June update

House update
Great Places Housing Association have told us they are not going to bid for any of the national funding that would enable them to finance a new build project for L’Arche Manchester. This means that although they would be happy to look at this again in the future, they are not in a position to help us open a house at this time. They suggested we talk to other housing associations who might have other property coming available from other projects that are closing down which could be adapted for our purposes.

I have opened discussions with Arcon Housing. Unlike Great Places, Arcon are not dependent on the national funding and are used to borrowing from commercial lenders against their current housing stock, to fund new property. We have identified a former care home in Withington which, with some redesigning and adaptation could accommodate 5 people with learning disabilities and 3 live-in assistants. The cost of purchasing and converting the property is likely to be in excess of £500K but Arcon are suggesting they have the ability to fund this. Arcon know of L’Arche and are keen to work with us.

Our suggested design includes one ground floor fully adapted bedroom with en suite bathroom with tracking and hoisting. We would therefore be offering support to people with varying levels of ability. The whole of the ground floor would be wheelchair accessible including the garden, conservatory, outbuildings and greenhouse. There would be a separate disabled toilet on the ground floor for visitors and the ground floor layout lends itself to being used as a community space for 20 or people or more.

It is easy to get carried away but I am beginning to feel confident that this could come off. Arcon are in negotiations with the vendor over the price. (Although it is not our money that will pay for the house it is still important to us that they negotiate a good price as the lower the capital costs the lower our rent payments will be.)

I am meeting with the Local Authority commissioners to discuss what level of funding we can expect from them and who would be placed with us. There might be a certain amount of tension here when we come to discuss those people commissioners want to place and those we feel would best suit a L’Arche community. There may be people who would like to live in our first house who the commissioners refuse to fund and equally there may be people the commissioners want to place who we do not think would fit in. But I am sure we will be able to work through this.

Income raising schemes
Together with the Committee I am considering what schemes we might develop alongside the house which could generate income and complement the community life of a house. Currently we are exploring Adult Placement, Advocacy, Community Outreach Support and ‘Activity co-ordination’ – this last being the way I describe how day services are going to develop in the future. We have yet to decide where to focus our efforts some will suit our ethos well and others will be more likely to raise income so we will need to give this careful consideration.

Prayer evenings
Are going well. The most recent was held on June 1st. This was not particularly well attended but was a good cementing of the relationship with the Chorlton Central Church as many of the parish attended. The next is on July 6th. I suggest we do not hold a prayer evening in August but continue with the pattern of the first Wednesday of the month starting again on September 7th. Need to consider how we reach out to others to attend this group.

Boogie Nights
Boogie Night was held Friday May 20th. This was a good evening and quite well attended with a few new faces mainly young people with learning disabilities and their carers. (The DJ was also new and he was well received by everyone.)

Didsbury Festival
We had a stall at the Didsbury Festival on June 11th. We sold merchandise from Liverpool and distributed information on our own group and our forthcoming events.

National Gathering
A lot of time in the coming weeks will be devoted to the planning of the National Gathering on July 8th, 9th 10th July. We hope that it will provide a platform for Manchester to advertise our presence and get people involved.

We need to gather names of everyone who wants to come so we can enable as many people as possible to take part. Some people will come only for the mini-pilgrimage and others will come only for the party in the evening. There is no lunch on Saturday so people wanting to stay throughout the day will need to make their own arrangements for lunch. Anyone wanting to stay for the evening meal needs to buy a day ticket for £15. We will need to set aside some time at the next Community Support Group meeting on Tuesday 21st to consider this.

New Brochure
I have created a new brochure for Manchester (with a lot of help from various sources). It is aimed at potential assistants, carers of people with learning disabilities and others who might get involved in the community. It will be ready for distribution at the National Gathering.

International Consultation Process
We are invited to take part in a Federation-wide consultation on the International structures, the process of discerning and choosing the new co-ordinators and agreeing their mandate. I will invite people to a special meeting to join in with this if they want to. It might seem far away but we are part of an International Federation and I think it is important that our voice is heard. (We may not have a long history in L’Arche but we are part of its future!!)