Midlothian Befrienders

**BEFRIENDERS LINEDANCING FUNDRAISER**

We are always looking for new & exciting ways of raising the essential funds to help keep Midlothian Befrienders providing the support to the people of Midlothian

 

So! Do you like dancing? How do you fancy a fun night out? You do? Well this is for you! The Befrienders are having their very first Linedancing Fundraising Event!! Yeeha! You will have received a flyer about this night – but in case you were sleeping here’s the information again!!

 

WHAT? 1^st ever Midlothian Befrienders Linedancing Fundraiser

 

WHEN? Thursday 2^nd October 2008

 

WHERE? Ex-servicemens Club, Smiths Place off Leith Walk

 

COST? £5 which includes entry and your buffet

 

TIME? 7pm – 11pm ish !

 

There will be a raffle as well and can I just let you into a wee secret? There are some absolute FAB prizes! You can buy raffle tickets at 50p a ticket or £2.50 a book from the office.

 

So if you’re interested in this great night please phone the office for a ticket. Or email Loui on loui@midlothianbefrienders.org.uk telling me how many tickets you’d like and if you need directions just ask. Unfortunately there’s no buses organised so you’d have to make your own way there. But maybe you know someone with a car and you could invite them along as well!

 

I am so excited about the night and can’t wait! Why not join us and have a great time and raise some funds for the essential work of Midlothian Befrienders.

Tuesday Social Group

This is our new group for our 65+ service users.  We meet - not surprisingly on a Tuesday afternoon at the Mayfield & Easthouses Development Trust offices in Bogwood Court.  All the members come from Mayfield, Easthouses & Gorebridge.

As this is a pilot project being run with funding we received from Age Concern we decided on the Mayfield area initially due to the high numbers of those aged 65 & over waiting for  a Befriender in the 3 areas mentioned above.  The group has a membership of nine with help from our Assistant Manager Hazel & 3 volunteers. Everyone is very relaxed & there are lots of laughs & always plenty to chat about.   Once a month we arrange small outings out & about.  We have visited some of the local ‘coffee shops’ in the area & are now experts in scone tasting!  Yum!

We hope to be able to offer this service & see it expand to other areas within Midlothian, as we have an ever growing waiting list of those in their later years looking for Befrienders.

If you would like to make a referral please download a copy of our Referral Form.

***SCOTTISH CHARITY AWARDS GLASGOW***

We’re absolutely delighted to be short listed for the Community Action Award from TFN Scottish Charity Awards.  The awards aim to recognise some of the many excellent people & voluntary organisations working in Scotland.  This scheme was created 2 years ago to ensure that these people were honoured for the hard work that they do.

We took 6 students from Lasswade High School & Beeslack to the award ceremony in the Glasgow Crowne Plaza Hotel on 19^th June.  Unfortunately we didn’t win the award but we did receive an honourable mention from the judges who were so impressed with the scheme & the commitment given by our young people as volunteer Befrienders.  This particular project is going from strength to strength with S6 students from Dalkeith High School joining Beeslack & Lasswade High in the next academic year.  To date we’ve signed up 54 students to the 2008-2009 programme. 

The future of this project has also been secured with funding from The Connecting Generations Programme from Scottish Community Foundation.  We have also produced a training package which has been developed in conjunction with the students & partner agencies – Befriending Network Scotland & Midlothian Volunteer Centre. It is very encouraging to be able to promote a programme which allows young people to be seen in a positive light, & being short listed for this prestigious award is something that they should be very proud of.  In addition the student volunteers from Beeslack High School were informed that they are regional winners of the Nationwide Community Award.  Representatives from the school will attend a Scottish regional play-off at Dynamic Earth on 23^rd July.  If successful they will attend the final in London in the autumn!

**** NEW REFERRAL FORMS ****

You might like to know that you can now print off a Referral Form from our website. This will make it easier and quicker for you to make a referral. People can refer themselves or be referred by: Social Workers, Health Visitors, Community Nurses, other agencies, friends and family.

referral-form.doc

New Website Launched - 16th April 2007

Midlothian Befrienders is delighted to unveil its new website. The website has been developed as an extension of our sucessful relaunch earlier this year.

Richard Fairbairn the Convenor said “When the committee approved the development of the new website, they agreed that we needed a website that looked good, was easy to update by the staff, and followed our new logo and design. I’m delighted with the result”

“In life so much these days, if people can’t find you in a search engine, on the web, then your organisation is ignored. We are seeing a significant rise in enquiries via email, and it essential we attract volunteers, who are impressed with us as an organisation, before they send us an email, or pick up the phone.”

“Whilst we have used a free webscript for the website, we hired in the professional services of www.equentity.com , who designed the look and feel of the site, and have made it accessible, by making sure it is designed to the latest accessibility standards.”

The new website address is www.midlothianbefrienders.org.uk , to take account of our name change. The old web address and old email addresses will continue to work.

About Midlothian Befrienders

Midlothian Befrienders is a local independent voluntary organisation that exists to help improve the quality of life of socially isolated people, who have mental health issues

We do this by promoting a variety of supporting relationships with caring adults. We aim to help them get more out of life by providing a range of befriending services.

If you want to find out more about Midlothian Befrienders, or if you want to volunteer, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Click Here to contact us