Ok, so the aim is pretty simple: devise and cook an easy meatball meal that tastes delicious and can be duplicated again and again.

That was the mission of social enterprise Yellow Kite’s ‘Meatball Monday’ challenge for the young people living at All Saints Direct Access Hostel in Portsmouth on Monday. 

“Our strap line isn’t ‘food on a mission’ for nothing,” said Yellow Kite entrepreneur, Gambol Parker, “and the chance to offer a chef-led informal but informative cooking session was just too tempting.”

The plan for the day was to work with the young people from All Saints who haven’t had a chance to learn how to cook before.  “It was really fantastic,” said Flo, one of the residents who rolled up her sleeves and gave it a go.

“All the young people have talked about it so much this week,” said manager Jane Spencer “we already have people signed up for next week and both residents and staff are vying for position to be able to go along”

With the first Meatball Monday such a success, the plan is for Yellow Kite to work with All Saints every week and give young people the confidence to cook simple, nutritious…

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Well, last week was certainly interesting and this week’s blog has a rich selection of things to update you on!  Perhaps most exciting has been the recognition of our Smart Living service as an ‘expert in the field’.  Smart Living Manager, Lorraine Pink was contacted on Thursday and asked to attend a meeting by the Chairman of the Conservative Policy Forum, the policy forming arm of the Conservative party which feeds directly to Oliver Letwin.  The meeting will be to look at the role of telecare/telehealth and how to move this agenda forward.

We’ve also seen our Supported Employment Service promoted by the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce in their newsletter.  It’s really great to see positive promotion of services for people with learning disabilities and the support available to get them back into work.  To read the article, please click here and go to page 44.

And we’ve had several other positive press releases including our presence at the On the Bridge Event for International Women’s Day last week and a positive story talking about how we work with and support people who are homeless or threatened by homelessness in Basingstoke.

We’ve also been working closely with Affinity…

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If you pride yourself on being innovative then you have no excuse for not trying something whacky once in a while!

Last week, staff from Key, YOU’s move on service for people with mental ill health in Fareham and Gosport, attended what can only be described as a ‘speed dating’ network event. 

Trish Niemand and Kerry Digby (left) turned up to the event at The Gosport Discovery Centre hosted by Southern Entrepreneurs … the plan was for members and businesses to network and promote what it was they did.

Trish and Kerry decided to attend to raise awareness of the shortage of social housing for vulnerable people in the Fareham and Gosport boroughs and to recruit private landlords to work in partnership with Key’s Move On service on their rent bond scheme.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Trish, “we met loads of interesting people and it was great to see the amount of support out there for what we do.”

“I’d definitely do it again,” added Kerry, “we made some really useful contacts and came up with a few new ideas about how to promote the service.”

Key is still looking for private landlords, however, so if you…

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