William Booth House News

Our plans for Christmas are well advanced with events arranged for our residents throughout Christmas week. The Hull Evangel Singers will again visit the Centre on the evening of 14 December and a carol service will be held on the morning of 16 December.
Residents are invited to participate in snooker, pool and darts competitions.
Christmas Day is always special at the Centre and a full Christmas lunch will be served.

The Centre is currently being inspected by the Supporting People secion of Hull City Council to assess our services against the new Quality Assessment Framework (QAF). Following the favourable assessment last year against the old QAF we are keen to see how we measure up against the new criteria. We aim for continuous improvement and over the past twelve months have sought to increase our service user involvement in the management of the centre and in providing new opportinities for our sevice users in support planning and activites such as computer classess, a gardening club and cookery club.

On 10 September 2009 we held our annual Open Day and evening thanksgiving service. The event was well attended by local residents, our partners and the media together with former residents of the Centre. We aim to be an accessible organisation and to dispell many of the myths associated with homelessness and believe that events such as this make us part of the local community.

On Monday 18 May 2009 residents on our Resettlement Unit together with members of staff and other supporters took part in a twelve mile walk. This is an annual event but conducted for the first time in the wolds around South cave, North Cave and Hotham. The walk started and finished at the Cave Castle Hotel. Although dark clouds did threaten, the weather was fine all day only for a down pour to occur just after we completed the walk.

There were a few aching limbs by the finish but a great day was had by all.

Many thanks to our friend Ray Van Spall for organising this event and arranging our tea at the Cave castle Hotel.

Residents and staff have recently commenced a gardening club at the Centre. An initial meeting was set up for any of the residents who had an interest in gardening to come along and talk about what could be done in the gardens around the Centre. There was much enthusiasm and the residents together with Kevin (one of our Senior Project Worker) have commenced work. What a difference this is making to our gardens! On getting the residents involved we hope to open up the garden in summer time.

The inaugural “Hostel Plus” awards were held at the Salvation Army Social Services Annual Conference held at Swanwick, Derbyshire in March 2009 and we were pleased that work at William Booth house was recognised with a with a “highly commended” in the Community Award.

“Hostel Plus” is based on the idea that a ‘basic’ hostel provides transitional housing whilst assessing the needs of residents and building a support plan to help them moving on to independent or appropriate accommodation. For “Hostel Plus” to work all these basic hostel operations need to be solid and working well and in addition provide activities both on and off site that excite and give back a feeling of self-worth and happiness to change the lives of residents. Such things will include vocational training and getting back into employment.

The awards were used as a vehicle to formally launch the concept. Awards also were made in a number of categories including “People Power”, “Community”, “Specialisms”, “Housing”, Work and Enterprise” and “Activity and Training”. We will be working hard to match our success and more next year.

Christmas 2008 at the hostel was a special time. During Christmas week various entertainment were arranged for the residents including games nights and Carol services. Christmas day was a great success with residents all receiving gifts. A number of donations were made too.
This photo shows Deputy Manager Graham Di Duca receiving Christmas Hampers donated to the hostel by the University of Hull Students Union.

Since early summer 2008 residents from the hostel have been able to play 5 a-side football on a weekly basis. Such has been the response that we have been able to form up to three teams. Two squads were entered in the Salvation Army Association Cup held in Birmingham on 8th September 2008 and we are now playing local fixtures. This gives our residents the opportunity to take part in a healthy sporting activity, engage in team building and increase their self-esteem. In 2009 we are looking to increase participation and to take part in 11 a-side competition.

In a similar way to schools being inspected by OFSTED, we too are subject of regular inspections to ensure that the service we provide to our residents meets the standards required by Supporting People. Supporting People is a scheme devised by the Government as response homelessness and William Booth House operates to a Supporting People programme.
During the year we were inspected by Hull City Council against a quality assessment framework and in the six areas inspected: Needs & Risk Assessment; Support Planning: Security, Health & Safety; Protection from Abuse; Fair Access, Diversity & Inclusion and Complaints. In the six categories we were awarded three grade ‘A’s and three grade ‘B’s. This certainly gives us something to be proud of and an excellent basis upon which to make further improvements.
Looking ahead to 2009 there are many more challenges especially as we seek to improve our performance and achieve ‘Hostel Plus’ status. We are aiming not simply to help residents into new accommodation but to help them change their lives so that they can have a more positive future. Amongst a number of issues under consideration is proving training in conjunction with a local college or training provider in such areas as gardening, catering and decorating & building maintenance.

2008 was an eventful year for William Booth House not least as we celebrated the centenary of the Salvation Army’s ministry to the homeless in Hull and the East Riding. The occasion was marked with an open day and a service of thanksgiving on Thursday 25 September 2008.
The Open Day was a great success with many members of the public joining local dignitaries including the Lord Mayor, the Bishop of Hull and senior Salvation Army officers attending. The day also enabled many of our partners to set up displays and engage with our residents and members of the local community. The event helped to create a wider understanding of the work we do and the difficulties our residents face. It also helped us to connect with colleagues in neighbouring hostels within the city and foster a closer working relationship.
The Open Day was a significant success and is something we now intend to repeat on an annual basis.
The picture below shows the Centre Manager Miriam Ellerington greating
The Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Kingston Upon Hull and Admiral of the Humber Councillor Elaine Garland.