Medway Autism Group Information Centre (MAGIC) - Newsletter Autumn 2014

ISSUE 1 2014 AUTUMN A LOOK BACK OVER THE

BUSY SUMMER OF 2014 AT

MAGIC HQ ..................... 2

OUR LATEST FUNDRAISING

NEWS AND HOW YOU CAN GET

INVOLVED TO HELP MAKE A

DIFFERENCE .................. 3

READ ABOUT OUR NEW

WEEKENDER RESPITE

BREAKS . ...................... 5

focus B R I N G I N G Y O U T H E L AT E ST N EW S F R O M M ED W AY AU T I SM

G R O U P I N F O R M AT I O N C EN T R E ( M AG I C )

FUNDRAISING EVENTS CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS MEET US!

MAGIC’s summer was sun-

filled fun! We were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful sunny summer, now it seems so long ago with weather reminding us that autumn is here!

With only one downpour to dampen proceedings on the

August Bank Holiday Family Fun Day, the rest of

summer was fabulous, and the kids enjoyed this by

making the most of the wide range of facilities here at

MAGIC HQ. We ran a campaign to Name Our Bear, an

8 foot gate guardian for Bradbury House, read more

about that inside. The Activity Days spanned 3 weeks

this year, running over 3 days in the week, meaning

more of our Members could benefit from the fun things

we do. Want to know more? Read on….

From MAGIC’s inner circle

MAGIC

medway-magic.org [email protected]

Greeting to one and all. Welcome to our new-look newsletter, we hope you find it useful and easy to read with new sections of specific news and a nice new design, so please share it with your family and friends. We would like your thoughts on it too, so feel free to give us your

We also recently welcomed the children back to the ARC after the summer holidays, we are glad the weather is still summer-like too (for now!) We have had a hectic summer here at Bradbury House, with a full programme of holiday activities, followed by a few weeks break to get the Centre spick and span for the new

term, so it’s nice to have the kids back again to enjoy it. You can read all about our summer of fun and what’s been going on. See our Events section for our upcoming events this autumn - Don’t forget to check the website regularly for updates, and we have a Facebook page too for information about what’s going on.

If you wish to contact us, please do so on telephone 01634 570706 or email [email protected]. Have a great autumn, we hope to see you at some of our upcoming events and help continue the great work we do. Thanks for your ongoing support!

Page 1

A look back...

As the leaves fall, summer seems like such a

long time ago. Here we take a little look back at

the fun we had!

We’ve had a busy summer here at Bradbury House, it was great so see so many of our families and children for our Summer Activity Days and our annual Family Fun Day in August (the one day it poured down!) as well as our coffee mornings and Youth Clubs. We were delighted that the volunteers at Medway Youth Trust supported us too.

Summer started with our exciting Activity Days programme, 9 days of fun for our Members here at the centre or during arranged trips. For 2014, we ran 3 days over 3 weeks, a different formula from previous years of 4 days over weeks. This proved much easier on the children. It also provided that extra week coverage as some families that take a two week holiday can now also join us. This year we entertained 80 children at a variety of days out and centre-based activities such as sports, games, arts and crafts and cookery. Some of the outings highlight this year were: Old MacDonalds Farm; Go Ape; swimming; bowling or

cinema trips; Dansons Park and this years’

trip to the seaside was sunny Dymchurch.

This year were delighted to support the Medway Opportunities Fair, an annual event run by the Medway Youth Trust, held at the Rochester Corn Exchange on September 25th. Aimed at 13-25 year olds with special educational needs or learning difficulties, as well as parents and carers, the Fair brings together a range of services, support and information that helps youngsters with additional needs make an easier transition

into adulthood and the ‘big wide world’, the

Fair proved a great success with a well

attended turn-out. Four of MAGIC’s staff

were on hand to offer advice and their expertise during the Fair, open from 10am till 2pm and there was a great number of visitors showing plenty of support of the event.

Natalie Smith, MAGIC Fundraiser said

“It was great to find so many people that

already knew about MAGIC and who already supported us. The event helped us raise awareness for MAGIC in the community. I was lovely to see that there is

already a ‘lot of love’ for us out there!”

Read more on our blog webpage.

At the beginning of the summer, we were amazed and delighted to be given a donation of a large, 8 foot tall bear, that currently stands as guardian over the entrance foyer to MAGIC at Bradbury House. For a few months he remained nameless, but with grand plans for him to be given a facelift and to be decorated by our children, we needed a name. So we ran a campaign

to ‘Name the Bear’ over summer, with a

special prize for the winner. With over 50 name suggestions, it was a tricky decision,

but the winner was ‘MAC’ which stands for

‘My Autism Counts’, a worthy name for such

a prominent feature of our Centre. The Burgess/Cherry family were the proud winners, their prize being a weekend break at Holiday MAGIC caravan in Haven Allhallows.

EVENTS CALENDAR:

OCT-DEC

OCTOBER 7, 14, 21 Youth Club 8-12yr. 6.30-8pm

9, 16, 23

Youth Club 13yr + and MAGIC

Football. 6.30-8.30pm

3, 10, 17, 24

Coffee Morning. 09.30-12.00pm

28, 29, 30 Half Term Activity Days.

10.00– 4pm

30 Halloween Disco Party. £7.00

6-8pm

NOVEMBER 5 Monkey Bizz (all) 6.15-8pm 11,18, 25 Youth Club 8-12yr. 6.30-8pm

13, 20, 27

Youth Club 13+ and MAGIC

Football. 6.30-8.30pm

7, 14, 21, 28

Coffee Morning. 09.30-12.00pm

12 Autism Discussion Group

6.30-8.30pm

14 Quiz Night £10 inc. food. Kids

free 7-10pm

DECEMBER 3 Monkey Bizz (all) 6.15-8pm 9 Youth Club 8-12yr. 6.30-8pm

11

Pantomime Trip 6.45pm,£12.50

Central Theatre Chatham

13

XMAS PARTY 6-8pm £8.50

5,12

Coffee Morning. 09.30-12.00pm

Office closes 23/12 reopen 05/01

MAGIC Summer Activity Days

Medway Opportunities Fair

Name the Bear

medway-magic.org [email protected] Page 2

Our Fundraising

Magic raise our funds in many ways. We have Members who do

amazing activities for us and we host events across the year.

August Family Fun Day

A big part of our support comes from the

fundraising that we do, as well as that

from our Members, so we welcome any

support that you or your family and friends

can offer. A really big thanks to everyone

who did the Ice Bucket Challenge and

donated to MAGIC. We were very

appreciate of your willingness to get wet

and cold for us! Read more about recent

Member fundraising on our blog page.

What a day! The August Bank Holiday this

year was another fantastic day. Despite

the only day in many weeks where the

Heavens opened and it poured down,

spirits were not dampened and we saw an

amazing turn out from our Members

families, friends and our local residents.

We were even delighted to welcome a

reporter from the Kent Messenger Group

who came along to report on the day.

We raised a grand total of £2,352 from the

event, through entry fees, raffles, stalls

and donations. We would like to say a

great thanks to all who came and

supported us, as well as our staff for help-

ing us run it. A great thanks also to M&S

and Team 6 of the Medway Youth Trust

youngsters on the National Citizenship

Service for helping out on the day.

Read more about the event on our

webpage. View the video of the

Gillingham Gems cheerleaders on our

Facebook page.

MAGIC are

especially to

delighted to

announce the

appointment of

Natalie Smith,

our new

Fundraising

Offer who

joined us in September to start planning

some brand new fundraising opportunities

for MAGIC for the future.

If you have any ideas how for private or

corporate fundraising opportunities, do get

in touch. Welcome to Natalie!

Get Involved! There are many ways you can help MAGIC out if you want to get involved and help us make a difference to the many lives of the Members and their families.

Volunteer Become a volunteer and help out at events like Youth Club or our Activity Days. Donate You can donate to MAGIC. Funds, specially through Paypal, cheque or cash to the Office, or gifts or items for our raffles. Remember MAGIC will take any unwanted Christmas gifts! Gifts get used for raffles or prizes. If you are part of an

organisation who does funding for charities, ask them to get in touch. Come along to our events! We run a whole range of events throughout the year, most of them open for everyone to attend, not just Members. See our Events section for upcoming events, we have the MAGIC Quiz Night on Friday 14th November. Tickets are £10 per person which includes food. Come alone, part of a couple and we can

team you up, or bring a team. What-ever you bring remember to bring your brains! Join us on Facebook

Why not ‘Like’ us on Facebook?

Get your family and friends to, too. Keep abreast of our activities and see some of the things we do. We even chose a name for this newsletter via getting readers to vote on a name!

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Hold your own Event!

Meet our newest Fundraiser!

Members have in the past have done an amazing range of events such as wheelchair pushes and skydives! If you would like to hold your own

activity or event such as hosting a boot fair, quiz night, or a sponsored silence - to name a few, but feel free to do anything to help raise funds for MAGIC, we would be especially delighted. You will even get your picture take for the website and go on Facebook if you like! Contact the Office for more information on 01634 570 706

medway-magic.org [email protected]

Our Services

MAGIC offers a range of services for families living with Autism and other

learning disabilities. From ARC to Holiday MAGIC, Coffee Mornings, Youth

Clubs as well as fun Activity Days during the school holidays. For more

information visit the website (www.medway-magic.org) or call the office.

ARC Anniversary ARC is a tuition service for young-sters with additional educational needs, celebrated it’s first birthday on September 1st. Launched in 2013, the ARC has been providing an educational service for children with specially trained staff, we offer a service that provides a continuity of education for young children who are currently outside of school. This service is held at Bradbury House and follows a full curriculum inline with the UK’s national curriculum. Celebrating the first anniversary of the launch, we have big plans for the ARC’s growth over the coming years.

For more information on our ARC, please see our webpage or call the Office on 01634 570706. Holiday MAGIC The summer has been another brilliant one for our holidaymakers at Allhallows. Our luxury 8-berth caravan, fully equipped for our

families’ needs offer a magnificent

get away in the peaceful Haven hol-iday park at Allhallows. Overlooking the water, on a slight incline and a

minutes’ walk from the main centre

facilities and shop, Holiday MAGIC is a special service for our Members, allowing them a fully relaxed break at Allhallows. Why not get in touch and select your dates for 2015?

Medway Youth Trust—Big Design Project Since moving into Bradbury House earlier in 2014, we had a space that we wanted to dedicate to our teenaged Members, something that our older children would enjoy and a space for them to escape and enjoy some peer group time. After being donated some fabulous furniture earlier in the summer, we were waiting for a great time to redecorate the teenage room. A team from the Medway Youth Trust (MYT) organisation paid us a visit earlier in July and offered to undertake

this ‘Big Design’ style project. Team 6,

a group of teenagers who are taking the opportunity of getting involved with career and personal develop initiatives

on the MYT’s National Citizenship

Service (NCS) came to MAGIC in the summer for a talk on the Centre by Gayna Simmonds, a tour of the centre

where they got to meet some of our children. They decided to help out during the August Family Fun Day, as well as undertaking the Teenage Hangout redecoration project. They did some fundraising of their own in order to buy materials and soft furnishings, and once they had those, they volunteered their time to get to work and decorate! We would like to say a big thanks to all of Team 6 for your hard work. Everyone here at MAGIC loves the new room.

Coffee Mornings MAGIC run a supportive event every week on Friday mornings from 10am-12pm, for parents and carers of children with Autism, Aspergers or other learning needs. We invite guest speakers to come along and part with their valuable knowledge to help attendees gain a better understanding of various aspects and challengers that our children face. If you would like more information on our Coffee Mornings, would like to come along, or even come and provide an informal talk or presentation to our Members and staff, please get in contact as we’d love to hear from you.

medway-magic.org [email protected]

Our Community We have rich and varied connections across the Medway area,

and here are just some of the ways we reach out into our

communities.

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ARC DATES:

October half term: 27/10-7/11 Christmas : 19/12-05/01

2 DAY BREAK: From £499

Holiday MAGIC HOLIDAY MAGIC

The Allhallows Park is open from Easter through until November. Holiday Season closes in November 2014 and reopens March 2015. We are taking bookings now for weekends and midweek breaks for 2015! STAYS Weekend (Friday—Monday) Midweek (Monday-Thursday) Call 01634 570 706 to secure your date for 2015

NEW FOR 2015

Respite Weekend Breaks

Why not send your kids on a weekend break with MAGIC? Over 2 days of a complete respite for children with autism, Asperger's and other learning difficulties. Staying in MAGIC’s luxury 8 berth caravan at Haven’s Allhallows Holiday Park, near Rochester Kent. We have specially trained staff throughout their stay, meaning your little treasures will be fully occupied and completely safe at all times, allowing them some time away from the daily grind and you some breathing space. Our caravan, sited on a slight incline, overlooking the water and within short walking distance of the sites full amenities, it’s ideally placed near the outdoor play park too. There are outdoor as well as indoor swimming pools and plenty of activities to keep them busy!

The caravan is fully equipped with plenty of furnishings, 3 twin rooms, 1 double room, 2 toilets, 1 shower, a large kitchen diner, that opens to a lounge with a view across the large decked balcony, and out to the water. Costs for these stays are from £499 for 2 days of fully staffed holiday. Please contact the office for more information or to book this new service.

medway-magic.org [email protected] Page 5

Open to Members and

Member families