As we’re headed into the autumn/winter period, we’re reminiscing over the summer we’ve had. We may not have had much sun here in Nottinghamshire, but we’ve made the most of the weather whilst we could.

Our aim for 2023 was to get out in the community more. Whether that was attending community groups, local events or holding our own pop ups. And we’re pleased to say that we think we’ve been successful!

Party in the Park

Party in the Park was held on Yeoman Hill Park, Mansfield Woodhouse, in June. The event was organised Mansfield Woodhouse Community Development Group. The Party in the Park was their rescheduled Coronation party which was unfortunately cancelled due to the unpredictable British weather! We were represented by Aimee and Denise at the event, and were blessed with lovely weather! The event was free for everyone to attend and hosted plenty of stalls, live music, food vendors, children’s entertainers and a funfair. Aimee and Denise spoke to lots of people about the services we offer as well as the employment opportunities we have. They took our giant Connect4 game and played lots of games and handed out lots of gift bags that we had put together.

Idlewells Shopping Centre Pop Up

At the beginning of July, Aimee visited Idlewells Shopping Centre, Sutton-in-Ashfield. The purpose of this visit was to let the local community know that we had employment opportunities, as well as discuss our services with passers by. This also unintentionally turned into the first of our “health check pop ups”. Aimee took a Restore2 kit with her and offered to demonstrate it on anyone who had questions about it. This ended up being a talking point for most people and very successful. We saw this as an opportunity to build on and decided that we could use our Restore2 kits, our training and our knowledge to offer health checks as a service within the community.

We heard from many people that they were unable to get an appointment with their GP and some hadn’t had their blood pressure checked in over a year. Aimee also spoke with lots of people who were interested in the home care services that we had to offer and the tailored packages that we could build.

Carers Roadshow

We took part in the Carers Roadshow in July, attending the Sutton and Kirkby locations. These events are organised independently and are designed to offer support and advice surrounding care services. Whether that’s advice about funding, eligibility, what services are most suitable or what’s available in the local area. Perhaps you need some advice about Wills, Power of Attorney or life insurance? There are a whole host of organisations who attend, including leisure centre providers such as Everyone Active and Serco, care providers, charities and local authorities. We had some fantastic conversations with other organisations and learned a lot ourselves about other programmes in our area. We were able to speak with the local community about the services we provide and what employment opportunities we have. Aimee also completed 30 health checks at these events.

Our 3^rd anniversary BBQ

This July, YourHomeCare turned 3! As a small “thank you”, we threw an anniversary BBQ at our offices and invited all of our team and their families. We enjoyed some good food, courtesy of BBQ chef’s come Directors, Paul & Scott. It was lovely for all of our team to put names to faces; having an office team and a community team means that some people don’t get to meet. The children played football together and a few competitive rounds of Connect4! We had an overall brilliant afternoon!

Mansfield Festival

August brought us the Mansfield Summer Festival, which has been our biggest event to date. The event was organised by Mansfield District Council and appeared to be a huge success for our town! It got a brilliant feature in our local paper, The Mansfield Chad. The event had a whole host of stalls selling produce, as well as plenty of entertainment for children and adults. There were walking performances from Top Tier Brass, a puppet show, White Post Farm brought their animals. Food vendors to suit everyone were there, including local business SB Party Creations with delicious pizzas, as well as popular nationwide Project D. There was face painting, balloons, games and crafts. A circus workshop, as well as boxing demonstrations and BMX have-a-go sessions from Tuff Riders.

The weather was glorious and brought thousands of people out to Titchfield Park, Mansfield to enjoy the day. Lesley and Tayla attended this event and thoroughly enjoyed themselves! They said it was incredibly busy but it was brilliant to speak to so many people. This was the busiest event for our health check service! It got a lot of attention from people of all ages and from all walks of life. They completed 80 health checks! They even completed health checks on police officers, volunteers from St. John’s Ambulance service, and John B. Tannen, host of radio Mansfield 103.2.

Ashfield Wellbeing Event

Ashfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council together organised a series of Wellbeing Events across the Ashfield district. Tayla and Paul represented us at the Leamington Primary Academy location on 30^th August. The purpose of these events is to provide an opportunity for residents of Ashfield to connect with services and find opportunities that are available in the district, whilst taking part in fun activities and having an enjoyable time. There were lots of games for adults and children to take part in; face painting from Butterly Effex, amazing music from Warren Ireland and demonstrations from Active Release Therapy and Nottingham Forest FC. There were also stalls providing lots of valuable information about their services such as Disability Nottinghamshire, ATTFE, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue and NHS Nottinghamshire.

We had lots of conversations with other organisations there about how perhaps we could unite our services for the community. As well as conversations with local people about our employment opportunities, particularly now that we have a new pay structure in place. Tayla completed 15 health checks on people of all ages, including other stall holders who came over asking for a blood pressure check!

Overall, we think we have had a very successful summer of events!

As our Marketing Officer, Tayla has lead the planning and organising of these events. Tayla also completed training on the Restore2 kits so that she could attend the events and complete health checks herself. The events couldn’t have worked without the willingness of our team to leave their desks and face the public!

The year isn’t over yet though, and we still have more events and locations to attend. These include recruitment fairs and partnerships with local organisations to continue providing our health checks in the community.

If you know of someone who is caring, compassionate, and would make a great addition to our team, then get in touch or head to our jobs page!

Or, if you or a loved one is ready to think about having help at home, please get in touch.