Alison and Selena report from Boston:

"We are are both really enjoying ourselves and picking up a lot of ideas and info.  This past week has mainly been spent visiting the main office in Denham, residential properties and two day rehabilitation programmes.  Till cover a huge area of Boston and the outer regions – it takes two hours to reach the main office in Denham by public transport – we tried it on Friday.  To get around the Till properties you really do need a car.

We have been warmly greeted at 30 Murdock in Brighton and have joined in with various events with the five guys who live there. 

On Wednesday we were Ten pin Bowling – the guys go every week and play in a league with other Till residents.  Tuesday it was someone's 27 birthday so we were invited to have some birthday cake.  Saturday was their birthday party so we had a few people round.  Today, Sunday, we treated all the guys to a typical English dish – Shepherd’s pie – it went down very well.

This weekend we have been doing Boston – went on a Freedom Trail which told us a little bit of history about Boston we then went to visit the Jewish memorial of the holocaust that was very moving.  On Sunday we went on the Observation Sky Walk – one of the tallest buildings – the Prudential Tower which houses a very fine restaurant called Top of the Hub – it can cost you a lot of money to eat there – and we mean a lot of money!!!!!

We are slowly getting to know Boston and appreciating the fact that it is a beautiful city."

This week Alison and Selena start work training on Monday 9th March  at the Denham office. Alison will be at the Waterford Day Rehab Centre while Selena will be working at Brookline residence.

Monday 9 March 

Today Selena and I attended a training session this morning at the TILL head office – after lunch we visited a Day Rehab centre Billerica,  with a little social enterprise which involved the people selling candy – and using the computer to keep accounts etc.

 Last night (Sunday) Selena and I cooked a typical English meal - cottage pie – and from all the clean plates it went down well. Tonight we had a Chinese night – some of the guys help to prepare the meal. Some pictures included. More tomorrow.  Alison and Selena

Tuesday 10 March - from Alison 

Today Selena and I started our work schedules for the week – this week Selena is working at a residential property in Brookline, which is not far from Brighton and I am at a Day Rehab Centre in Watertown.

Selena was quite interested in visiting my work place so we both went up to Watertown. We were warmly met by the Manager of the Centre – Wendy Keeman, who was more than happy to give us a tour of the Centre.  The day rehab centres start work at 8.30am and finish at 4.30.  Most of the people arrive by bus which is provided by sub contractors.  Watertown day rehab has fifty four people all with varying degrees of complex needs.  People are split up in to clusters each of comprising of four to six people with a staff ratio of four people to one staff. 

The people are involved in sensory activities, cognitive skills, cookery and fitness. Watertown Centre is quite large with a fully equipped gym and a large kitchen where various activities such as cookery take place along with people having their lunch in there.  People bring their own lunch as there is no canteen.  

Watertown also houses a Till Central which provides a service for people with less complex needs and here they mainly focus on going out into the community and doing leisure and part vocational activity.  They are very big on recycling. Selena wanted to stay for the whole day so with Till being very accommodating as to what we want to get out of this trip, she stayed and will start at Brookline tomorrow. I am going again tomorrow so more will follow 

Wednesday 11 March Alison’s Blog

Today we were on our own – Selena starts work at Brookline, a residential property of Till - I went to a day rehab centre in Watertown – where Selena and I visited yesterday.  I was greeted by Wendy Keeman, the Centre Manager, suggested that I should join Till Central today and see what they do.

TILL has three Till Centrals – one in Watertown, Billerica and Chelsea. Till Central can take up to fifteen individuals and is staffed on a three to one basis – three individuals to one staff.  Watertown Till Central comprises of eleven individuals all with varying needs.  The age ranges from twenty to fifty years old.  

I was introduced to Sabrina Folland who is the Manager of Till Central.  Although Till Central shares the same building as the Day rehab unit they are a complete separate service – all Till Central’s work on this basis.

Sabrina told me that the people choose what activity they would like to do for the day.  Activities include swimming, using the local gym, bowling, visiting places of interest to the people, shopping for food etc.  Today I joined a group of five individuals with two staff and went shopping to Walmart in Framingham.  Walmart is the same company as ASDA in England so I was able to tell the group that we have people at Langdon working for ASDA – the people were very impressed with this. We travelled to Framingham by a van that Till own – and was driven by one of the staff.

After we had been to Framingham we went on to have lunch at Arsenal Mall, which is the next town from Watertown.  At 2pm we returned to Till Central and talked about the day we had.  Everyone else arrived back at the same time – some had been to the Aquarium and two people had been swimming.

People start to prepare to go home at half past two – the majority of people use transport provided by their care package which is compiled by the Department of Mental Retardation – (D.M.R).  The D.M.R funds some individuals who attend Till Central as well as Medicare – another government body.  Everyone who attends Till Central and Day Rehabs are funded by the D.M.R and or Medicare.

Everyone had gone by 3.15 which gave staff time to discuss the day’s events and the people concerned.  At 4pm I said my goodbyes and was lucky enough to get a lift in the car back to Murdock Street in Brighton which is only fifteen minutes by car.

 A very eventful day. 

Thursday 19 March 2009 - Alison and Selena’s Blog 

Today we had the pleasure of meeting Alan White – Alan is one the directors of Till and is over the Creative Living Options department at Till.  Selena and I were able to discuss what we do at Langdon as a whole and what are jobs entail.  We learnt a lot from Alan as he works with people who live independently just like the people at Langdon.  We then linked up with John to visit another of his people in Cambridge which is not far from Brighton. 

We finished around five then we decided to walk into Boston to the Provincial Mall where they serve Clam Chowder served in a bread roll as recommended by Robert!!   

Friday 20 March 2009 - Alison’s blog 

Today I was to visit Hyde Park ETC Café and Gift Shop which is approx one and a half hours ride on public transport.  Hyde Park is a day/vocational catering and retail programme which caters for approx twenty people, six of which work in the kitchen. The kitchen has a contract with various schools to provide meals and turn out fifteen hundred meals a day.  Everyone is much organised and work under the direction of three staff.  Its hard work – believe me as I tried it!!! They start at 8.30am and finish around 2.30pm with an hour for lunch.  The individuals involved, receive a wage of around two to three dollars a day and they all seem to enjoy the work.  There seems to be a good camaraderie about the group too and everyone helps each other – it’s good to see. 

After lunch, I was invited to meet the people who are involved in making the gifts for the gift shop – this is kind of workshop set up and the people are also paid varying from 2 to 3 dollars a day, each depending on how many days they attend.  Some people were involved in making jewellery and other art and craft projects.  There are about fifteen people involved.Everyone started to make their way home at three o’clock and I was then invited to join in with the after school club Trase upstairs with their Karaoke session.

The after school club is another service that Till provide which provides after school provision Monday to Friday from two in the afternoon to four thirty to children aged twelve to twenty two years of age. 

Friday 20 March 2009 - Selena’s Blog 

Today I was based at Murdock house.  I was able to ask quite a few questions about the systems of Murdock and our systems at Langdon and how we compare. 

Saturday 21 March - Alison and Selena’s Blog 

We decided to spread our wings today.  There is a place on the underground on the blue line which is called “Wonderland” its the very last stop on the blue line.  Selena and I have been intrigued to find out what is at Wonderland since we have arrived, so we went to find out.After about forty minutes we arrived – the Atlantic Ocean greeted us – Wonderland is a lot like any other seaside town in England. 

As we were making our way to the front we saw a bus going to Salem – so we both agreed to go and make our way to Salem.  Salem has been a place which Selena and I wanted to visit whilst being here.  Salem is approx forty minutes from Wonderland and it’s a pretty straight forward run.  One bus to the depot then we were there. 

We had a walk round Salem looked at a few shops and had a lovely meal in a café.  After which we made our way back to the bus depot to catch the bus to Wonderland – when we arrived back we had a walk on the beach until it was too cold to stay any longer. 

Sunday 22 March - Alison and Selena’s Blog 

After our busy day yesterday we decided to play it cool and visit the Aquarium in Boston.  The Aquarium is easy to get to on the “T” and is in the north side of the city – near the harbour.  We had a great time.  We are going out for a Chinese buffet tonight with the guys from Murdock at six, so we made our way back to join the guys at the buffet which was all you could eat for nine dollars – I don’t usually eat Chinese but Selena ensured me that it will taste good – guess what??    She was right – it was gorgeous!!!!!  

Monday 23 March 2009 – Alison and Selena’s blog

We have been given the opportunity to go and visit a property in Concord and meet the manager of the house – Renee Raboin.  We were told it is quite a place to get to by public transport but seeing that we are experts now at using the public transport system in Boston, we decided to take the opportunity and go.   

When we arrived at the house, we were warmly greeted one of the staff members.

The house is owned by Till, and was purposely built.  It houses two men and four ladies, all of which were at their respective day programmes.

Renee arrived a few minutes later so we were able to discuss certain issues that were related to our jobs.  We discussed quite a lot and we both feel we learnt a lot from Renee.  At around three o’clock the individuals arrived home and we were able to meet them. 

Both Selena and I felt that it was a lovely atmosphere.  Most of the individuals in this house have spent the majority of their lives in long stay institutions.  All the individuals have been at Concord for the past ten years and regard it as their home. 

It is a very nice home and a place where the individual’s needs are the first and foremost of the staff members who work there.

Tuesday 24 March – Alison and Selena’s Blog 

Today we were to go to Watertown to the Day hab centre as they were presenting their first ever art exhibition.  Selena and I were invited to come along so we arranged to go in the morning to help set up.

Selena got involved in creating a sign for one of the pictures and I was involved with creating charts etc for the bidding on the computer.

All of the pictures were drawn by members of Watertown – most of the members had drawn a picture.  The idea was that the pictures were to be auctioned off via a silent auction.  I had never heard of a silent auction before but everyone who came to the exhibition was given a number which was their bidding number – which in turn kept their amenity.  The exhibition was to take place between two and four o’clock.

The place was packed with people, some of whom were family and friends of the people who attend Watertown. 

We discovered at the end of the day, that all the pictures had been auctioned off.  The money raised will go to summer time activities for the people who attend Watertown. 

It was a great day, and it was good to see people being proud of their art work 

Wednesday 25 March – Alison and Selena’s Blog 

Today we were to spend time with John Meehan – We have spent time with John before and found it very useful as it relates to what we do at Langdon.

John has a case load of around sixteen to twenty people, whom he supports in various ways.  Some people he visits once a week and others once a fortnight, depending upon their needs at the time. 

The majority of the people on John’s case load have full time paid jobs.

Some people work at local supermarkets, offices and one person that we met today worked at a garage servicing cars.

John’s area covers a great distance – both Selena and I have learnt that the people here think nothing of travelling an hour to places. 

Tonight saw Selena and I being involved in a Springboard event – Monster golf – mini golf but in the dark – lots of good fun.  We learnt that Springboard have 150 members who are split into ten groups consisting of fifteen people each. 

 groups A and B met together – normally one group meets and not all members can make it – it just depends if they can make it that night.  

Thursday 26 March – Alison and Selena’s Blog

We spent sometime with John again today and met two guys that we had met previously the week before.  It was good to see them again – we were able to chat to them about Langdon as a whole and our respective jobs.

Looking to the weekend as it’s our trip to New York – we can’t wait.