Warblings Q1/2 2015

LIFEWORKS

Bringing the Community Together

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LIFEWORKS

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S MESSAGE Our new strategy went live on 1st June & I enjoyed discussing our ambitions with you all at the road shows. I sense a buzz of excitement as we realise all the good work we already deliver & how this will enable significant growth.

RBLI is about helping individuals gain independence & this strategy gives us the direction, level of ambition & resources to support many more beneficiaries on a truly national footprint.

Working to the themes of Invest, Inspire, Innovate & Influence, our success will depend on managers, staff, volunteers & Friends all contributing ideas, energy & support. It is an ambitious plan designed to enable growth & sustainability so that we can keep Improving Lives Every Day for another 100 years!

I was overwhelmed with the high quality nominations for the Staff Awards this year. The winners were all thoroughly deserving & are a reflection of the fantastic work delivered on a daily basis across the Charity. I would like to thank everyone who has supported our cause by working tirelessly throughout the year to inspire beneficiaries. Well done!

The new organisational structure has moved into place & recruitment of additional staff is well underway. The new branding has been rolled out, & this fresh new look plus the clarity given by the sub-brands, is stimulating positive feedback both internally & externally. I am also pleased to see the wonderful Garden of Honour put to good use with the Big Lunch bringing the community together. The launch of our Volunteers campaign is also a major step towards integrating the community with our work & there is now a steady growth in the number of Volunteers within RBLI. Excitingly, Base Camp will open this summer providing a hub on the Village for refreshments, activities & events for the whole com-

munity. The official opening is planned for 4th September – make sure you are there!

Most pleasingly, we have more staff, offices & reach across the UK delivering LifeWorks, MoD Vocational Assessments & DWP’s Access to Work & Work Programme contracts. I am grateful to The Royal British Legion & Poppy Scotland for their collaborative working allowing LifeWorks to be delivered from Pop-In Centres & other facilities. These LifeWorks courses would not be possible without the vital funding that is provided by ABF The Soldiers Charity, Walking with the Wounded, The Royal British Legion, Poppy Scotland, the RNRM Charity & The Rank Foundation.

The support the Armed Forces Community & charities receive from Local Authorities is enormous. Close to home we are superbly supported by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, Medway Council, Kent County Council & many other councils in the area. Across the country we are grateful for support from numerous Local Authorities who are committed to the Military Covenant & work closely with us to assist veterans in their areas.

This edition of WARBLINGS is about bringing the community together. My message is that this needs to encompass all opportunities to work collaboratively & is much broader than simply local initiatives. There are other ‘communities’ - the charitable sector, the Armed Forces community, Local Government & even the commercial world. RBLI has a major role in bringing these communities together to enable success for our beneficiaries. Thank you for supporting Improving Lives Every Day & I wish you all an enjoyable summer.

Steve Sherry Chief Executive

CONTENTS

MARIA’S BIG LUNCH

Event at the Garden of Honour brings residents, staff & schools together

MARATHON DES SABLES

RBLI customer raises over £1400 in epic race across the Sahara Desert

IMPROVING LIVES

The launch of our new strategy sees a restructuring of the organistion

RECORD WEEK IN WOOD The Wood Products Team have a record week in production

250 SPOUSES HELPED The LifeWorks Team continue to expand their support to veterans and the spouses of serving personnel across the country

ADVISOR OF THE YEAR

RBLI Employability Consultant wins prestigious ERSA Award

TARGET RAISED!

The Friends of RBLI exceed fundraising target for the Garden of Honour

EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

The RBLI Staff Awards celebrates the achievements of employees across the organisation

Royal British Legion Industries

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@RBLI 3

THE BIG LIFEWORKS

BRINGING THE COMMUNITY TOGE

AYLESFORD SCHOOL BAND WOWS THE CROWD

On Friday 5th June, the RBLI Big Lunch saw staff, local residents, and children from Aylesford Sports College, Aylesford Primary School and St Peter’s Primary School join together in a community picnic at the Garden of Honour. The event, organised by RBLI’s Community Health and Wellbeing Officer, Maria Gallego, aimed to bring a wide range of people from the local community together.

Starting at 11am, the event saw musical performances from Year 10 music students at Aylesford Sports College, with the band playing some chart hits, as well as a solo pianist who

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G LUNCH LIFEWORKS

ETHER WITH MUSIC, FUN & FOOD

MARIA’S COMMUNITY BIG LUNCH A GREAT SUCCESS & ENJOYED

BY ALL

played his own composition. Choirs from Aylesford Primary School and St Peter’s Primary School sang WW2 classics such as ‘It’s A Long Way To Tipperary’, which were thoroughly enjoyed by the residents as they relaxed in the sunshine.

In addition to organising one-off events like the RBLI Big Lunch, Maria runs and organises various activities for residents around Aylesford, including armchair aerobics and coffee mornings. She is also helping to create a programme of events and activities that will be held at RBLI’s new Big Lottery funded Community Hub and Cafe – Base Camp – which will open later in the year.“ 5

MARATHON VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT

6 DAYS, 156 MIL Our customers help us support veterans & disabled people by buying our products, but the Managing Director of our fulfilment customer TMP, has gone one step further: this April, Dan Robinson put on his trainers and took on the incredible Marathon Des Sables to raise funds for RBLI. A race across the Sahara Desert, the Marathon Des Sables sees competitors run 156 miles in just 6 days!

Dan told us how it went: “What an experience! Back in April, over the Easter holidays, while everyone enjoyed Roast Lamb and Easter Eggs, I was participating in the 2015 Marathon Des Sables. Known as the ‘Toughest Foot Race on Earth’, the 6 day event takes place in the gruelling heat of the Sahara Desert with temperatures that I don’t normally experience unless I’m sat on a beautiful white sandy beach with a cool beer in my hand!

“Always up for a challenge though, I didn’t think twice before signing up for this adventure of endurance, physical exhaustion and the inevitable mental barriers I would have to overcome. Despite initially wanting to do this ‘for fun’ - yes really! - I decided that I would also like to raise money for a discerning charity that meant something to me. Having served in the Army, and with a close working relationship between our two companies, RBLI was of course my natural choice and through the generosity of my colleagues, business associates, family and friends it gave me great pleasure to present Steve Sherry with a cheque for £1421.20.

“Nothing could have prepared me for the first day of the event. Having arrived in Morocco with just one day to acclimatise to the searing heat, the starter’s gun went off

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DES SABLES

LES, 50 C HEAT, £1400 RAISED O

sooner than I really hoped. The heat was incredible and the soft sand made the going tough. And despite peoples’ perception that deserts are flat, let me tell you they are most definitely not! Carrying everything I needed to survive, the additional weight was an unwanted, but necessary burden. Although I had trained hard I still found that first day tougher than I imagined, often wondering what I had let myself in for and if I could overcome the mental barriers to push on and run the equivalent of 5.5 marathons in the following 5 days.

“Well, I did… it was a struggle to get up in the morning and pull my trainers over my very blistered feet, but I did it and even finished in a very respectable 596th place out of the 1490 starters from all nationalities that took part in the race. It was an experience I will never forget, and to answer the question on everyone’s lips - “Would you do it again?” You bet!”

If Dan has inspired you to raise money for RBLI, why not give it a go! Find an event, set up a page at www.justgiving.com and ask your friends to start donating!

MOMENTUM

m mentum WHAT IS MOMENTUM & HOW WILL IT HELP YOU?

Momentum is a new training and development programme designed by our Learning & Development Manager Ian Patient.

He tells us how this will benefit employees at RBLI, ensuring that we continue to have a trained, competent and motivated workforce that is able to meet the needs of our customers and improve the lives of even more beneficiaries every day. It will help us to move forward, develop and get stronger.

m mentumacademy LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE

“Momentum Academy is a collection of learning opportunities for everyone. Its main purpose is to provide relevant and accessible learning to support our strategy. It will be a centre for learning and development, both real (classroom, workplace or off site) and virtual (learning online at work or at home).

Momentum Academy will contribute to the continued success and achievement of RBLI in the future and your development.

m mentumFUTURES DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS 8

“Momentum Futures is a means of identifying and auditing talent and potential at RBLI. It aims to provide a range of planned development opportunities in addition to those already available. We aim to develop an ever growing group within RBLI which will ensure we have the capability to meet the changing needs of beneficiaries and customers in the future, thus helping us to improve lives every day.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

m mentum ENDORSED AWARDS FOR LEADERSHIP

“Achievement in learning is important and we want to make sure that success and excellence in learning are recognised.

Momentum Awards allows us to formally recognise success at RBLI, and by working with the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), we are now a Recognised Provider of Endorsed and Development Leadership and Management Programmes.

We hope many staff will take advantage of this - the first of a variety of opportunities to come.

The first of these programmes started earlier this summer and will see delegates attending a total of 9 modules, a series of action learning sets and completing a work based project over the next year.”

Momentum Awards will allow you to develop your leadership and management skills.

There are two levels available, a Development Award and an Endorsed Award, both of which have core and optional modules. Details of the core modules are listed below:

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT • Introduction to leadership and management skills • Coaching and developing skill in others

INVESTING IN OUR PEOPLE

ENDORSED PROGRAMME IN LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT • Leadership and motivation • Coaching and developing others • Managing budgets and resources • Delegation and objective setting • Problem solving and decision making

As we work towards our aim to innovate and seek new opportunities in business, and work with other organisations and people to influence them, it is important that we also invest in developing people. The Momentum Programme will continue to progress with new intiatives aimed at developing people within the organisation being introduced over the coming months.

m mentum

If you would like to find out more about the Learning and Development opportunities at RBLI and how you can progress not just in your area but in others across the organisation, please contact Ian Patient:

01622 795936 ian.patient@rbli.co.uk 9

SUCCESS STORIES

“LIFEWORKS GAVE ME THE COURAGE & CONFIDENCE TO BELIEVE IN MYSELF” LIFEWORKS DELEGATE TELLS US HOW THE COURSE HELPED HIM INTO EMPLOYMENT

“I served in the Army for nearly 10 years between 1983 and 1993. I went to the 1st Gulf War and was also posted to Northern Ireland. When I left the Army I was already suffering with PTSD and I went down the road of ‘self-medication’. I was very fortunate to secure a number of positions, but I struggled with long periods of absence from work due to my mental health. In 2013 I was made redundant. Having had many periods of sickness I did not feel that any employer would consider me. After trawling the internet desperately searching for help I approached Help for Heroes, who referred me to the LifeWorks course. LifeWorks helped me to understand the skills I had, and suggested what role would be suitable. As soon as I got home I applied for a training course with an IT agency, and the first day of training saw me interviewed by Fujitsu who offered me a permanent position on completion of 3 months work. 20 months on I can now proudly say I have not had a day off sick and I am a respected member of our organisation. The skills I learnt at LifeWorks gave me the courage and conviction to believe in myself.”

Following Chris’ success in finding a job he helped us to promote a LifeWorks course recently held in his hometown of Leeds. Here he is (pictured above right) with members of the LifeWorks Team and local councillors. We’d like to thank him for his support and wish him the best of luck in the future.

100 HOURS OF VOLUNTEERING!

We would like to congratulate Rachel, our volunteer who has passed her Health & Social Care course at college due to 100 hours of volunteering with us! She has spent every Tuesday of the last 9 months with our Health & Wellbeing Officer, Maria, and has even run her own Arts & Crafts event for our Armed Forces Residents at Queen Elizabeth Court. She has also received a well deserved award for her amazing work as a peer to other students at her college. Here she is alongside World Champion canoeist Anna Hemmings when she received her award.

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LIFEWORKS

OUR NEW STRATEGY

Our new strategy will allow us to continue improving lives every day and begin the next 100 years with a strong foundation for growth, enabling us to support more people in the future. As part of this new strategy we have created a new structure that will give each division of the charity an equal opportunity to grow, develop and improve. Linked to this is our new branding which will help us to better spread the word about the amazing work we do. Achieving our goals and fulfilling the strategy will involve everyone working together towards these four principles:

INVEST INSPIRE

Investing in our people and our facilities, creating a foundation for growth

Motivating everyone to achieve their potential

INNOVATE Seeking new opportunities and undertaking new business practices

INFLUENCE Working with other organisations to achieve success

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IMPROVING LIV OUR NEW BRANDING

As a diverse and ambitious organisation we want to ensure that we are able to attract more customers and support more beneficaries.

In order to do this we’ve created 5 subbrands which represent different areas of the organisation and reflect the people they support and the products and services they provide. We

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PPO

RTING OUR FORC

ES

will continue to work as one organisation with the mission of Improving Lives Every Day while using these externally-facing brands to raise awareness of our services. The development of the design of some of these brands is still in progress and will be rolled out over the next year.

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B R I TA I N ’ S

B R AV E S T

PP

ING OUR FO R

CE

S

B R I TA I N ’ S

B R AV E S T SINCE 1919

SINC E 1919

Social Enterprise

Fundraising & Volunteering

RBLI

EMPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS

Care, Welfare & Housing

Welfare To Work

L I V I N G

ORT

Support for the Armed Forces Community

OUR SENIOR MAN Steve Sherry CMG OBE Chief Executive

Steve has been Chief Executive since 2010 and has a MBA and a MSc in Strategic Studies. He previously served in the Army for 38 years, which included time in Pakistan and the Czech Republic.

Phil Defraine

Lisa Farmer

Director of Finance & Corporate Services

Director of Strategic Development

Phil is a CIMA qualified accountant and joined the charity in 2010. He has spent 20 years in a number of senior management roles in the city including time at Lloyds TSB.

Lisa has over 20 years of experience in fundraising, marketing, communication and business development.

She will be joining RBLI later this year.

VES EVERY DAY OUR NEW STRUCTURE

The new structure envisages more of a ‘group’ structure approach to the charity growing and delivery its services. Please continue to support the new Senior Management Team in delivering Improving Lives Every Day - SFS

Chief Execu+ve Steve Sherry

RBLI Living James Rudoni

Estates Development TBC

Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Co.

Employment Solu+ons Richard Brooks

Assistant Director Liz Rickaby

LifeWorks Iain Downie

Care and Welfare Linda Alder

Property Services & Housing Geoff Humphreys

Support For Britain’s Bravest

Geoff Streetley

Sales Julia Moorhouse

Finance & Corporate Services

Lisa Farmer

Philip Defraine

Marke+ng James Sancto/ Amy Carr

Work Programme Lesley Collins

Social Business TBC

Grants/Dona+ons TBC

Projects Paul Watson

Specialist Employment Support

Social Enterprise (A) TBC

Events from 2016

HR Geri Pediani

Social Enterprise (L) Mike Tuohy

Volunteers transfer 2016

Edward Tidbury

Training TBC

TBC

Michael IvaH Friends transfer 2016

Condi+on Management Sharon Patmore

Finance Alan Farley

Penny Dyson

Business Systems Kate Porter

NAGEMENT TEAM James Rudoni

Director of RBLI Living James has 25 years of operational and commercial management experience in the charity and heritage sector, including time at the Royal Horticultural Society before joining RBLI in 2014.

Geoff Streetley

Richard Brooks

Director of Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Co.

Director of Employment Solutions

Geoff has held senior executive roles in the UK and internationally, which included 11 years at office2office plc.

He joined the charity in 2012.

Prior to joining RBLI in 2011, Richard had 12 years experience in managing contracts in the training and employment sectors, primarily for third sector organisations.

RECORD WEEK IN WOODEN PRODUCTS

BEST EVER PERFORMANCE IN WOODEN PRODUCTS

LIFEWORKS

The hard work and effort of the Wooden Products’ Sales and Manufacturing Teams has resulted in the department’s best performance ever. Having increased sales consistently over the last three months they achieved £50,000 of orders in one week in July. The effort of the Sales Team to process the orders and the Production Team to manufacture a wide range of pallets and fruit bins over recent months has been incredible. Justin Wilkes, Production Cell Leader, told us how the team came together: “Morale has been lifted over the last couple of months, everything clicked into place and ran smoothly and results each week have become more consistent.” Since March the average volume of sales and pallets produced each week has been growing and the team are confident this will continue. “Everyone has been working together as a team, from the forklift drivers to the guys on the factory floor, making an efficient production line. If we keep pushing hard the results will keep on coming.”

NEW BUSINESS FOR SIGNS

Over the last six months the Signs Team has won a number of new contracts with a range of private and public sector organisations. This has included a very ‘green’ contract with Pod Point, a company who supply charging stations for electric cars around the UK and in Europe. RBLI have worked with the Pod Point team and have supplied signs for their charging points across the country. We have also been working to supply signs on the new Peters Village development located near Wouldham and recently won a contract with McCanns, a leading engineering and construction company, to supply new signage on the M3.

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BRITAIN’S BRAVEST MANUFACTURING CO.

RBLI SCORE BIG WITH MUFC

FOOTBALL TEAM BECOMES RBLI CUSTOMER

The hallowed turf (or 3G pitch) of The Gallagher Stadium saw the home team, Maidstone United, promoted last year to the National League South and in the coming season will also see RBLI’s very own advertising hoardings make an appearance. Maidstone United is a strong supporter of RBLI and our work, last year hosting a charity football match between the Royal Engineers AFC and the Football Association to raise money for us. We are really proud to be able to supply their advertising hoardings and the Signs Team have already installed a number in the stadium. We are looking forward to working with the club in the future and hope their example will lead to more business with other clubs around the UK.

K’NEX BLASTERS

THE TEAM WIN MORE WORK WITH K’NEX

Innovation is as key in the toy industry as it is at RBLI. That’s why when K’NEX, one of our most loyal customers, was looking to release their new K’NEX Blaster range to the market, we used our extensive expertise with the product to help them design their displays for the new toy. Since then the Fulfilment Team has been hard at work assembling the blasters and targets ready for their launch at the end of July.

Watch out for the TV promotion this summer!

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RBLI LIVING

SUMMER FAYRE SUCCESS

RECORD TURNOUT FOR THIS YEAR’S FAYRE AT GAVIN ASTOR HOUSE

Bouncy castles, BBQs and brilliant weather made the annual Gavin Astor House Summer Fayre the best one yet! Opened

by Nadra Ahmed OBE, National Care Association Chairman and RBLI Trustee, the Fayre included an incredible dog agility show, Salsacise led by Maria Gallego and a range of stalls from local businesses. The event brought staff, RBLI residents and the local community together and raised a total of ÂŁ1850 to provide residents of Gavin Astor House with activities and outings throughout the year.

RESIDENT CELEBRATES 90TH BIRTHDAY CY VOWLS, WW2 VETERAN & LONG-TIME RESIDENT, TURNS 90

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The 30th May this year saw the 90th birthday of Cy Vowls, who has been living in one of our houses in Aylesford for nearly 23 years.

A Royal Navy veteran who served in WW2, Cy worked as a Transport Manager for the NHS in Kent for a number of years.

When he moved on to the Royal British Legion Village, he became interested in the history surrounding Preston Hall and Royal British Legion Industries, and is always ready to share his knowledge with others. This knowledge was a great asset when he became the Head Tour Guide for the Village, and for many years he took visitors on organised tours around Preston Hall, the RBLI factories and the rest of the village. He also had responsibility for the collection of Armed Forces veterans arriving at the airport back to the UK for repatriation with RBLI, and supported his wife Doreen in her concierge duties at Prince Philip Lodge.

May saw Cy and his wife Doreen celebrate his 90th birthday alongside friends and ex-colleagues at a special event at the Poppy Fields, thanks to support from the manager Paul Stewart.

LIFEWORKS

SUPPORTING VETERANS IN LEEDS LIFEWORKS CONTINUES TO EXPAND ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Our push to support more veterans in the North continues with a recent course held in partnership with Leeds City Council. The course saw veterans from all three services supported towards their employment goals as well as dealing with other issues affecting their lives, including addiction and disability support.

Having now held courses in Liverpool and Leeds, the LifeWorks Team will also be supporting veterans in South Yorkshire and Oldham in the coming months.

250 Families

MILITARY SPOUSES SUPPORTED THIS YEAR

Over the last year we’ve supported military spouses across the UK and abroad, with courses held as far away as Germany and even Cyprus! We’ve provided advice on everything from searching for jobs and CV writing to interview preparation and how to cope with a change in location. Here is a map of where we have held LifeWorks Families courses in the UK over the last year and where we’ll be holding them throughout the rest of 2015.

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EMPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS

ADVISOR OF THE YEAR Belinda Hunt, a Senior Employability Consultant in our Crawley Work Programme Office, has been named as a winner for the ERSA Employability Awards 2015 in the Advisor of the Year Award category. The awards, presented by Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, the Minister for Employment, celebrate and champion the exceptional people and organisations working across the sector who help jobseekers in their journey towards employment.

BELINDA WINS ERSA EMPLOYABILITY AWARD “IT’S NOT JUST A WIN FOR ME, BUT ALSO FOR ALL MY COLLEAGUES AND OUR CUSTOMERS”

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The Advisor of the Year Award recognizes an individual employee in a frontline role, who has demonstrated exceptional commitment, either through directly helping jobseekers to overcome barriers to enter and maintain work, or supporting employers to employ and support in employment jobseekers who have been long term unemployed.

Belinda was once herself on ESA due to anxiety and depression. With lots of hard work and determination Billie soon became a Senior Employability Consultant with RBLI. Belinda always goes that extra mile on a daily basis working tirelessly to help others to overcome their barriers to work.

On winning the award she said “I was so pleased to have been nominated for this award, and to win it was amazing! It’s not just a win for me, but also for all my colleagues and our customers, the people we support.”

Steve Sherry, Chief Executive of RBLI, says “Billie is our most successful ESA adviser and has produced wonderful results for RBLI and her customers on Work Programme over the last four years. This award gives Billie the recognition she deserves and against very stiff competition from across the UK is a wonderful achievement for her and for RBLI.”

EMPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS

ENCOURAGING EMPLOYERS TO HELP LOCAL FAMILIES FAMILY FOCUS EVENT SAW EMPLOYERS PLEDGE WORK PLACEMENTS FOR ‘TROUBLED FAMILIES’

At RBLI we are always looking to work with other organisations in new ways, and in recent months, the Family Focus Team have been encouraging local employers to work in partnership with us. Family Focus runs as part of the Government’s Troubled Families programme, and supports those of working age with employability skills and confidence to help them move forward to employment. Work placements are key to helping individuals move forward, and at a breakfast event on 7th July, a number of employers pledged their support to offer 6 week work placements to individuals from both RBLI Family Focus and the Work Programme. Employers who signed the pledge included McDonalds, Sue Ryder and Benefits2Apprenticehips.

The event also saw Fabian, who was referred to RBLI’s Family Focus scheme, presented with a set of knives for his new job at the Hengist Restaurant in Aylesford.

The Family Focus Team also attended the annual Access For All event hosted by Golding Homes, which aims to show residents the support that is available to them. In addition to promoting Family Focus, the team also highlighted the in-work assessments that we provide. They also found time to pose with the Golding Homes mascot!

DREAMLAND A REALITY FOR CUSTOMERS One of the quintessential British seaside tourist attractions has reopened its doors to the general public this June. It has also reopened the door to employment for several of our Work Programme customers. Located in the heart of Margate, Dreamland was once a haven for holiday-goers before being left derelict for several years. After a multi-million pound transformation it has now reopened with a number of rides and amusements. This has provided opportunities for several of our Work Programme customers in Margate as volunteers and ambassadors for the attraction, which will help them on the road to long-term employment.

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SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN’S BRAVEST

VOLUNTEERING SCHEME LAUNCHED & GROWING VOLUNTEERS HELPING US TO SUPPORT MORE BENEFICIARIES

The volunteering scheme at RBLI has gone from strength to strength since it was launched in April of this year.

The Volunteering Manager, Michael Ivatt , has attended events and locations around the region to drum up support including Armed Forces Day at Gillingham, local shopping centres and supermarkets.

During the campaign he has spoken to hundreds of people.

“There is a real interest in what is going on within the Village and people are eager to get involved. Most weeks I am showing groups of potential volunteers around and people are always surprised by what we have here. Volunteering is not just about the number of hours we get someone to help us for, it is also a long term investment to increase community understanding of the work of RBLI. “Volunteering has been especially successful in supporting our clients within the Village. The scheme has allowed significant growth in the Health & Wellbeing service where we are making a real difference to people’s lives. At Mountbatten Pavilion and Gavin Astor House volunteers are now working most days and this has allowed staff more time to deal with clients. In Social Enterprise and Property Services volunteers have helped to keep costs down ensuring more money is available to support our beneficiaries.

“By the end of summer we will have the Base Camp Community Hub open and the Kent Shed, both of these will rely heavily on volunteers to succeed. The scheme is still quite young but to keep growing we need to be looking continuously at developing and thanking the volunteers we already have while constantly seeking new and talented people to join us.”

There are many volunteering opportunities within RBLI that can be found on the RBLI website. To find out more or to attend on a Volunteer Open Day please email volunteer@rbli.co.uk.

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SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN’S BRAVEST

GARDEN OF HONOUR

RBLI FRIENDS EXCEED FUNDRAISING TARGET INCREDIBLE GENEROSITY HELPS US TO TRANSFORM THE MEMORIAL GARDEN

Thanks to the tremendous generosity of individuals, groups and corporate donors, we have managed to raise £320,000 and are now on track to put the finishing touches to the Garden.

Donations were raised from local and national companies and trusts, as well as from fundraising events such as quiz nights, concerts, tea parties, a brave zip wire challenge, and a very poignant sponsored cycle ride from Pegasus Bridge to the Menin Gate where a wreath was laid on our behalf.

Our Chief Executive Steve Sherry said: “We owe a huge debt of thanks to the hundreds of donors who gave their money and their time to make the Garden possible.

“It’s been a real privilege to witness the wonderful engagement from the local community in supporting our fundraising events and without whose efforts this project would never have got off the ground.”

An official opening of the garden will take place later this year and we will have the full details in the next edition of Warblings.

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STAFF AWARDS 2015

This year’s Employee Awards Ceremony was held at the Garden of Honour. The ceremony was opened by RBLI Chief Executive, Steve Sherry, and the awards were presented by the Chairman of RBLI, Stephen Kingsman. Congratulations to everyone for their hard work throughout the year!

EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

CHAIRMAN’S OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

CHAIRMAN’S AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

1.Belinda Hunt, 2.Victoria Conn, 3.Mick Coote

Steve Acland

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Maria Gallego, Sarah Mutter, Amy Carr, James Sancto

1.David Church, 2.Edward Tidbury, 3.Iain Downie

1.Penny Dyson, 2.Stuart Buckminster, 3.Tessa Kent

1.Kate Bosley, 2.Margaret Parnham, 3. Mandy Sweeney

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH NOVEMBER 2014

LIZ AITKENHEAD ACCESS TO WORK

FEBRUARY 2015

MARCH 2015

APRIL 2015

EMMA COTTEE

SARAH DUNCAN

KATERINA SKORDOULIS

PROPERTY SERVICES

ACCESS TO WORK

LIFEWORKS

LONG SERVICE AWARDS RECOGNISING YEARS OF SERVICE AT RBLI

The first half of 2015 has seen a number of employees recognised for their long service to RBLI. Congratulations to all who received the award, and thank you for all your hard work and service.

10 Years Service - Ruth Kamhuka, Rosemary Keaney 15 Years Service - Pauline Wood, Steve Hammond

CAN YOUR BUSINESS SUPPORT LOCAL FAMILIES?

We’re looking for local businesses to offer work placements to people in Kent. This will provide businesses with the opportunity to showcase what they have to offer potential employees while also giving individuals the opportunity to develop their employability prospects.

Can your business provide work opportunities for families in Kent?

Talk to us today to find out more and get involved:

01622 795900 familyfocus@rbli.co.uk