During the last three months Rosie and I have pooled together our resources to give Direct Services a Team approach, due to the fact that Michael our manager is on long term sick. Drop in service: Over the last three months the attendance to the drop in has averaged 10 people on Tuesday and 8 people on Thursday with a high of 13. The new volunteers for the drop in are being trained by shadowing more experienced volunteers are working very well. Events: A number of workshops have taken place over the last three months including two question and answer sessions with Pat Chapman of Ward 70 and Peter Butler with Georgina Paget the Clinical Nurse Specialists. These sessions were primarily to deal with the treatment received at Ward 70 and the many problems adhering to drug regimes. James Coleman from “ Freshwinds” in Birmingham gave a presentation about the “ New Opportunities” project. This was well received with three people being interviewed afterwards to look at their aspirations, skills and courses that they may want to take in the future. A trip on Brian Williams boat was made in early June on a cold grey night, but all going from the Etruria basin to the Harecastle Tunnel in Goldenhill had fun. During the summer service users and their helpers have carefully cultivated the garden planters with Anne Webster judging every two weeks. I have on good authority that there has been a clear winner, but my lips are sealed until October when Anne will name the winner. Future Events: A Communication course on 1st November, and the HIV2000 conference on 15th November have now been arranged. Please ring me for details. A Stress management course and a hypnotherapy course for service users are planned for the near future. Please ring me for further details. Another Boat trip, this time going from near Leek, at 12 noon on Saturday 30th September is planned. Please ring me for details to book your place.

The children’s TNT summer scheme is over until next year. We have enjoyed weekly activities, which have included local picnics, a visit to Drayton Manor Park as well as some bike riding at Carrsington Water. This particular activity certainly tested some of the adult’s fitness levels! ‘Exhaustion’ pretty much sums it up! May I say a great big thank you to all the volunteers that helped this summer. Without the continued dedication of our volunteers the TNT club could not take place. After school club: The after school club continues this month with a half term day trip in October. The women’s Group is now meeting every Tuesday. Unfortunately time has not allowed me to organise many activities away from the centre as intended. However we did visit Dudley HIV group and met up with some other positive women. They made us feel very welcome. Stories and information were exchanged and the day seemed to break the ice for future ‘get togethers’. Barnardos: Sadly Terry the Barnardos family worker has now left the organisation, hence some activities that we have accessed through Barnardos have been suspended. But do not fear! We fully intend to offer all service users a variety of activities and workshops. Residential weekend: A residential weekend in Malvern takes place for positive women in October. Any women that are not booked in and wish to attend then please ring me and I will contact Barnardos on your behalf. Admin Volunteers: Some of the clients have offered their time to Buddies to help out in the office with typing and telephone work. This is much appreciated and has helped us enormously, many thanks to you all! Drama Group: At a recent drop in a male client expressed a wish for a ‘drama’ group. We had such a lot of fun discussing this, and most people seemed really enthusiastic! Hopefully we will soon begin the planning of a mini production!