November Newsletter 2023

Resident Voice Panel Newsletter Resident Involvement & Wellbeing

November 2023

Welcome! Welcome to our November Resident Voice Panel Newsletter which is jam packed with lots of updates and useful information which we hope you will find useful. We also have a variety of updates in relation to our Be Well services, our virtual COP event and our current theme of celebrating culture. We continue to look for residents to join our new Environmental forum, more details on page 3. We are also looking to recruit a Resident Wellbeing Lead - do you have an interest in wellbeing and want to work with the Resident Wellbeing Lead to shape the wellbeing services we offer? We are looking for an engaged resident to join our Residents Council and take a lead role looking at our current wellbeing offer, providing feedback, suggestions and being a general advocate for our Be Well programme. If this interests you and you would like to know more, please do get in touch with Lauren Smith at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or via phone on 07523943501.

Help us improve the way repairs are raised by completing this short activity!

We need your help with a ‘Raise a Repair’ activity to help us organise how we order information in the application so that it’s as easy as possible for you to use. To do this, we will ask you to complete some tasks in hypothetical scenarios. All you need to do is to click the link below and follow the navigation items, as you would on any app, to go to the place where you feel the information in the scenario would be available. This activity is an online piece of testing that you can do from the comfort of your own home and should take no longer than 10 – 15 minutes. Please click this link and follow the instructions to complete the tasks.

The closing date is Friday 17 th November . Thank you for your involvement and support with this!

Meet the Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Team

• Sarah Turner - Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Manager

• Sally Lucas – Resident Involvement Specialist

• Lauren Smith – Resident Wellbeing Lead

• Rebecca Lynch – Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Officer

For all resident involvement queries ie; Resident Voice Panel, Involved Groups etc, please contact BeInvolved@anchor.org.uk

For all wellbeing offers ie; Be Active, Be Digital, Be Skilled Be Connected, Community Grants, Loving Later Life Awards, please contact BeWell@anchor.org.uk

Tuesday Club – Virtual Coffee Mornings We host weekly virtual coffee mornings at 11:00am every Tuesday giving residents an opportunity to chat with other likeminded residents across the country and hear from interesting guest speakers.

Here is a list below of upcoming coffee mornings for the rest of the year that might be of interest to you and your neighbours:

14-Nov Lucy Ndlovu

Inter Faith Week

Zentangle (Zentangle is a form of artistic meditation aiming to relieve stress)

21-Nov

Arts by Vanessa

28-Nov Social Chat

N/A

05-Dec Christmas Card Origami

Arts by Vanessa

12-Dec Christmas Quiz

Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Team

6 Dogs, A Sled and Me! A Trip across the Artic regions of Europe

19-Dec Ken Robertshaw

We are busy planning guest speakers for 2024, if you have any ideas and suggestions of who you would like to hear from, please do get in touch with the Resident Wellbeing Lead at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or via phone on 07523943501 and we will try to accommodate your requests.

After listening and acting to resident feedback, we will be planning in two guest speakers and allowing an opportunity for two social chats every month.

Celebrating Culture

'Celebrating Culture' is all about promoting respect and being open-minded towards different cultures, bringing people together and helping them learn. From October to December, there’s a variety of cultural and religious festivals and celebrations, like Black History Month, Diwali, Inter Faith Week, and Christmas. Our goals are to inspire and assist our colleagues and residents in discovering and valuing other cultures, while also sharing their own backgrounds and experiences.

We will achieve this by:

• Promoting respect and open-mindedness for diverse cultures.

• Celebrating cultural contributions from different faith communities.

• Fostering interfaith understanding among individuals with varying beliefs.

To get involved, you can request a copy of our Celebrating Culture Activity Pack! You can also get involved with our Henna designing competition. To request your pack, please request it via email at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or via phone at 07523943501. Don't forget to share photos of your cultural celebrations on social media using the hashtag #CelebratingCulture. Let's celebrate diversity and unity together!

Are you interested in the environment?

Calling all residents

Do you want to play your part in contributing towards a sustainable society, where the planet we live on can sustain healthy lives for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren? Do you want to work with Anchor to help influence and shape our environmental sustainability strategy work? If you’ve answered yes, why not apply to become a member of our new Residents Environmental forum. Following the launch of our new Environmental Sustainability and Net Zero strategy we are looking to recruit interested and passionate residents to work with us and act as a consultative body. You don’t have to have any prior experience or knowledge just an interest, passion and commitment to work with other residents and Anchor personnel to help us deliver and successfully implement our environmental plans and targets.

For more information and an application pack, please contact the Resident Involvement team at BeInvolved@anchor.org.uk or contact Becci Lynch on 07816 089706.

COP 28 Invitation

You have been invited to Anchors COP28 Event!

This series of lunchtime webinars will take place from Monday 4 th – Friday 8 th December and each session will be 1 hour long starting promptly at 13:00pm .

To request a copy of the agenda and find out what will be happening on each day to choose which session are of most interest to you, please email BeInvolved@anchor.org.uk

Use this Zoom link to join on any, or all, of the days:

https://anchorhanover.zoom.us/j/83675538111?pwd=lXrSB5gv3wfOgD3jcps9ZVxNmuHuPH.1

Meeting ID: 836 7553 8111 Passcode: 123

…if you don’t have access to Zoom, you can join in any Zoom activity by telephone on 0203 6950 088 and then input the Meeting ID 836 7553 8111. (Charges may occur, so please check with phone provider).

Westfield, London Chatty Bench Launch On the 15 th of November between 11am – 1pm, we will be launching 10 chatty bench plaques at Westfield, London Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush encouraging the public to utilise the benches, sit and engage with others looking to combat loneliness and social isolation and supporting. Sarah Jones, Chief Executive, will be in attendance supporting the launch and campaign and launching our first bench. We currently have 450 plaques in and around Anchor locations and aiming to support more locations and the wider community. If you live local to Westfield London Shopping Centre, we’d like to invite you, your friends and neighbours to join us for the launch. There will be a refreshments stall and a buzz around the bench with lots of opportunities for photographs, share your feedback with our team and meet other residents and colleagues. It would be fantastic to see you there and have your support! If you would like to join us, please do contact the Resident Wellbeing Lead at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or via phone on 07523943501 for more details.

Free access to exercise classes with Be Active A chance to improve your physical health.

Have you tried one of our weekly virtual sessions?

Our sessions provide an opportunity to not only improve physical fitness but allows you to socialise with others interested in being active around the country.

You can join in any of our sessions at 10am or 11am and get a feel for the variety of exercises demonstrated.

Zoom Meeting ID

Move It Monday

Workout Wednesday

Fit Friday

Join Zoom Meeting https://anchorhanover.zoom.us/j/8450 5719625 Meeting ID: 845 0571 9625 Passcode: 123

10am Be Active Live

10am Be Active Live

10am Be Active Live

To join our live and pre-recorded sessions, simply open https://zoom.us/join and type in the relevant meeting ID. If you do not have access to Zoom, you can still join in by dialling 0203 6950 088 and then inputting the meeting ID (enter ID here) followed by #.

If you do not want to join the live sessions, you can watch our pre-recorded videos here BeActive exercise video - Session 1 - YouTube on our YouTube channel.

Be Skilled Learn new skills and get creative with Be Skilled!

Be Skilled is our free exclusive online learning platform for residents. In last month’s edition of the newsletter, it was mentioned that Anchor has now partnered with the Skills Network. The Skills Network gives residents easy access to Government funded qualifications. We have recently uploaded lots of puzzles, colouring pages, quizzes, and lots of activities to keep you entertained and engaged. These are free documents that you can download and use at your own leisure. We have also just launched our Diversity, and Inclusion e-Learning which is now available.

If you are interested in taking a look at Be Skilled and explore what it has to offer, please email BeWell@anchor.org.uk or phone 07523943501 for more information.

Chatsie Workshop (Utilising Mobile Phones)

Following the success of our previous workshop with Chatsie on the 10th of October, we are hosting another live session with them on Wednesday 22nd November 2023 at 1pm giving residents an opportunity to learn more about what our phones have to offer. The session will be recorded and shared with those who cannot make it on the day. These workshops support our Be Digital programme and enable us to support residents to become digitally included.

To join the session, simply click on the link below:

Join Zoom Meeting https://anchorhanover.zoom.us/j/3727229215 Meeting ID: 372 722 9215

...if you do not have access to Zoom, you can still join in by dialling 0203 6950 088 and then inputting the meeting ID (enter ID here) followed by #. (**Charges may occur so please check with phone provider.)

This is a great opportunity for those who are less comfortable using their device to get involved and grow confidence around using their smartphone.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please do get in touch with me at BeWell@anchor.org.uk.

Together Choir Bring colleagues and residents together through song. Those that attend the session say they really love the sessions as they are so uplifting and really brighten up an afternoon. Everyone is welcome, both colleagues and residents. Our Together Choir runs once a month, Thursday afternoons at 2.30pm for 60 minutes. To join the virtual choir, all you need to do is simply click the link below if you already have Zoom downloaded onto your smart phone or device. You can also connect using a webpage. Join Zoom Meeting https://anchorhanover.zoom.us/j/834135 48085 Meeting ID: 834 1354 8085 Passcode: 149193 If you do not have access to Zoom, you and your residents can still join in by dialling 0203 6950 088 and then inputting the meeting ID (enter ID here) followed by #.

Book Club Join our virtual book club every 6 weeks! Come join our next virtual Book Club is on the 14 th November at 3pm. Our book club is open to both residents and colleagues. Click here to join our Book Club and receive regular updates and reminders. https://bookclubs.com/clubs/5971186/join/077 6cd/

We will be choosing our own book again after enjoying the session so much.

To join our Book Club, simply click the link below.

If you do not have access to Zoom, you can still join in by dialling 0203 6950 088 and then inputting the meeting ID ( 897 2293 0261 ) followed by #. Join Zoom Meeting https://anchorhanover.zoom.us/j/89722 930261 Meeting ID: 897 2293 0261

You can register your interest at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or calling 07523943501.

Our next choir sessions are:

- 7 th December at 2.30pm - 21 st December at 2.30pm

You do not have to put your camera on if you do not want to, it is your own choice.

Everyone will be muted by the host, so you can only hear the Choir Master singing so feel free to sing to your hearts content. If you have any requests, please do let me know and I would be more than happy to pass them onto our Choir Master.

You can register your interest at BeWell@anchor.org.uk or calling 07523943501.

ReEngage Free call companion service

Useful Contacts Here is a list of useful contacts should you require any assistance or need any further information. Anchor On Call Our 24-hour emergency call centre. In an emergency use your pull cord or pendant to contact or call: • 0300 123 7101 Customer Enquiries Our Customer Enquiry Line is open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, and Saturdays 8am to 4pm • Telephone - 0800 731 2020 • Email - contact@anchor.org.uk Customer Debt Recovery Our Customer Enquiry Line is open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, and Saturdays 8am to 4pm • Telephone - 0300 123 7082 • Email customerdebtrecoveryteam@ anchor.org.uk Customer Relations Team Our Customer Enquiry Line is open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm • Telephone - 0345 602 5516 • Email customer.relations@anchor.org.uk Repairs Desk Our lines are open Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm, and Saturdays 8am – 4pm • Telephone - 0800 234 6163 Be Wise Free to call. Lines open Monday - Friday 9am to 5pm

ReEngage is a call companion service for older people who live alone or in sheltered housing. It can benefit those who live alone, don't have regular contact, but there may be some other people as well who don't live alone (for example, someone caring for a partner). Local Managers can also support Residents by referring them to Reengage and quoting ‘Anchor’. Within 7 days of referral, someone from ReEngage will contact you to say hello and find out a bit more about you. Within 30 days, you would then be matched with a call companion. There are also volunteering opportunities to be a call companion. You can self-register and training is provided.

For more information, please ring ReEngage on 0800 716 543 or check out their website www.reengage.org.uk

*Please quote Anchor when completing the referral*

0800 023 4477

Age UK Advice Line Free to call. Lines open 8am – 7pm, 365 days a year • Telephone - 0800 678 1602 Samaritans Telephone - 116 123 (This number is free to call from both landlines and mobiles, including pay-as-you-go mobiles. You do not need to have any credit or call allowance on your plan to call Email - jo@samaritans.org

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