SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

IN THIS ISSUE
GARTH OPENING HOURS : MONEY AND BENEFITS UPDATE : DERWENTHORPE ENERGY CENTRE JRHT ANNUAL MEETING : YOUR WARD COMMITTEE : FAMIILY LEARNING HEARING DOGS - FUND RAISING IDEA : SMARTERBUYS : ENER-G SWITCH 2 COMMUNITY NEWS : CONTACTING US

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SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

Trust News . . .
. . . the magazine that goes out to residents of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust. Trust News is your magazine, so if there are any issues or community news which you would like to see included or if you have any suggestions for improving Trust News or ideas for articles you would like to see (or even write), we would love to hear from you. Contact Ursula on 01904 735020 or email ursula.berry@jrf.org.uk

Garth Opening Times (*staff training)

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday * Thursday Friday Open 8:30 am 8:30 am 10:00 am 8:30 am 8:30 am Close 5:30 pm 5:30 pm 5:30 pm 5:30 pm 5:30 pm

24th Dec Monday 10am - 4pm

25th Dec Tuesday Closed

26th Dec Wednesday Closed

27th Dec Thursday 10am - 4pm

28th Dec Friday 10am - 4pm

31st Dec Monday 10am - 4pm

1st Jan Tuesday Closed

NEIGHBOURHOOD SERVICES OFFICERS

Isobel McCoy 01904 752922 York & District
isobel.mccoy@jrf.org.uk

Nadia Rehman 01904 752916 York & District

nadia.rehman@jrf.org.uk

Faye Blinkhorn-Conroy 01904 752924 New Earswick

faye.blinkhorn-conroy@jrf.org.uk

Giles Conlon 01904 752900 New Earswick

giles.conlon@jrf.org.uk

Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri

All day All day All day All day All day Donna Stead

All day All day All day All day All day

All day All day Morning `

All day All day All day All day All day

(temp maternity cover) 01904 752921 Neighbourhood Services Assistant

donna.stead@jrf.org.uk

Charlotte Hope 01429 855081 Hartfields

charlotte.hope@jrf.org.uk

Kathryn Keith

(temp maternity cover) 01723 340290 Scarborough

kathryn.keith@jrf.org.uk

Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri

All day All day All day All day All day

All day All day All day All day All day
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All day All day All day All day All day

Cost per copy to produce Trust News 40p

SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

Benefits Update
Next year brings many changes to the benefits system. Preparation is key for many of these changes, so we want to make sure that everyone who will be affected is aware of exactly what is happening and when. If any of the changes below apply to you and you have not already done so, please get in touch with a Money and Benefits Adviser as soon as possible. Please note that none of these changes will affect those of pension age or over. Housing Benefit? From April 2013, you will receive less benefit if you have any spare bedrooms in your house. You are allowed a bedroom for each adult or couple in the household. Children are dealt with as follows: Children under 16 of the same sex are expected to share a room Children under 10 are expected to share a room, regardless of sex The only exception is if you are disabled, you are allowed an extra bedroom if you need a non-resident, regular, overnight carer. Your housing benefit will be reduced by 14% if you have one spare bedroom and by 25% if you have two or more spare bedrooms. Housing Benefit will also be phased out and replaced by Universal Credit (see below). Having your Housing Benefit paid to your landlord will no longer be an option as Universal Credit will be paid in one monthly sum, directly to you. This does not apply to those over pension age. Disability Living Allowance? From April 2013, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will start to be replaced with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP). It will be introduced in April for new claims in the north of England, and gradually rolled out over the whole country for all new claims. Existing claimants of DLA will have their awards reassessed between April 2014 and March 2016. All existing claimants of DLA will be reassessed, even those who currently have a lifetime award. Please note this does not apply to Attendance Allowance. Council Tax Benefit? In April 2013 Council Tax Benefit is being replaced by support from Local Authorities. It has been announced that funding will be cut by 10% so it is likely that even if you currently receive full Council Tax Benefit then in April you will have to pay something. This does not apply to pensioners. If this affects you, then the council will contact you directly. Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support or Employment and Support Allowance? In October 2013, income based Jobseekers Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, income related Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support was replaced by Universal Credit. It is being introduced to try and make the benefits system simpler and it will be paid directly to you on a monthly basis in one lump sum. This change to Universal Credit will be gradual for existing claimants you will be transferred across either when you have a change in circumstances or at a date set by the government. The Money and Benefits Advisers can be contacted in the following ways: By dropping in to The Garth, White Rose Avenue, New Earswick, YO32 4TZ By calling the Freephone number 0800 587 0211 Paul Rose paul.rose@jrht.org.uk 01904 735 026 Kathryn Wordsworth kathryn.wordsworth@jrht.org.uk 01904 735 025 www.jrht.org.uk
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A Warm Welcome at Derwenthorpe Super Sustainable Centre

The bricks have been laid, the woodchip has been brought in, the schools have named it and on Wednesday 14th November Derwenthorpe residents, prospective residents and members of the local community were invited to the Super Sustainable Centre to see what initiatives, programmes and activities were on site, but also to discuss how they saw involvement and community interaction developing in the future. The Super Sustainable Centre (SSC) is not just the heart of Derwenthorpe, supplying the energy to the surrounding homes, but is envisaged to become a hub of activity for the people living there and in the surrounding community. The event not only officially introduced the SSC to the local community, but also invited people to find out more about the facilities, get involved in steering future activities within the Centre and overall promote the fantastic opportunities that the building can accommodate. Within the SSC we had representatives from the City Car Club explaining their initiative that will be based at Derwenthorpe, the Scientists at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) from the University of York presenting their online tool for calculating environmental impact, Clare Harrigan and Owen Daggett offering tours of the SSC and boiler room, James Grant consulting residents over what they would like to see Derwenthorpe.org used for and the Community Development Team working with the attendees to generate ideas for future activities, groups and programmes. Overall, a very busy and engaging evening. The evening had such a vibrant atmosphere to it! said Matt Harper (Community Development Officer), it was a brilliant turnout and Derwenthorpe already feels like an exciting place to live; people were forthcoming with their ideas for future activities and so willing to share their time and skills with other people. The SSC itself is such a fantastic building with great facilities that it automatically stimulates conversation and ideas over how it could be used. I think there is a lot of excitement around how this will develop in the future. A big thank you to all who attended and supported this event.

Around 130 residents attended the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust annual meeting on Saturday 29 September at Joseph Rowntree School in New Earswick. The meeting informed residents on the current and future work of JRHT and provided residents with an opportunity to question JRHT directors on the work of JRHT. It also provided an opportunity to celebrate the talents and contribution that residents make as individuals and groups. The Hartfields resident choir, Diana Brabbs a new resident at Plaxton Court, Anne Norris resident at Orchard Court and member of the Clear Info Group and June Groom from Hartfields Gardening Group provided excellent examples of how residents have come together to improve the environment for residents. The annual meeting also provides an opportunity for JRHT to work with Joseph Rowntree School, and this year GSCE year 11 drama students created an improvisation drama with an intergenerational theme. The drama was titled Breaking Thoughts was created by studying case studies from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Dementia without walls research and by interviewing people who have dementia and their carers, providing an in-sight into what it is like to live with dementia. The drama represented how dementia affects daily lives and aims to show the challenges people with dementia face when carrying out tasks that we take for granted.
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SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

Your Ward Committee wants to know whats important to you!
Give them your views on what the issues are in your ward, community, neighbourhood. To do this you can fill in their questionnaire either online at www.york.gov.uk/consultation/ (search for Ward Priorities) or complete a paper copy at your local library and other local venues. Contact the Communities and Equalities Team to find out the nearest place to you. Your views will help your ward committee set ward priorities for your area and inform how it will spend its grant funding pot. The priorities and what will be done to address them, will be included in your 2013 2014 Community Contract. Your 2013 2014 Community Contract will be launched at your ward committee meeting next year. Find out more at www.york.gov.uk/council/Wards/ Call them on 01904 551832 Email: shapingneighbourhoods @york.gov.uk Find them on Twitter: @york_wards Facebook: Your Ward York If you do not know which ward you are in, contact us on 0800 5870211

Family Learning Free Courses

All parents want their children to do well at school and to succeed. However, many simply don't know where to start. Everything seems to have changed since your own schooldays, and you don't want to confuse your children by using different methods to their teacher. Family Learning can help.

What is Family Learning?

Family learning classes are run in many schools in the UK. They give parents and carers the opportunity to find out how things are taught in their own child's school, as well as a chance to share ideas with other parents and develop their own skills. This family learning website should hopefully provide a useful resource for family learning tutors to use in a class, as well as giving parents who are unable to attend a course the chance to find out how they can help their child.

Family Learning is looking to develop courses in New Earswick

If you are interested and would like to discuss this further and discuss possible options contact: Sheelagh Loftus, Outreach Worker Mobile: 07976856250 Email: family.learning@york.gov.uk Family Learning is currently running at the Explore Library in New Earswick: English-Move On Maths- Move On Other courses could include: Maths and Money, Healthy Families, Healthy Food, First Aid for Families . . . and others

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SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

Following on from our success with sponsoring Sunny . . . we would like to let you know how you can raise funds for Hearing Dogs by . . .

. . . just by tearing the stamps off letters, parcels and postcards you receive, you can raise vital funds for Hearing Dogs. Please leave a 1cm border around the stamp and sort into British and Foreign in order for us to maximise the funds raised. You can send your used stamps direct to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, at PO Box 6198, Leighton Buzzard, Beds LU7 9GW. The dealer doesnt have the facilities to be able to acknowledge your gift, however, should you wish to be kept informed as to where the valuable funds raised are spent, please contact 01844 348 100 or email info@hearingdogs.org.uk and they will be happy to send a letter. In 2005 enough funds were raised for the first stamp dog, Becks (Beckham), a spaniel from a litter of puppies all named for the 2004 England football team. Since then stamps have supported 5 more hearing dogs Penny (a black Labrador), Womble (a black and white mongrel), Flynn (a Duck Tolling Retriever), Woody (a Labrador x Poodle) and Marti (a Cocker Spaniel x Poodle). So you can see that every stamp you send plays a part . . so please keep sending the stamps and remember that no amount is too small!

Smarterbuys is offering savings to tenants. You can make purchases through the Smarterbuys website http://www.smarterbuys.org.uk Smarterbuys are increasing their offers every week and have great offers on their site, ranging from washing machines to cordless phones. They have recently added small electrical starter packs and will add more soon. Coming shortly will be beds, bedroom furtniture and dining furniture. Smarterbuys want to help tenants money to stretch as far as it can. They already offer various payment routes, so that you can access affordable credit, instead of relying on doorstep lenders, payday loans or weekly payment stores.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR CUSTOMERS OF ENER-G SWITCH 2

They recently had an incident whereby a resident received a call from someone claiming to be from ENER-G Switch2 and asking for their credit card details. In the same week there was a second reported incident of a person who had no connection to ENER-G Switch2 being called and advised that they had a credit on their prepay meter that needed to be refunded to them. Although ENER-G cannot prevent this type of attempted fraud from happening, they have implemented the following processes in order to inform and / or confirm their commitment regarding personal financial data:Their automated telephone system will include a message assuring people that they will never cold call them nor ask for any personal financial details over the phone. On the back of the bills they will add a permanent message stating Please be assured that, unless you call us to set up a direct debit mandate (which is regulated by BACS) we will never ask you for any personal financial details. Please do not ever send your bank or credit card details to us by email as our emails are not guaranteed to be secure. In addition to the above they will add a short term highlighted message stating - Please be assured that, unless you call us to set up a direct debit mandate (which is regulated by BACS) we will never ask you for personal financial details. All their staff have been asked to be extra vigilant and on the lookout for any suspicious callers.
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SANDACRE COURT Joan arranged a coffee afternoon on the 28th September, to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. There was tea, cakes and games and with the help from the Sandacre residents 128.12 was raised. Well done all! ST ELLENS COURT Residents at St Ellens Court enjoyed a roast lunch on the 12th October, provided by the Scheme Manager, who was celebrating attaining a certain age! Everyone welcome Jeans eldest daughter, Sarah, who worked almost single handedly booking and serving food - which was enjoyed by everyone. Residents, Mrs Rowell and Mrs Edmundson brought the dessert and helped serving - and clearing! ensuring the event went off successfully. And Mrs Smith provided one of her popular fruit cakes - which made an ideal birthday cake! Everyone had a really good time - even taking meals to those not able to make it to the lunch. Mr Cleal surprised Jean with a bouquet of roses from the residents and events were rounded off with the drawing of a raffle, proceeds of which go towards event organised by the Social Committee. GOODBYE TO . . .Phil Harrison Phil worked for JRHT for nearly 18 years. He started as a contractor 39 years ago on the roofing and modernisation work and was a charged-hand for around 8 years. Phil was a valued member of the Property Services team. Phil and his wife have lived in New Earswick for most of their married life and have just moved into a bungalow, just in time to enjoy his retirement! Harry and Mary Pawson 60th Diamond Wedding Anniversary Congratulations to Harry and Mary Pawson who celebrated 60 years of marriage on 3rd October 2012. Harry (82 years old) has lived in New Earswick his whole life and he and Mary (78 years old) have lived on Rowan Avenue for 45 years. They were married in 1952 in Shipton by Beningbrough and Mary describes it as being a warm and sunny autumn day much like it is 60 years on although there honey moon was a weekend at Sleights, which Harry advises was much colder than it was in York. They celebrated at the weekend with a lunch for all their family, including family from Australia and their 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

Victoria Geldof Community Group

Residents and their families enjoyed a trip to Lightwater Valley on a sunny day in August. The Spooky Pumpkin Head event on the 1st November was a success - with every entry getting a goody swag bag and a ghoulish certificate . . . . and with a visit to see Robin Hood and his Merry Mam at the Theatre Royal planned for the 9th January - we have had a good year of events. We are planning a good schedule of events for 2013 and if anybody has any suggestions or ideas, let Nic or Jon know (63 Geldof Road).
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SERVICES INFORMATION HOUSING EVENTS COMMUNITY CONTACTS

THE GARTH : WHITE ROSE AVENUE : NEW EARSWICK : YORK YO32 4TZ TEL: FREEPHONE 0800 5870211 www.jrht.org.uk

DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

Jacquie Dale Tel: 01904 735020 jacquie.dale@jrf.org.uk Ursula Berry Acting PA to Jacquie Dale ursula.berry@jrf.org.uk Tel: 01904 735020

ADMIN TEAM
Paul Rose Money and Benefit Advisor for York and District Tel: 01904 735026 paul.rose@jrf.org.uk Kathryn Wordsworth Money and Benefit Advisor for New Earswick Tel: 01904 735025
kathryn.wordsworth@jrf.org.uk

Susan Wheller Office and Admin Assistant Tel: 01904 735032 susan.wheller@jrf.org.uk Helen Warters Admin Assistant Tel: 01904 735028 helen.warters@jrf.org.uk

PROPERTY SERVICES REPAIRS 0800 5870211 Visit our website at www.jrht.org.uk

Jonathan Lever Surveyor Tel: 01904 752903 jonathan.lever@jrf.org.uk Clive Baxter Electrical Supervisor Paul Dawson Heating/Gas and Plumbing Supervisor Steve Harrison Building Supervisor John Rayner Joiner Supervisor

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HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

Nick Dennison Housing Options Manager Tel: 01904 735012 nick.dennison@jrf.org.uk Giles Conlon Neighbourhood Services Officer for New Earswick Tel: 01904 752900 giles.conlon@jrf.org.uk Faye Blinkhorn-Conroy Neighbourhood Services Officer for New Earswick Tel 01904 752924
faye.blinkhorn-conroy@jrf.org.uk

Sally Houghton Service Improvement Manager Tel: 01904 735032 sally.houghton@jrf.org.uk Fateha Begum Resident Involvement Officer Tel: 01904 735008 fateha.begum@jrf.org.uk Matthew Harper Community Development Officer Tel: 07802 927354 matthew.harper@jrf.org.uk Sandra Marshall Early Years Manager Tel: 01904 750323 little.rowans@jrf.org.uk

HARTFIELDS
Tel: 01429 855070 Dale Owens Neighbourhood Manager Hartfields Tel: 01429 855072 dale.owen@jrf.org.uk Lynne Lee Care and Support Manager Hartfields Tel: 01429 855078 lynne.lee@jrf.org.uk

Charlotte Hope Neighbourhood Services Officer 0800 5870211 Hartfields ____________________ Tel: 01429 855081 charlotte.hope@jrf.org.uk Carole Burns Catering Manager Tel: 01429 855075 carole.burns@jrf.org.uk Kim Andrews Senior Receptionist Hartfields Tel: 01429 855070 kim.andrews@jrf.org.uk Lynne Dawson Admin. Officer Hartfields Tel: 01429 855080 lynne.dawson@jrf.org.uk

EMERGENCY REPAIRS

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CARE SERVICES
HARTRIGG OAKS RECEPTION Tel: 01904 750700 John Kennedy Director of Care Services Tel: 01904 752201 john.kennedy@jrf.org.uk Central Care Services Tel: +44 (0)1904 752209 Fax: +44 (0)1904 752225
marketing@hartriggoaks.org.uk

Isobel McCoy Neighbourhood Services Officer CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVISORS for York and District Tel: 01904 752922 isobel.mccoy@jrf.org.uk Advice and information on Nadia Rehman Neighbourhood Services Officer repairs and provisions for York and District Tel: 01904 0800 5870211 Tel: 01904 752916 nadia.rehman@jrf.org. uk Beverley Atkinson beverley.atkinson@jrf.org.uk Donna Stead Neighbourhood Services Fiona Crawford Assistant fiona.crawford@jrf.org.uk (temp. maternity cover) Tel: 01904 752921 Jackie Smith donna.stead@jrf.org.uk jackie.smith@jrf.org.uk Kathryn Keith Neighbourhood Services Officer Scarborough Area (temp. maternity cover) Tel: 01723 340290 Fax: 01723 341888 kathryn.keith@jrf.org.uk
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housing, rent, services,

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CONTACTING THE POLICE

North Yorkshire Police York/Selby/Scarborough 101 Beverley 0845 606 0222 Hartlepool 01429 221151

Lynne Slater lynne.slater@jrf.org.uk Sheryll Muir sheryll.muir@jrf.org.uk Sue Harrison susan.harrison@jrf.org.uk

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