Minutes of Blaby, Oadby Wigston Locality Group

Date of Meeting: Wednesday 5th July 2017

Place of Meeting: Salvation Army

/ Present – People who came to the meeting
Sarvjit Kalirai – Chair
Karen Davis – CERT Team
Corinne White – Minute Taker
Phil Breknell
Roger Smith
Sheila Smith
Gaynor Beauly
Jeannie Dorman
Stephanie Kennett
Mary Flude
David Flude
/ 1.  Welcome
Sarvjit welcomed everyone to the meeting.
/ 2.  Red and Yellow Cards
Sarvjit told everyone that we will be using the Red and Yellow cards.
People can hold up the red card when they don’t understand what someone is saying. And the yellow card is for when people want to say something or ask a question.
/ 3.  Minutes from Last Meeting
Sarvjit went over the minutes from the last meeting.
Somebody at the last meeting had wanted some more information about blue badges so Sarvjit had invited Phil a Passenger Transport Scheme Manager to discuss these.



/ 4.  Blue Badges - Phil Brecknell
Phil explained that a Blue Badge is for people who have difficulty walking.
You can apply for one by postal application, telephone or online. The applications go to the Customer Service Centre who decides if they are successful. If they are unsure they can ask someone to come in for an assessment.
Sarvjit explained to Phil that one of the parents was questioning whether someone should be able to get a blue badge if they can physically walk but their challenging behaviour means they have difficulty walking far. Phil replied that unfortunately at the moment people only qualify if they have physical difficulty walking but the government are looking into this.
Sarvjit then asked about organisations using Blue Badges in minibuses. Phil explained an organisation could use one as long as there is one people that struggles with walking on the bus.
Mary asked if a carer can use a Blue Badge when transporting someone and Phil told her yes the badge holder can use their badge in any car they travel in, it is specific to them and not a vehicle.
Sarvjit asked how much a Blue Badge costs and Phil answered £10.
Everyone agreed Phil’s talk had been very interesting and Gaynor said she was going to look into organisational blue badges.

/ 5.  Celebration Event
Sarvjit asked if anyone had been to the celebration event and everyone had. She asked what everyone had thought so that she could feed this back.
Mary said that it was very useful and brought different social groups together and had a good range of stalls but that maybe people would be put off by the venue.
Sarvjit said she thought it was too spread out, there needed to be some arrows as people didn’t realise everything was there and it also made it look less busy than it was.
Roger and Sheila said that they struggled to get tickets and Suzie at the day centre had to get them for them. Sarvjit explained that the police had wanted them to put the tickets in place because it was a working station but she felt it should have been a drop in. Sheila said they could have given some tickets to the day centre to give out.






/ 6.  Oadby, Wigston and Blaby Locality Group
Sarvjit gave out handouts which explained why we want to set up the group. She asked the group if anyone had any thoughts.
Mary said the group could do with more people. Karen and Sarvjit explained that had given out leaflets about the group to lots of people and places. They thought that when colleges close they may start to get more people.
Gaynor said she would try and encourage a few more people to come as she knows some people would be interested.
Sarvjit told the group that going forward they would need to have a chairperson, treasurer and a signatory. They also need to open a bank account as they get given £1000. They can’t use the money for day trips but can go to places like the Keep Safe Zone.
Roger asked if maybe they could invite physios or OT’s to come to a meeting and Sarvjit agreed this was a good idea and she would also look into getting someone from Assistive Technology to come and speak.
Sarvjit explained the group was also about feedback and sharing experiences of how people had been treated at different places.
Sheila and Roger said that the manageress that used to work at the Horse and Hounds used to be brilliant with Stephanie and that she was now at the Bee’s Knees.
Gaynor said that the Silver Street Café in Leicester is fantastic and she can recommend them, they are very patient.
Sarvjit suggested that we can send thank you letters to businesses that are giving good service and also invite representatives from businesses we have problems with to the meetings for feedback.
Sarvjit gave out some leaflets and stickers and suggested that perhaps in the future we could have a meeting in the library and go on the computers to look at the Better Lives website and see what other groups are doing to get some ideas.
/ 7.  Next Meeting
It was decided that the next meeting would be on Wednesday 19th July at 10:30 at D and H Community Support, Wigston Gardens, Kennedy House, Tigers Close, Wigston. LE18 4UX.