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Archived News

October 2008 - Ellingham Receive Award From Abbey National For Weedbusters

Ellingham’s Social Enterprise Weedbusters received a grant from Abbey National for £3,400 to purchase new gardening equipment and £400 for promoting the gardening service to the wider community.  

Weedbusters maintains gardens for private residents, local authorities and housing associations within the boroughs and currently employs 11 people with learning disabilities as Gardeners.
 
 
Marion Cooper (Project Coordinator for Weedbusters) said “By providing the opportunity of employment for adults with learning disabilities, we assist in breaking the cycle of unemployment and low self esteem and combat misconceptions in the community towards people with learning disabilities”.
 
The aim is to provide the training, education and supported employment to build the confidence of the Gardeners to enable them to progress into regular employment in the open market place.
 
 
 
 
 

 

October 2008 - Cutting Edge Recycling Project Launched

Ellingham have teamed up with a local recycling company to launch an exciting new textile recycling project.

Cutting Edge Recycling is a social enterprise staffed by our clients who sort and process the fabric to prepare it for re-use. Ellingham are working in partnership on this initiative with LMB, based in Canning Town, who manage textile, clothing and shoe recycling banks across East London. 

 
    
 
 
This new initiative was officially opened by Harry Cohen, MP for Leyton & Wanstead who visited the project within Ellingham’s Community Enterprise section in Leytonstone. Mr Cohen, who chatted to the team and even had a go at the work himself, couldn’t help but be impressed at the work they are doing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

July 2008 - Ellingham Clients Featured On Channel 4 News

Two of Ellinghams user testers contributed to a Channel 4 News report, screened on 30th June, which focuses on how people with learning disabilities are still being overlooked when going on line. 

The report, entitled “Off Limits To Online?” featured Ellingham clients Donna Dennis and David Sousa who were interviewed about their own online experiences and described the difficulties they encounter when using the internet.
 
    
 
Both Donna and David have previously contributed to Ellinghams Where Its @t initiative, run in conjunction with The Rix Centre at UEL, where they have worked as user testers and given valuable feedback to web developers about how websites can be made accessible.
 
 
Both Donna and David enjoyed a very interesting afternoon in front of the cameras and did a fantastic job, despite it being quite a nerve wracking experience.
 
To see the entire Channel 4 News report, follow this link: 
 

 

June 2008 - Ellingham Undertakes Project With BBC

A group of Ellingham service users recently took part in an exciting project with the BBC.  

Ellingham in partnership with The Rix Centre at UEL were asked by the BBC to run a project to record how people with learning disabilities consume media. In total 12 of our clients were supported to record their use of media over a period of 7 days using specially developed diaries. This was a sizeable task and included all aspects of media including internet, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, as well as the use of games consoles, MP3 players and mobile phones.
 
The BBC hope to use the findings of this project to inform the expansion of their on line iPlayer facility.
 
To this end a workshop was held at the end of the project where participants discussed the patterns that had emerged during the project and their experiences of using all forms of media.
 
         
 
The group were also given the opportunity to test the BBC iPlayer website and make recommendations as to any changes they would like to see implemented in the future to make it more accessible for people with learning disabilities.

 

 

April 2008 - IT Consultancy Social Enterprise Launched

Ellingham have set up an exciting new social enterprise which employs people with learning disabilities to work as IT Consultants, undertaking User Testing for web design companies. 

The enterprise is called Where ITs @t and was initially set up to work in partnership with Inclusive New Media Design, a research project which aims to identify the best ways to encourage web designers and developers to build websites accessible to people with learning disabilities.

      
 
Groups of service users from Ellingham have given input into the process of building more accessible websites and providing developers with a greater insight into how people with learning disabilities use technology and also the problems they may encounter. The groups are also testing websites for developers and providing valuable feedback on the accessibility of what they have produced.
 
Not only are our teams paid in return for the work they do, but the initiative is a great way to boost confidence and provides a useful stepping stone on the path to sustained paid employment.
 
    

 

March 2008 - Iain Duncan-Smith Presents Ellingham With Matrix Accreditation

Ellingham have successfully achieved the Matrix quality standard for Information Advice and Guidance services. The Matrix Standard is the unique quality framework for the effective delivery of information, advice and/or guidance on learning and work, and Ellingham are very pleased to have achieved this level of recognition.

On 28th March Ellingham was visited by Iain Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, who presented Chris Bailey (Chief Executive) and Peter Le Rasle (Chair, Board of Directors) with a plaque bearing the Matrix Quality Mark. 
 
 
Mr Duncan Smith also took the opportunity to look around Ellingham Head Office and was hugely impressed with the ongoing work Ellingham is undertaking to help those who are unemployed and disadvantaged both in his own constituency and across the whole of North East London.
 
    

 

 

February 2008 - EARN Project Is A Huge Success

Since December Ellingham has been running a successful new project in conjunction with Redbridge Connexions and Redbridge College. The EARN project is aimed at 17-25 year olds from Redbridge who have learning difficulties and are not currently in employment, education or training.  

Ellingham is working with these young people to improve their employability, build confidence and help them overcome the obstacles preventing them from gaining employment. Participants were also given practical work experience and job skills training whilst on the EARN programme. 
 
As part of the programme Ellingham teamed up with the Rix Centre at UEL and participants were given the opportunity to produce innovative Multimedia CVs. The group recorded their skills and aspirations using a range of multimedia technology including video, photography, interviews, internet, music, graphics & ICT. The concept is to be able to present an holistic CV of a person who may have little or poor academic qualifications on paper and who may not come across well at interview, but who still has plenty to offer an employer.  
 
     
 
The culmination of this was that the participants recently showcased their CVs to an audience of prospective employers at an award ceremony held at UEL.
 
 
 
Furthermore, a presentation of the use of multi-media CVs was made to the LSC LLDD Strategy group as a model of good practice.
 
To date, 7 out of 11 participants who have completed the programme have achieved paid employment, which is a fantastic outcome.

 

October 2007 - Weedbusters Win Sidmouth Park Contract

One of the innovative projects that Ellingham runs is Weedbusters, a social enterprise that provides employment for gardeners with learning disabilities. Weedbusters consists of three teams of gardeners all of whom have a wide range of learning disabilities servicing contracts across North East London. All work is carried out to a professional standard, with all gardeners holding up to date relevant qualifications.

         

As part of the Greener, Safer, Cleaner initiative, Weedbusters have been awarded the contract to undertake extensive redesigning and replanting work, as well as associated maintenance at Sidmouth Park in Leyton.
 
Many of the clients who are employed by Weedbusters have successfully completed some of Ellinghams various accredited training programmes. Around 80 clients were presented with NVQ, OCR and ASDAN qualifications in July this year, which is a tremendous achievement.

 

July 2007 - Ellingham Celebrates 21st Anniversary

On 5th July, Ellingham Employment Services held our 21st Anniversary event in the Olympic Suite at Leyton Orient Football Club.  
 
The purpose of this event was to celebrate Ellingham’s 21st Anniversary. This is some achievement for a voluntary sector organisation to still be successful after so long. We wanted to commemorate this significant landmark and celebrate the huge achievements Ellingham has made over the 21 years in supporting our clients into employment.
 
Secondly, the event was held to launch our new corporate branding and logo and as a platform for Ellingham to promote itself as much as possible in order to compete and survive for a further 21 years. 
 
Thirdly, a certificate presentation took place for our clients who have successfully completed some of our various accredited training programmes.  Around 80 clients were presented with NVQ, OCR and ASDAN qualifications, which is a tremendous achievement.
 
 

 

 

 

 

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