the language, an action which has resulted in significant benefits for all involved.

“She is a perfect example of a learner leading by her own example and her perseverance in attending the class is proof of her determination to ensure that families of Ysgol Nannerch and the wider community participate in Welsh.”

Class teacher Gaynor Selwyn, who is among those attending the classes, said it was noticeable how much more confident and advanced in Welsh were those pupils whose parents were learning the language themselves.

“Nannerch is a very English village but the response has been remarkable,” she said.

Meinir commented: “I think it is extraordinary what has been achieved. I was worried initially whether we would have enough interest to justify a class.”

The results of the Coleg Harlech courses have been so successful that other Flintshire schools, including Ysgol Parc Cornist in Flint, have visited Ysgol Nannerch to assess whether they could do likewise.

Jennie, whose own daughter attends a Welsh-medium secondary school, said: “Following the Estyn report we looked at ways of involving the community and parents expressed a wish to have more Welsh, but it has surprised me how people have reacted and also kept at it.

“It is very impressive to see the positive impact the parents’ classes have had on their children.

“The fact that the class has focused on practical, conversational Welsh with the emphasis on essential phrases to use with children has given me personally more confidence to use Welsh in natural contexts around the school rather than just the class,” she said.

While she is delighted to have been nominated for the award she still harbours one ambition for her pupils.

“The icing on the cake will be when some of our children are confident enough in Welsh to move up from here to Welsh-medium secondary schools and that the class will have empowered the parents to confidently take this step she explained.

Coleg Harlech Principal Trefor Fȏn Owen is delighted that Jennie is in the running for an award.

He said: “Jennie is a fantastic example of how a proactive and enthusiastic headteacher can make a real difference.

“We wish her all the best and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for her.”

Thursday March 15th, 2012

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Stuart steps out to lift taboo

Walking around England Stuart Jessup and his dog Poppy stop off at Coxeys in Grosvenor Road, Wrexham to meet Morag and Peter Browning and administration assistant Julie Owen.

A charity walker is counting on a firm of chartered accountants and statutory auditors from Wrexham.

Teacher Stuart Jessup, 52, is in the middle of a marathon 2,500 mile-trek to raise money for Anxiety UK and Sane.

Stuart, who has suffered from periodic bouts of depression since he was a teenager, stopped off at Coxeys’ Wrexham office in Grosvenor Road to thank them for their support.

He was particularly grateful to Coxeys director Morag Browning and her husband, Peter, who provided overnight accommodation for him.

Stuart has taken a 12-month sabbatical from his job at the Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies, in Cambridge, to complete the Edge of England Walk.

He is now just over half way through the challenge and he’s hoping the final total will be close to £10,000.

Equally important to Stuart is raising the profile of the problem of depression which, he says, is much more commonplace than people think.

Stuart explained: “I’ve suffered from depression ever since I was a teenager. It’s a lot better now than it used to be, but walking has always been one of the ways of dealing with it.

“I used to work for a technology consultancy, and I had a what in the past would be called a nervous breakdown.

“I’ve had various different kinds of therapies since then and over the years I’ve learnt more and more about how to manage it  through drugs and therapy.

“It used to be very debilitating, now it’s much shallower and much less often, which is good.

“When it happens it’s like a switch being thrown in my brain -  it’s almost like my brain has shut down.

“It feels like it’s hard to think. It feels like I don’t want to do anything. Everything is hard. Dealing with people is hard. Dealing with any kind of problem is hard.

“You just want to shut yourself away, and that’s where the walking comes in because it’s a way of getting away from everyday life, just being in a different environment for a little while and just sort of quietening things down.”

“One in four people in their lifetime will suffer from either anxiety or depression.

“If you break your leg then you get lots of sympathy, you talk about it, but it doesn’t make any difference to how quickly your leg heals.

“But if you have a bout of depression or severe anxiety it’s actually the talking about it that’s part of recovery, and yet we have this taboo, this stigma that makes it hard to talk about.”

The link with Coxeys came about through an organisation called Junior Chamber International which is a training and development organisation for young people aged between 18 and 40.

Morag, Peter and Stuart’s wife, Kate are all Junior Chamber Senators who act as mentors to young professionals.

The staff at Coxeys are planning fund-raising activities so that they can contribute to the fund.

Morag said: “I have a friend whose mother committed suicide because she was depressed.

“Somebody else we know suffers from acute depression though you’d never know it because
outwardly he’s the jolliest person you could ever meet.

”I am full of admiration for Stuart for taking on this huge challenge and wish him all the best on the rest of his trek.”

Thursday March 15th, 2012

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