what's
new at Listening Ear?
June
2008
Charity Golf Day raises £10,000
Renova
Developments, formerly known as ‘Partners 4 Lift’,
took time off from building state-of-the-art NHS and community
buildings across Knowsley, to ‘take a swing’ and
raise over £10,000 for Listening
Ear Merseyside's
Butterflies Project.
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Chief
Executive of Renova, Richard Ashcroft and his team arranged
the Charity Golf Day at Lymm Golf Club on Wednesday 4th
June. Teams
of golfers raised funds through sponsorship, a raffle
and acharity auction, all in aid of the Butterflies bereavement
and loss support programme for children and young people.
|
Left to right: Neil
Grice and Julie Grundy (Renova), Tracy Allen (Butterflies),
Ann Casey and Richard Ashcroft, CEO (Renova)
|
Richard
Ashcroft, CEO for Renova, said: “Renova is proud to be
able to support such a worthy charity as Butterflies. We never
cease to be overwhelmed by the amazing work that they do and
we hope this money will support the training of staff and allow
them to offer their invaluable services to more children in
the future.”
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June
2008
Cherie
Blair gives Spirit of Merseyside award
Listening
Ear Merseyside's Butterflies
project, supporting children and young people through bereavement
and loss, has received the Spirit of Merseyside Children and
Young People's Award.
From
nearly 1000 projects funded by the Community Foundation for
Merseyside last year, 36 groups, organisations and individuals
were shortlisted across nine different award categories - with
the winners decided by public vote on the Community Foundation’s
website.
The
Butterflies Project was short-listed, with three other deserving
charities, in the children and young people's category. They
were delighted to be called to the rostrum to receive 1st prize
from Cherie Blair, patron of the Community Foundation for Merseyside.
 |
Left
to right:
Lien Cheung, Business Service Manager with Listening Ear;
James Le Broq of Alliance and Leicester (sponsoring this
award); Tracy Allen, Butterflies Co-ordinator; Cherie
Blair, patron of the Community Foundation for Merseyside;
Esme Jones, Karen Hartley and Carol Dowling, all workers
at Butterflies. |
The
event, at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool on Tuesday
3rd June, was a massive celebration of all the good work done
by Merseyside's vibrant voluntary and community sector.
Geoff
Bullen, Listening
Ear Merseyside's
Funding
Manager said: "We are so pleased to have this recognition
for all the work done by our Butterflies team. Butterflies receives
clients from a much wider field than all of our other projects,
because of the unique work it does with bereaved youngsters.
"A
big thank you to the Community Foundation for Merseyside which
not only gave us funding for the project itself, but arranged
this wonderful celebration of all that is good here on Merseyside."
For
more information on Butterflies ring 488 6648 or visit their
webpage.
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June
2007
New home for Butterflies
South Liverpool MerseyMart
A
CHARITY providing support for youngsters experiencing a family
bereavement or loss has opened new premises in Halewood.
 |
Listening
Ear's 'Butterflies' project will be
able to provide extra specialist support thanks to the
move.
Children affected by divorce or parents' separation
are also included in the scheme, based at St Nicholas
Centre in Church Road.
LEFT:
Butterflies co-ordinator
Tracy Allen cuts the red ribbon.
|
The
project was limited to a Thursday and Friday when no adults
were using their rooms, but they are now flying high with funding
from the Morgan Foundation and Local Network Fund, managed by
the Community Foundation for Merseyside.
Tracy Allen, Butterflies co-ordinator, officially opened the
new premises and said: "The ideas for our new support rooms
and building came from wanting to continue providing a special,
safe environment for all children and young people to share
their thoughts, worries and feelings.
 |
"It
is important to give them a setting which they can truly
relax in and also feel ownership of.
"With
this in mind, the children and their families and carers
have created decorative artwork, a beautiful memorial
banner and wall messages for everyone to see and read.
|
ABOVE:
Children, young people and adults from the Butterflies programme
celebrate with a balloon launch.
"If asked to say why I feel so strongly about the work
we do, then I would have to say that to see a child laugh and
smile again and actually start talking about their future is
a privilege and not actually work at all.
"Every child, young person and adult really does matter
to us here."
For more information on Butterflies ring 488 6648 or
visit their webpage.
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January 2007
New Year, New Website
We
are delighted to announce the launch of our new website.
This
exciting new development in promoting
Listening Ear's
work was made possible with the support of
Halewood
Town Council Community Chest Fund.
 |
Left
to right: General
Manager Cath Kerr, website designer Kieran Bohan from
Crystal Clarity, Chair of the Executive Committee Flo
Owens, Cllr Tommy Fearns Mayor of Halewood, and
Funding
Manager Geoff Bullen celebrate the website launch.
|
| |
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The
website was designed with Crystal
Clarity, which specialises in supporting
the charity, voluntary and education sectors to celebrate
their contribution to building community through clear,
effective communication.
If
you have any feedback on the site, or suggestions for
what you would like to see here, please call Listening
Ear on 0151
488 6648 or email
listening.ear@btconnect.com
|
|
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November 2006
Volunteers Get What They Deserve
Volunteers
from Listening
Ear were honoured with an award for their
efforts this month.
They
received awards from the Mayor of Knowsley for their dedication
through voluntary work at the recent Knowsley Council for Voluntary
Service 'Showcase Event' in Kirkby, which was also attended
by many other charities across Merseyside.
All
four, pictured with the Mayor of Knowsley, have provided far
in excess of 100 hours voluntary work for Listening
Ear,either
in a counselling or reflective listening role.
 |
All
four, pictured with the Mayor of Knowsley, have provided
far in excess of 100 hours voluntary work for Listening
Ear,either
in a counselling or reflective listening role.
|
Left
to right: Roy Dowling
(counsellor), Carol Dowling (Butterflies Support Worker),
The Mayor of Knowsley – Cllr Joan Quilliam, Esme Jones
(Butterflies Support Worker), Rosemary Unsworth (counsellor) |
Rosemary
Unsworth (far right), who volunteered for Listening
Ear
for several years prior to taking up a paid counselling post
there, said:
'It
was a great opportunity to be part of the creativity that volunteers
have and can offer to the residents of Knowsley, well done to
KCVS for organising the event.'
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|
June 2006
Butterflies Makes A Difference
Listening
Ear Merseyside received
3rd Prize at the Making A Difference Awards 2006 for
the Butterflies children’s
project.
The
award, presented by Anthony Jenkins, Chief Executive
of Barclaycard at the Princess Royal Suite, Aintree
race course, included a cheque for £8000.
|
The
money will help the Butterflies project to create 'memory
boxes' as part of its counselling programme for children
and young people who have experienced bereavement or other
family loss. It will also be used to purchase art equipment,
books and leaflets.
The
awards are supported by Barclaycard and Give A Child A
Chance, the charity run by Liverpool's independent radio
station, Radio City.
|
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April 2006
Butterflies Easter Get-Together
 |
The
children and young people at the Butterflies project
had an Easter
Get-Together in St Nicholas Centre in April.
|
The
fun afternoon included an
Easter Egg Hunt. making Easter cards, a balloon launch,
and refreshments for all. |
|
 |
Above:
Parachute Games
Left:
Balloon Launch
|
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February 2006
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Training
Knowsley CVS Voluntary News
Listening
Ear Merseyside is a vibrant, growing community-based
listening and counselling organisation with a strong team of
volunteers.
Seventeen
of us recently attended a workshop on Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder at Partnership for Learning, which was facilitated
by David Kinchin, author of Invisible Injury.
 |
Without
exception, everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed
the day.
|
| Above:
Trauma training for Listening Ear Listeners and Counsellors |
The
tutor was extremely knowledgeable and presented the material
in a user-friendly way without assuming any prior skills. The
facilities. venue and refreshments were described as "excellent".
the atmosphere was welcoming and we were well looked after.
Overall,
it was extremely professional, yet friendly organisation and
we would like to take this opportunity to thank Alex for introducing
us to Partnership for Learning and offering a service that was
above and beyond our expectations.
Partnership
for Learning (PFL) is based on the Jaguar Ring Road in Halewood,
and provides assisted training for volunteers, people who are
unemployed and anyone who is part of a local community group.
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