Liverpool's new Lord Mayor chooses The Whitechapel Centre to be one of his charities for the year!

On 22nd may, Councillor Gary Millar was sworn in as Liverpool's new Lord Mayor, and has chosen us here at The Whitechapel Centre to be one of his nominated charities.



Councillor Gary Millar - Liverpool's new Lord Mayor (photo courtesy of Liverpool Echo)


Cllr Millar originates from Scotland, but has lived in Liverpool for over 32 years, making our wonderful city his home.

He has long be known to us here at The Whitechapel as he and his partner Steve have supported us through their enterprise at Parr Street Studios.

Four charities have been chosen by Cllr Millar to be recipients of any funds raised, and as ever we are truly honoured to be one of them.

Gary’s first fundraising venture has been to produce an album of WWII songs, covered by Liverpool artists. The CDs are £5 and will be on sale this weekend during the Battle of the Atlantic events.

They will be available at St Georges Hall, the Town Hall and tourist information so if you are out and about in town this weekend you may see them on sale, the reviews so far are excellent!

If you would simply like to donate to all of the chosen charities this is now possible by text message, all you have to do is text “LMAY13£” and an amount to 70070.

We have high hopes of what our new Lord Mayor will achieve whilst in office, not only in the fundraising stakes, but also for the city of Liverpool as a whole.

The Whitechapel Centre send a huge THANK YOU to our new Lord Mayor!!

To find out more about the services that we provide, and the work that we carry out, please go to our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Whitechapel Support Helps Find 75 Year Old Man First Home of His Own

Whitechapel client, William, was born in China, then moved to Liverpool with his parents when he was a child.

For the last thirty years of his life he has lived as a lodger, but the owner of this house is now selling so he was forced to take the huge step into independent living.

William is 75 years old and has no experience of managing a  household, and to make things more difficult, he does not read English.

On 11th March this year Whitechapel support worker, Delphine, moved William in to a newly refurbished flat in Childwall.



Delphine recently receiving a certificate



He was beside himself with joy to have a place of his own, something he had always wanted but did not think it was a dream that would ever come true.

Delphine has supported him in obtaining his benefits, utilities and helped him to liaise with all necessary agencies.

Throughout this process Delphine has watched as William has grown in confidence, and gained new skills to help him with his new home.

Delphine said, "At the start of the process William was very nervous but I feel so gratified to watch, even if its later in life, William gain a promising independent life."

William is thrilled with his new home, saying, “All these things are new to me I am so glad Delphine has been here helping me with them, I know I can ask her anything that I am worried about and she will help me with the problem. I have learnt so much and am so glad I moved, its lovely here, my own space.”

To learn more about the work that we carry out at The Whitechapel Centre, and the floating support team that Delphine is a part of, please go to our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

WE DID IT!! Whitechapel Centre's Flashmob Is a Huge Success....

On Saturday 11th May at 12pm, after months of careful planning and organising the Whitechapel Centre Flashmob finally took place.

Staff and their families practising in the yard of our Enablement Centre


The turn out was better than we (the planning committee) could ever have hoped for, the support from staff, friends, family, and even trustees, was simply over whelming.


Even heavily pregnant staff member Jo joined in!!



At precisely 12pm our resident choreographer, Zumba expert and admin/receptionist guru, Sandy,  kicked off proceedings as the music started to play.

Gradually all the other dancers started to join in, stripping off their coats and jumpers to reveal their bright yellow Whitechapel Centre t-shirts, until all the dancers were in full flow, taking over Williamson Square.

The gathering crowds all watched in delight, nodding to the music themselves, we even had a rousing cheer from the builders working on the square, banging their tools as a sign of appreciation and (we hope!) enjoyment.



Whitechapel's Khadi performing the Our House 'nod'



After 3minutes and 12 seconds it was all over, the dancers dispersed

into the crowd, and all was as before, until the cameras were off and we all gathered together, buzzing with enjoyment and excitement of what we had just been a part of.



Dancing off in amongst the City Centre shoppers!

We handed out our cards to the watching crowds, and hope that those who witnessed our dancing would spread the word about what they had seen.

Our aim was simply to raise awareness of the increasing plight of the homeless, particularly in the Merseyside area that we provide support to.

This is possible - but only with your help, and don't despair, it isn't too late!! Click on the link below that will take you straight to our official video, watch it, and then tell your friends to do the same - easy as that!!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ep370cmwhC4?rel=0

To all of those who were there on Saturday we cannot thank you enough. To those who danced, thank you for having the courage to pull on a bright yellow tshirt and dance randomly in the middle of the city centre! 

For those who came and supported, it meant so much to see you there, it was thanks to you that we had the courage to dance in public, knowing that at least someone would clap!

To see more of the photos that we took on the day please go to our facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/whitechapelcentre 

Also if you would like to find out more about the work that we do, and the reasons and people behind our flashmob, please go to our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk



 

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT - FROM ALL AT THE WHITECHAPEL CENTRE





The Whitechapel Flashmob Is On!!!!

After months of planning, organising and arranging permissions from what felt like the whole of the music industry, the date has finally been set:

SATURDAY 11th May, 12pm - venue to be confirmed...(to maintain the element of surprise!)
The event has been organised so that we might raise awareness of the ever increasing issue of homelessness, not just in our city, but in the UK as a whole.

We are inviting as many people as would like to take part, all you need to do is upload our dance video from YouTube on to your PC, or from our Facebook/Twitter pages on to your smart phone, and get practicing!

The exact venue will be revealed on the day, for all those who would like to participate it will be somewhere in the city centre........

Don't worry if you can't dance - most us are in the same boat on that score, in fact I think that will make the experience even more enjoyable!

Our resident dance/exercise/zumba/admin guru Sandy leads the dance on the video, and will be leading the flashmob on the actual day.

To view the video and start your dance practice please click any of the links below: 

www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk
www.facebook.com/whitechapelcentre
https://twitter.com/WhitechapelLivyoutube

We are hoping that the recording of the flashmob will go viral, and will be relying on those who are there on the day to spread the word to as many people as possible.

If you would like to come and show your support without dancing, that would also be great, you can hand out some cards, or even just watch and laugh, and have fun!

The message we aim to send is an important one, but we also want all those involved to enjoy the whole experience, something that should come very easily.

Please join us - and spread the word, the more people that want to take part the better, keep a look out on our Blog/Facebook/Twitter pages for the exact location which will be revealed on the day.

Finally, for those wanting to come and take part, we have a limited number of Whitechapel t-shirts, so wear anything you have that is yellow - the brighter the better!

Whitechapel Team Starts New Gardening Project

The Whitechapel Centre's learning and enablement team are starting up a new gardening project for those who use our services to become involved in.

We are linking in with Kensington Community Centre which is situated near to The Royal Hospital, to help landscape and build a sustainable garden & allotments for use by The Whitechapel Centre and local residents in the Kensington community .

The only problem is, we don't have all the extra pieces of equipment that come in so useful when gardening.

If you are anything like me you will regularly clean out your shed and find so many items that you dont need or use, that the new gardening team could make great use of!

Examples of the things they could use are:

* Plant pots
* Seed trays
* Garden chairs
* Seed packets
* Bulbs
* Gardening tools
* Compost
* Flask (essential on the colder days!)

This is a fabulous new project that can help both those from The Whitechapel that are taking part, and the local community through improving the landscape, and providing a source of freshly grown food.

If you have anything that you feel could help out the team please let Angela or Ruby, from the learning and enablement team, know by calling our Enablement Centre on  0151 207 7617.

For more information on the services that we provide please go to our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk.