Harvest Gifts

It is the time for Harvest and we are receiving some very useful and timely gifts for our Centre. I have said this many times before but it is such an encouragement to the staff and the clients to receive these gifts.
Abundance comes faithfully every week with their fruit they have picked. Abundance is a [...]

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Pool Table

We have a really good pool table in the Centre. As we pursue other activities we are gradually weaning clients off the idea that this is all they can do! Many would just love to come into Bens and read the paper, play pool and perpetuate a ‘pub’ like atmosphere but without the alcohol! Having [...]

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Our window is finished

Our window is finished. As you can see it looks really beautiful and has been such a successful activity for all the clients, staff and volunteers. It has surpassed any of our expectations. It is always an unknown quantity when a new activity is introduced and often it can be quite a slog to encourage [...]

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A busy week

Last week was busy and very varied, with points of sadness, drama, frustration and some really good times…welcome to Bens!
Victoria Hall had kindly offered to give us their harvest gifts, and had asked us if there was anything we would particularly like. We suggested gifts of marmite and marmalade would be useful. So our week [...]

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Back after break

Well we are back after our break. I guess like everyone when you have a break you feel reluctant to get back into the routines of life.
But it is so good to know that we are working with clients who without the services of Ben’s Centre would be denied what is available to them, by [...]

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Feedback from our AGM

We have an extra blog this week as we thought you may be interested to hear about our AGM, and also Ben’s Centre is going to be closed next week and re-open on September 28th.
Our AGM went really well and was well attended. A group of our clients attended too which was good. Wendy always [...]

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A.G.M.!

Walking into work this morning I realised that we had got to this time of year again when the leaves are changing colour and some dropping and there is a definite nip in the air. Is this the season they call full of mellow fruitfulness?
Anyway it’s the time for our Annual General meeting this coming [...]

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What a day

We had a very busy day on Friday. Albeit busy it was a very good day, the kind of day which Ben’s is uniquely fitted for.
It started off early, before we opened for clients, with a visit from a former client who has been in a re-hab for about a year. He came and shared [...]

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Light Relief

Regular readers of this blog will know that from time to time it can be very hard work at Ben’s Centre. We accept that the clients we are working with, this goes with the job. It has been a hard week in lots of ways and it does seem like a slog at times; we [...]

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Fridays

The last few Fridays have started off as a very peaceful day and have ended with absolute mayhem. It is very much part of the nature of the Centre here when you are dealing with people who are often very intoxicated that suddenly a very risky and difficult situation can develop. This is usually when [...]

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