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HILT NEWS

October 2004

HILT PARTY
(photos by Tony Phillips)

The Hilt party was once again a great success. Not only did the party goers turn up in their dozens, but a large number also turned up at 5pm, over an hour before the party was due to begin! The music was chosen from a selection of the service users own CDs, and included traditional Turkish folk songs from Savaas, who also helped with the DJ duties. Ashley Bailey was so keen to hear his music played he came along with 3 full boxes of CDs.

Debbie Matobella (see photo, right) was the first and the last person on the dance floor. In fact Debbie didn't leave the dance floor once between 7 and 10.30pm, when the music finished. Party goers were particularly keen to dance when the bubble machine was in full flow.

It was also great to see brother and sister Israel and Alice Forrest dancing together. Israel and Alice are both Hilt service users but were not aware that each other was at Hilt. They were only reunited recently and had a chance to make good friends again at the Hilt party.

Everyone was relieved that this year there was enough food (and drink) to go round. And like last year, the food theme was Caribbean.


Sharon Patrick, Hilt's Chair, drew the tickets for the raffle. The main prize was a CD player and was won by a sessional support worker.

This year Gary Searle from 45 Narford Road won the best dressed award - as you can see from the photo left he certainly made an impact in his spectacular red suit.

Hilt would particularly like to thank Ian Bond, Shane Trimble, Joe Briggs and Steve Lawlor for working hard to make sure the night was success.


Click here for more Hilt 2004 party photos.

AUTISM DAY
(by Shane Trimble, Autism Project Co-ordinator)

The New Autism Project launch on 8th October took place here at Hilt central Office. It was an exciting day for me personally and there was a good turn out in attendance. A combination of parents, college tutors, health care professionals and general public, gathered to share their views, experiences and ideas on what they would like to see the project address in the future.

One of the ideas was to give training to the Metropolitan Police around awareness of Autism. I have written to a chief inspector in New Scotland Yard to see how this can be achieved.

Another idea was creating awareness of Autism for colleges in and out of the borough (Hackney), which I am in the process of working on.

I had a meeting on the 11th November with Leisure connection and their partners to talk about the project and learn about them, again offering training for their staff on Autism and it was greatly received. I will be setting a date for that potentially in January.

Finally, I would like to announce that the project will be funded to 31st march 2006 (at least) instead of initial 31st march 2005. This for me was the best news on launch day as it really gives me the opportunity to make the project a success!


COME DANCING….WITH IRMA HENRY!

HILT’s resident dancing queen has been grooving her way through Hackney again with a whirlwind display of African Dancing at Queensbridge Community Festival.

Irma is one of the many disco divas who have spent years gracing the floor at HILT parties and Beautiful Octopus club nights. Party girl Irma has shown great dedication in practicing for the African dancing event by attending weekly classes and practising her moves and grooves during her own time.

The Community Festival took place on 4th of September and featured performances from other local musicians, singers and dancers as well as a collection of market stalls, and a play area for children. There was an arts and crafts activity area, a carnival procession, the opportunity to watch some short films made by local people and the opportunity to sample some delicious international cuisine.

As you can see from the photographs, Irma got dolled up in traditional African costume for the event. Irma’s housemate, and fellow HILT service user, Clare Grant, her volunteer, Ji Min Shin, and key worker, Emily Kaumba all went along to support Irma and to watch her fabulous funky routine.

Irma is still attending weekly classes African dancing classes in preparation for next year’s event. She is also getting ready to strut her stuff at the next Beautiful Octopus club night.

HILT AGM

Hilt's 2004Annual General Meeting was held on Monday 1 November at the Hilt Central Office.
Mark and Laurie, staff at Muston Road, gave a great presentation about the imminent closure of Albion Drive and the move to Muston Road. They talked about how it had benefited the service users and how the staff team had pulled out all the stops to ensure its success.

Anna Bohach, the new manager at Lower Clapton Road Flat 2, gave a presentation about how Waking Nights at the project have been turned into Sleep Ins. This has happened through a successful programme of monitoring and responding to service users night time requests only when really necessary.

The Annual Report was launched ... this year there was a hidden theme, can you guess what it was? Click here for the 03-04 Hilt Annual Report.

Susan Storrar, Hilt's director, gave a presentation detailing Hilt's successes over the past four years. Sharon Patrick, Hilt's Chair, gave a speech thanking staff and volunteers for their contribution to Hilt's success.

CONGRATULATIONS

To Jacqueline James, a support worker at Evering Road, who has completed the first year of a Social Work degree course.