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Summer 2010Summer 2010 MILLMILL NEWS NEWS

Hello. My name is Samuel. I am a sixteen year old autistic boy from Cambridge and I live with my parents and younger brother. I currently attend the Monday night Aspire group and help with the Thursday group, the latter of which I have been doing for a year, and I have been attending Aspire groups for seven years. Over my time at Aspire I have seen the groups evolve and change to suit the young people who attend them. During the early days we had Lego and other children’s toys as well as cake and ball games. As time went on and the young people in the group got older, cake was replaced with grilled sandwiches, the toys were replaced with more age-appropriate ones and ball games were dropped altogether, though they were reintroduced at a later date. Over my seven years coming to the Aspire groups, they have been a source of escape from the cruel world

in which I live, and a great help in getting through life. I first found out about the younger group I volunteer in, through attending the Monday night group. I decided to volunteer in it because... come to think of it I don’t why I volunteered, I guess I’m just - nice.

Over my year as a volunteer I have worked with nine amazing nine-to-twelve-year-old autistic boys. Working as a volunteer is fantastic fun, even if it does require a lot of patience, and is very rewarding. During the year I have seen the boys there grow and develop a lot, with positive results.

I N S I D E

Samuel—a volunteer’s story

If you would like to receive this newsletter straight to your email inbox, in full colour, please email news@romseymill.org

“Working as a volunteer is fantastic fun, even if it does require a lot of patience, and is very rewarding.”

Samuel’s story of volunteering with Aspire

Words from the CEO

Inspired by Aspire - one family’s story

Justin Lewis: music, midwifery and the Mill

Social action—young women’s group

Year of Challenges updates

Romsey Mill’s 30th birthday events

(Cam)bourne to run

Romsey Bear picnics in the park

Traveller football

Children’s Centre partners’ event

Mary Simuyandi—new Transitions worker

Pampering and challenge in Norfolk

New film and website on their way

Young parents’ poems

New term, new faces

Star Radio charity of the month for July

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I recently read 'The Best Idea in the World - how putting relationships first transforms everything'. It is full of humour, insight and down-to-earth stories in which Mark Greene explores a number of key factors which can lead to better relationships in families, companies and organisations. Two factors stood out for me as particularly important in relationships between Romsey Mill and our supporters – the people who support the work with money, prayer, time and by championing our cause. Those factors are Continuity of Contact, and Commonality of Purpose. Continuity of Contact is important in building trust and allowing relationships to flourish. Romsey Mill treasures the long-term relationships we enjoy with

individuals, churches, schools, businesses and other organisations. Some people who were there at the start of Romsey Mill continue to be active in the work. It is this continuity that has enabled our work with young people, children and families to carry on for over thirty years. Commonality of Purpose is about the shared activity, experiences and purpose which bind people together. As Mark Greene writes, “Shared purpose builds community and releases creativity”. Community and creativity are found in our Father God and are at the heart of Romsey Mill. They enable our work with young people, children and families to thrive. Neil Perry, CEO

Romsey Mill’s Aspire Programme has been a lifeline for one family from Foxton, Cambridgeshire. Rick and Sheryl have two boys, aged 10 and 13. Both are on the autistic spectrum (see box below) and as a result the boys find the social world difficult, confusing and scary. “Having two boys with autism makes life very difficult and as parents we have felt really isolated at times,” explained Sheryl. “The boys are intensely hyperactive and my eldest is dyspraxic too, which all make even the simplest trip to the shop a major challenge. “Before coming to Romsey Mill neither of the boys had any close friends and both found school extremely challenging. My youngest, in particular, was constantly picked on and bullied and teachers

once found him being tied up by other children with a skipping rope. “However, things began to improve when my oldest boy started coming to an Aspire after school club, [one of a number of clubs and other social activities organised through the Aspire programme for young people with Asperger syndrome or other high

functioning autistic spectrum conditions]. Then, at the end of last year, my other son also got a place on the programme and started coming to an Aspire club. “Aspire has made such a difference, at home, at school and during the holidays,” added Sheryl. “We now have somewhere to take our boys where we’re not judged and they can come along, be themselves, relax and have fun. “The staff and volunteers at Aspire are incredible - it’s a real lifeline. Both boys have met new friends, their anger has subsided and as parents we have really enjoyed the different family trips. Last half term we went bowling – it was fantastic and it gave us an opportunity to talk to other parents in a similar situation. Words just can’t express how grateful we are to Romsey Mill.” Sheryl’s youngest has the last word: “I thought the club was brilliant when I first came here and it still is. It’s the best club in the world!”

Words from the CEO

Inspired by Aspire—one family’s story

Asperger syndrome is a developmental disorder within the autistic spectrum. It affects about 1 in 200 people, more commonly in men than women. Those with Asperger Syndrome are usually of average or above average intelligence. Over 50 years ago, Hans Asperger identified a pattern of behaviours and abilities, including lack of empathy, impaired imagination, difficulty in making friends, intense absorption in a special interest and often problems with co-ordination. Whilst people with Asperger's will exhibit some or all of these characteristics, many also experience isolation and lack of understanding, which often results in frustration, depression and a lack of self-esteem.

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Justin Lewis has been involved on and off with Romsey Mill since he was 13, initially attracted by decks and disco nights held at the Mill in the 1990s. He now lives in Cambourne where he is a volunteer youth worker at Cambourne Soul. What first brought you to Romsey Mill? I grew up in Romsey Town and used to hang out with mates but we didn’t have a lot to do and got into a bit of trouble. Then we heard that the Mill had some decks so started going there, got to use the decks and played a bit of football too. It was really popular - some people used to come up from Hitchin! Has music always been important to you? Music is in my blood. My dad was a music man and I am passionate about it too. It’s really helped me to express my feelings and frustrations. I started MC’ing when I started coming to Romsey Mill and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been MC’ing in clubs ever since. What do you remember about the Mill at the time? I went to the Mill until I was about 16 and what struck me was how they’d go that extra mile for us. It’s hard to explain but they really seemed to care beyond what I’d experienced before. One time we went go-karting with Chris Rose [former CEO]. He was wicked! What’s been happening since then? I’ve had loads of different jobs and started a family when I was 22. I have three children and moved to Cambourne a couple of years ago.

I gather you delivered your second child at home? That’s right! When the contractions started it was too late to start to hospital so they talked me through what to do. By the time the ambulance arrived, I had delivered my son (Kai) and then they, thankfully, took over! Kai is now seven.

How did you get involved in doing youth work yourself? I moved to Cambourne, and volunteered at the youth club. We didn’t have much when we started, just a pool table, air hockey, and some PCs – but we now have some decks and I’m teaching the 12-16-year-olds how to use them! When did you reconnect with Romsey Mill?

I met Jon Sanders (Romsey Mill Youth Development Worker) at a youth festival. He asked if I’d do some detached work with him in the village to get to know young people and find out what they wanted to do. I agreed and after a while the young people expected to see us. Off the back of this work, we started a Friday group for 14-15-year-olds. With Jon’s encouragement, I’m studying part-time for a certificate in Christian Youth Work, through Ridley Hall in Cambridge. What are your plans for the future? I love doing the youth work and hope to get more involved with Romsey Mill once I have finished my studies. I really want to give something back and use my own experiences, particularly on the music side, to help others.

There’s a lot of talk about social action and faith – there always has been amongst Christians, and government also is now beginning to recognise again the particular opportunities that community-based churches have, to reach local people who are struggling in various ways. Kate Nation, Young Women’s Development worker with Social Inclusion Programme, supports a girls group that is developing their

social conscience through action. They have volunteered at a community centre for older people, run by St Martin’s church. They have looked at the Stop the Traffik campaign and developed art work in response to the issue of human trafficking. This campaign is coordinated by Oasis Trust and explored in Steve Chalke’s book of the same title. The group is active in fundraising for Romsey Mill – very active, as

they hope to cycle to London in a sponsored event as part of our Year of Challenges. Planning is underway, and the girls are looking forward to their challenge. Then in August, Kate is planning to take some of the girls to Greenbelt. This will offer the chance for them to become more politically informed and engaged in the context of this Christian-based music and arts festival.

Social action—young women’s group

Justin Lewis—music, midwifery and the Mill

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In March, we held an informal drop-in open day at Romsey Mill Centre. The event featured displays about the various programmes and Romsey Mill’s history; and music and dance performances from young people. It provided an opportunity to meet some of Romsey Mill’s staff team, volunteers and trustees. The event was well attended, with the chance to see old friends and for local residents to find out what goes on inside the building on the corner.

“This was the first of a series of events planned for 2010 to celebrate 30 years since Romsey Mill was established,” said Neil Perry. “The motivation of churches who established Romsey Mill as a youth and community centre in 1980, was to reach the hard-to-reach who would never enter their buildings and demonstrate a ‘practical concern for young people’. This remains an enduring motivation for Romsey Mill’s work today.”

On July 9th, we’re holding an Auction of Promises and showcase event at Emmanuel College, kindly hosted by Patron Lady Caro Wilson. We’re looking forward to 25th September, when we shall enjoy a reunion event for past and present staff, volunteers and trustees (2-4.30pm), and a thanksgiving service at St Barnabas Church (5-6.30pm), to which all are welcome - please join us!

Romsey Mill’s 30th birthday events

In March, Romsey Mill launched its Year of Chal-lenges, encouraging individuals and groups to plan a fund-raising event. £7,000 has been raised so far. To reach our £30,000 target, we need more individuals, schools, community groups and businesses to take part. In April, Revd Andrew Greany, Vicar of Little St Mary's, traced the steps of Saints Cuthbert and Oswald in Northumbria, raising £7,000 to share be-tween Romsey Mill and the Parish Development Cen-tre at Little St Mary's. Among the many highlights of his 100-mile walk were conversations with hospitable friends, including on 'the state of the C of E and the Fatherhood of God', and a G & T overlooking sunset on Holy Island with Lindesfarne's vicar. Young people from Romsey Mill joined staff from Tucker Gardner to abseil down their building on Hills Road to raise around £850 for Romsey Mill. John Adamson, Managing Director of Tucker Gardner, said, “I am pleased that so many people from across the branches are willing to give up their free time to raise funds for a hard working and worthy Cambridge charity.” A group of girls from Manor Community College part of our Transitions Programme, took a sponsored walk round Anglesey Abbey.

Ian Black cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats and Romsey Mill is one of three charities to benefit from his ride. Ian works for PricewaterhouseCoopers, who have recently adopted us as their charity of the year.

James Bennett cycled from Waterbeach to Paris, raising money for Romsey Mill and the Amos Trust.

Food for thought "A good name is more desirable

than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."

Proverbs 22:1

To take part in Romsey Mill’s Year of Challenges, please visit www.romseymill.org/pages/sponsored events.asp, or contact Sam Hill at Romsey Mill on 01223 566492 or sam.hill@romseymill.org

Year of Challenges updates

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One of Romsey Mill’s newest projects is in Cambourne, where Jon Sanders divides his time between working for Romsey Mill and for Cambourne church. He’s running several groups with Cambourne young people and a number of young men decided to enter the second Cambourne 10K run, organised by Cambridge and Coleridge Athletics Club. To add to the fun, they decided to wear fancy dress. That’s Jon in a Sumo wrestler suit, in case you were wondering.

Though a little deflated by the end, as you can see from this end-of-race photo, (though Mr A still looks tough and up for anything) the group was rightly proud of their achievement. And they raised over £500 for Romsey Mill. Work in Cambourne continues to grow with a new music project being planned, along with ongoing football, drop-ins and in-school work. The Transitions Programme plans to start work in Cambourne primary schools in September as well.

(Cam)bourne to run

Romsey Bear picnics in the park Romsey the Bear was the star attraction at the Young Parents Programme Teddy Bear’s Picnic on 16th June—their celebration of Romsey Mill’s birthday.

Over 70 young parents, both mums and dads, and their children, converged on Coleridge Recreation Ground to enjoy the sunshine and to celebrate Romsey Mill’s 30th birthday. As well as dancing and talking to Romsey the Bear, children

had the opportunity to have their faces painted, to decorate their own cookie teddy bears, make masks, try out some crafts, and enjoy balloon modelling.

Rachel Briant, one of Romsey Mill’s Young Parents Programme workers, said, “It was lovely to see so many of the young parents whom we support at Romsey Mill relaxing and enjoying themselves in the sunshine. And it was so encouraging to have lots of fathers present too - which I am sure was down to the efforts of Jason Gosling [our newly appointed Young Fathers Worker].”

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Children’s Centre partners’ event Romsey Mill Children’s Centre held an extended partners’ event in March, bringing together service providers and partners who all work hard to support families with 0-5-year olds in the Children’s Centre reach area. The event was a great success with twenty-five people attending including representatives from: schools, the health service, speech and language services, community development, locality teams, local parents and the Children’s Centre team here. Rachel Bennett (Children’s Centre Manager) facilitated a number of activities designed to encourage discussion around the five ‘Every Child Matters’ goals, how people find their working relationship with the Children’s Centre and the needs for the local area that will be taken into account as we in plan services for the future. Over lunch there was the opportunity for people to meet informally, understand each other’s roles and strengthen their working links. Ann Ackers (Early Years and Foundation Stage Advisor) commented, “It was really good to meet new colleagues and put some faces to names. The

activities planned proved just how much is going on in our area to support children and families.”

Romsey Mill Children’s Centre works in partnership with a wide range of other services to deliver the best possible support to families in the area. We hope to repeat this partners’ event annually to support the development of the Children’s Centre and to ensure that high quality services continue to meet the most pressing needs of local young families.

We’ve been running football groups at Manor Community College for many years. Recently, young men from the Blackwell Traveller site in Kings Hedges, and some from the Fen Road site in Chesterton, began to arrive and join in. Relationships between them and the young men from the settled community in the football group are good, but we decided to start a new group to cater for increased numbers. These take place on two nights each week, and twenty people have come along at different times. The young men, mainly aged 16-25, are enjoying the regular opportunity to play, to meet other people and

to get to know our workers there, Mike and Tom. And Mike and Tom are appreciating getting to know a new

community in north Cambridge, which is among the most marginalised in the city. And for the future? The young men are keen to go on a residential trip, for which planning is now underway.

Mike and Tom want to see skills groups starting so these young men can gain qualifications to open

up new work opportunities for them.

The site is by nature transient, but the group is now a consistent feature of the week and we’re looking forward to seeing relationships develop and opportunities grow in this work.

Traveller football in north Cambridge

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Mary Simuyandi is the newest member of the Mill’s Transitions team, taking over work in north Cambridge to free Ellie Howes, Transitions Co-ordinator, to further develop the programme. Mary is benefiting from the excellent relationships built over many years by Ellie, while also creating her own, and getting to know the world of north Cambridge schools. Mary joined the team in April when transfer groups with year 6 pupils were about to get going. She was involved in the referral process, meeting teachers and identifying with them those pupils most likely to benefit from a more intensive preparation for the move. Romsey Mill is flexible and responsive in the way it runs transfer groups and Mary works with schools to decide what programme best suits their needs. Mary also runs out-of-school groups. These include a weekly drop-in session, and co-running a girls group, which is completing a healthy living course.

She is developing relationships with other agencies including strengthening relationships with the churches in north Cambridge which initiated the project at its start. She is getting to know year 7 groups to whom we offer ongoing support, and is looking forward to residentials in the summer. Mary’s first week at Romsey Mill included a day trip to London with one of Ellie’s girls’ groups and a sponsored walk at Anglesey Abbey. This, Mary says, shows the strength of the work – seeing young people in different contexts but having a consistent relationship with them. Her verdict so far? “I’m loving it.”

Mary Simuyandi—new Transitions worker

Goodbyes At the end of term we shall be saying goodbye to our two hard-working ARU placement students, Enister Ngala and Filiz Celik. We’ll miss them and pray for them as they move on to their final placements next year. At the end of the Summer, we shall be saying goodbye to Martin Brooke who has been part of the fundraising and communications team, along with making appearances as Romsey the Bear. Martin is off to start Bible college training in London at Cornhill.

Pampering and challenge in Norfolk A girls group from Manor Community College enjoyed a weekend of adventure, friendship, pampering and challenge. They were able to relax in the homely atmosphere of the Dunton Centre, Shereford, and take in the quiet country scenery. There were family times of preparing food and eating together – one girl said she’d suggest the same thing at home. Co-leader, Enister Ngala, was impressed by their eagerness to help. Activities included archery, a climbing wall, power fan jumping, a trip to the beach and shopping. The girls worked together to encourage each other to meet the challenge of things they were scared to do. One said, “I told myself I can do this”. I had to ignore the voice that was trying to bring me down.’ Experiences like these helped them to realise the power of teamwork: ‘It’s helped me to think positively about everyone in the group.’ The girls felt that their friendship was made stronger by the weekend away. One, who had found some of her peers difficult, discovered that, “If I try, I can get along with everyone.’” In the pampering session, she led the way in offering manicures to the rest of the group.

New film and website on their way We are currently redesigning our website, so look out for a new look over the summer. We’re also producing a film about the Mill’s work, which will be used to introduce people to our work. Sections will be available to view on the new website. We’re grateful for the superb and thoughtful work of the production company, here seen with young men from one of our motor mechanics courses enjoying one of their biking sessions at a local farm.

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t: 01223 213162 f: 01223 411707

info@romseymill.org www.romseymill.org

Romsey Mill Trust Hemingford Road Cambridge CB1 3BZ

Registered Charity (No: 1069905) Limited Company Registered in England & Wales (No: 3556721)

Food for thought: "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all

wrongs." Proverbs 10:12

For more new stories about Romsey Mill, please visit: www.romseymill.org

Romsey Mill is a Christian charity dedicated to creating opportunities for change with young people, children and families in Cambridgeshire—including teenage parents, young people with autism, families with small children, and young people experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. If you would like to contribute financially to creating opportunities with young people and families—with a regular or one off gift, you can donate online using a credit or debit card at: www.romseymill.org/pages/supporter.asp. Thank you for your support.

Friends The first time I came to Romsey, I was nervous But people were friendly and nice Now I love to come, you don’t have to ask twice! Sarah Raven

Terrifying, what a terrible mistake

Everyone looks down on you

Excited about new start

Nervous! No money!

Angry at the world

Great support

Equals = the new you ….

M… Mummy, Mama, Mum! Can’t wait

Until he/she is finally here!

Motherhood Lisa Duncan

Relaxed

Out of control

More confident

Something to do

Excited

Young mums

Minibus

Interesting

Lots of fun

Loving staff Lucinda Thompson

Young parents’ poems about Romsey Mill...

Jason Gosling joined us as Young Fathers Worker. We look forward to hearing about his work in a future issue.

Our admin team welcomed Netta McLeish to help with their increasing workload.

Familiar face, new role, Jackson Nazombe is the new Social Inclusion Programme Coordinator.

Mary Simuyandi joins the Transitions team to work in north Cambridge.

New term, new faces

Rachel Bennett, our Young Parents Programme Coordinator, recently led a poetry workshop one afternoon. She asked some young parents to describe their experiences of Romsey Mill and of being a parent. Here are some responses.

Star radio We are Star Radio’s charity of the month for July and Angela Taylor, Romsey Mill fundraiser, was interviewed for a series of broadcasts to go out in July. See podcasts: star107.co.uk.