Pepenbury - an independent residential care home for adults with a learning disability

Pepenbury Community - residential and day care services for adults with learning disabilities.

This includes a community of 70 people on the edge of Tunbridge Wells, in the unspoiled countryside of the Weald at Pembury as well as serving others in the West Kent area.

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News & Events 2010

A Great Achievement!

Well done Carl!

Congratulations to Carl Tidman who achieved his City & Guilds NVQ Level 2 in Animal Care. Carl, a volunteer at Pepenbury for the last 2 years, has spent the last 18 months working towards this qualification. It was a very special moment when he received the certificate as it is the first one he has ever had.

More and more visitors and children are coming to see our small animals now and Carl is an important part of helping to keep all the animals healthy.

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PEPENBURY SKYDIVING TEAM

A courageous group of volunteers took a giant leap for Pepenbury when they took part in a fundraising skydive at Headcorn

Aerodrome in November.

Congratulations to Darren Hills, Shaun Lewis, his daughter Dannika and Sam Harman who all made the jump from around 12,000 feet freefalling at over 120mph! Thank you to everyone who supported them with sponsorship helping to raise a fantastic £775 for Pepenbury. Darren, who raised £400, said afterwards “It was an amazing experience and I would like to do it all over again and raise even more money next time”!

You can experience the thrill of a ‘Tandem Skydive’ for yourself by pledging to raise more than £395 for Pepenbury in sponsorship and then you get your jump free. You will be harnessed to a professional parachute instructor at all times throughout the descent. The jump and the training are completed in one day and your instructor will control your landing. If you would like to take part and experience the thrill of a ‘Tandem Skydive contact Nigel Hill, Fundraising Manager on 01892 822168. or e-mail nigelhill@pepenbury.info

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We were recently pleased to show a group of students from Invicta Grammar School round Pepenbury recently. The Girls split into groups and visited a residential house, Acorn Day Services and learned something about the business side of the charity.

The biggest hit of the day was John Mead, who showed our visitors where the Coffee Shop was and where to buy Christmas Trees!

It was good to see such enthusiasm from the students and we hope they will come again.

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CIOB PRESENTATION

In the last edition of ‘In Brief’ we thanked the Chartered Institute of Building for their kind donation to us. Well, three senior managers from the Institute found the time to come over to see us, look around AND present us with a cheque for £1260.
The Art Room seemed like a good place to record the presentation!

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THANKS TO MANSELLS

Many thanks to Clive Dowell from Mansells for a donation of 10 pairs of safety boots to be used by gardeners and ground staff throughout the organisation. Their generosity is very much appreciated.

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A very big thank you from all at Primrose to Pantiles Rotary, especially Roy Patey - chairman - who not only personally provided us with a new net tunnel, but along with other members of the club, worked through a freezing cold week to provide us with a very comfortable and warm tea-hut. Plus a cash donation of 500 pounds!

It has been a very satisfying year for me. The help and support of the many Primrose volunteers makes the difference between a project which just gets by and a very happy and pleasant place to be. My newest volunteer, Ian Hurst, has just completed the guttering on the huts and with his DIY skills will be invaluable to us in providing the necessary maintenance. Yudhistra Moodley, whose microbrewery, Moodley's, is based in Penshurst, has taken on the wild-life area. We now have a very large wild-life pond. The surrounding area, when planted with wild-life attracting plants and shrubs, will hopefully be an interesting place for locals to visit. Then there's Maria Cotterill and Claire Schwaner who each give Primrose two days a week! How fantastic is that?

We will be experimenting with more plants and cut flowers this year. Not only do the flowers attract pollinating insects, look and smell delicious, but they may also bring in a little money. Not that money is the most important issue, but it does give the project another sense of purpose, along with the social and therapeutic benefits.

So before you trot along to your local garden centre, please come and see what we have to offer. Our gardeners will love to see you all.

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QUIZ NIGHT

The 3rd Annual West Kent Charity Quiz run by Pepenbury was held at Pembury village hall on 14 November 2009. With sixteen teams entering, a very good evening was had by all.

The winning team – Simple Minds – won the Banham Shield and free entry to the Mayor’s Charity Quiz in January 2010.

Thanks go to Mark Banham, staff member Becky for the food and Russell for running the bar, and all the other helpers. Thanks also to Tesco for supplying drinks on a sale or return basis

Next year’s quiz will be on 13 November at the same venue if they will have us!

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SAD NEWS

It is with great sadness that we report the untimely death of Roy Prince, one of our service users. Roy, who was 24, was admitted to hospital where he died on 21 January after a short illness.

Roy moved to Pepenbury in February last year and after a few months moved into independent living with two other service users in Pembury.

Roy was one of our regular helpers in the Coffee Shop at Pepenbury and enjoyed his training in catering. He was an avid Manchester United supporter and loved joining in the Monday night football training.

Our thoughts are with his mother and grandfather who were regular visitors to Pepenbury and are very proud of their son/grandson.

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Thank you to our volunteers

On Friday 22 January, 26 of Pepenbury's volunteers attended a Thank You lunch at the Smith & Western restaurant in Tunbridge Wells. The event was arranged to thank them for giving so much of their time to help the organisation. Although many volunteers were unable to attend, we hope to have another one in the future. All who could attend thoroughly enjoyed it and commented on how much benefit and pleasure they got from their volunteering roles.

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WYCHWOOD NEW YEAR'S PARTY

A huge thank you to all the staff who helped, and everyone who came, for making the party such a success.

Also - a timely reminder for parents and relatives of those attending Wychwood to book any outstanding allocated days as these must be used before the end of March.

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2009

GRAND CHRISTMAS DRAW

Thanks to everyone who supported the Christmas Draw! We really appreciate the support. The grand draw took place at the Christmas concert on Tuesday 22 December.

Congratulations to the following winners:

Mr & Mrs LK Green - Waitrose Hamper

Jason Ankers - MP3 Player

Jan Hovey - One night stay for two at the Ramada

Mr E Prentice - A Digital Camera

Mr Pryor-Willeard - Wine selection

Daniel Ball - Belgian Chocolate Truffles

Alan O’Brien - A bottle of CAVA

Mrs P Buss - A bottle of Sparkling Rose

Shirley Wilsher - Lucy’s Beauty Studio Gift Voucher

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PEPENBURY MAKES AN EXHIBITION OF ITSELF!!

During the three weeks prior to Christmas last year, we were proud to put on our first Christmas Art Show and were lucky enough to stage it in the glorious Pantiles, the jewel in the town, and in a spectacular retail unit which was originally a family owned butchers shop.

Despite the icy and snowy weather, we able to bring a new awareness to the Pepenbury brand, and to sell and showcase much of our fantastic art, pottery, sculpture and other craftwork.

The Mayor of Tunbridge Wells opened up the whole event at a well-attended cocktail party on Thursday 10th December and it ran consecutively (except on Sundays) until Christmas Eve, hosted by our eager volunteers.

We all felt it was so much of a success that we hope to repeat it next year (in the Pantiles again), where we can prepare much more in advance and get more people involved. A big thank you to Beatrice who really powered the whole event, and provided so much imagination in arranging and designing the shop so beautifully.

The project was the idea of The Woodreed Creative Consultancy, who sponsored it along with AXA PPP. Also our thanks must go to Targetfollow, the owners of the Pantiles, who kindly lent us the shop.

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RETREAT DISCO

A Christmas disco was held at The Retreat in Tunbridge Wells on 14 December which was well attended and enjoyed by all.

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CHRISTMAS LUNCH

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Ken Thornton who hosted a lunch at Woodlands Golf Club on 7th December. Our service users had a great time!

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Take That on Ice

Thank you to the Ramada Hotel Tunbridge Wells who, despite being let down at the last minute by the Ice Skating Rink Company, still went ahead and held a ‘Tribute Take That’ concert without the ice. The evening was very well supported by people from local businesses and customers of the hotel. A number of the residents from Pepenbury came along and had a wonderful evening of good food and dancing to ‘Take That’. During the evening a cheque for £400 was presented to Nigel Hill Fundraising Manager. A big thank you goes to Dennis Vaz the manager of the Hotel who, in the face of adversity, organized a very enjoyable evening.

VLUU P1200 / Samsung P1200

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Paddock Wood Lionesses help turn Pepenbury Art Studio into Santa’s Workshop”

Thank you to Paddock Wood Lionesses who made a generous donation of £300 to purchase a new ‘bandsaw’ and jigsaw to use in the art and crafts studio.

The donation was immediately put to good use with the residents turning the art studio into ‘Santa’s workshop making handmade Christmas decorations, wooden Puppets for the Christmas Show, and an eight foot high wooden Christmas blessing tree for the Christmas Carol concert. Hand crafted items are available from the craft shop on Cornford Lane, Pembury from 10am Monday to Friday.

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Head of Borough visits Pepenbury

We were very pleased to be able to show Roy Bullock, Leader of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, around Pepenbury before Christmas. Roy has been meaning to come to see us for some time but has found it difficult to find the time out of his busy schedule. The important thing is that he has now visited and has a better idea of what we do.

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We didn’t win……………

Having been one of two finalists in the ‘Best Growing Business’ section of the West Kent Business Awards it was disappointing when the award went to the other one on the night! Having said that, the winners – Kit for Kids – is a new commercial business that is really going places, so it is no dishonour for a charity to come so close. It is a testament to the whole staff team that we were in the final two.

Congratulations to the winners.

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IT'S ALL PLAIN SAILING

Pepenbury users have been making a splash at Bough Beech reservoir.

The group has been learning how to sail at the Sailability programme using specially designed dinghies.

Pepenbury is one of the groups which has benefited from the idea, having finished its second season of sailing.

Earlier in the year each sailor was given an achievement award.

Pepenbury fundraiser Nigel Hill said: "This group had never sailed before but with the careful tuition and nurturing by the instructors and helpers at Bough Beech they've made remarkable progress. Many can now sail solo in specially designed boats and others helm and crew the larger Laser Stratos keel dinghies."

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WEST KENT CHARITY QUIZ

Join Pepenbury on Saturday 14th November for its annual West Kent charity quiz night.

Teams of six to eight will battle it out for the prestigious trophy by completing rounds of general knowledge. Pepenbury's very own quiz master Roger Gibson will host the evening of fun at the Pembury Village Hall from 6.30pm. An entry fee of £10 includes a buffet and there will be a prize raffle.

For further information or to book, please telephone Nigel Hill on 01892 822168.

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Events Diary 2009

If you have any ideas about new events or would like to organise one yourself, we would be more than happy to help. For more details call us on 01892 822168.