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Charity Industry News

Better call Saul? Carers Trust Fylde Coast are glad they did!


World's foremost authority on young carers returns to the resort which set him on the path to shape social policy agendas internationally and finds out charity really does begin at home

Better call Saul? Carers Trust Fylde Coast are glad they did!


"When I tell people I'm a young carer they say 'what does that mean?' which really winds me up. They don't even get it when I explain. Everyone should know. "
Louise Poyner



Professor Saul Becker, the world’s leading authority on young carers, is to be one of the keynote speakers at a charity ball in Blackpool on January 30.

Prof Becker was a young carer himself. He helped his mum, who ran a hotel on Blackpool seafront, look after his grandmother.

She had Parkinson’s disease, the same affliction which would later claim his mum’s life.  Young Saul balanced hotel work and home life with studies - he attended Rossall School– and cared for his gran while his mother looked after their guests.

 “It wasn’t an easy life. But she didn’t grudge it and nor did I.  It’s a labour of love – as it is for all young carers.  I wanted to help and I knew that help was crucial.”

Prof Becker has since set the social policy agenda for governments at home and internationally to assist young carers.

More than 500 research papers, books, conferences reports, policy and guidelines and other publications bear his name. Thousands more acknowledge his influence.

Prof Becker’s experience gives him insight into – and empathy with – young carers today.  And he retains a soft spot for the resort based carers charity.

“It is without doubt one of the best and most innovative. And it faces some of the greatest challenges.”

Last summer he became president of Carers Trust Fylde Coast, set up 11 years ago as Blackpool Carers. The charity has 4000 registered carers on its books, aged from three to 96. It aims to reach at least 12,000 more – revealed to be living locally by the last census in 2011. The charity reckons many more are hidden because of the perceived stigma of conditions such as substance misuse and mental health issues.

The charity is hosting the ball, attended by 500 guests, at the De Vere Village Hotel, to raise money for the 3in5 appeal to Build a Better Life for Fylde Coast Carers.

The campaign aims to raise £1.4m to convert a building into a new carers centre.   It is so named because three in five of us will become carers.

Prof Becker says the new centre will be a “real game changer”.

 An impressive 19th century property, built for the well to do of the age, is already in waiting – donated to the charity by Beaverbrooks charitable trust.

It was formerly known as Blenheim House, an NHS run child development centre.  However, it was ransacked by metal thieves after being put on the market after the NHS relocated Blenheim House to Whitegate Drive.

The charity saw past the damage to the potential.

Prof Becker hails the building as a ‘real game changer for carers in the resort’ and will take the chance to press home the charity’s case for support from all sectors.

“Life can change in a moment,” he explains. “Overnight you may become a carer.  You may not need the charity yourself right now but that’s all the more reason to support it – because you may one day.   Three in five of us become carers.”

Carers Trust Fylde Coast, a network partner of Carers Trust nationwide, which is hosting the second Young Carers Awareness Day on Thursday January 28, has 4000 registered carers of all ages on its books.  It is directly involved with more than 300 young carers, some as young as three, and in contact with 300 more.  It is receiving more referrals as a result of legislative changes to identify young carers.

The annual charity ball is aimed very much at supporters – in order to generate funds.  It’s the first year, says charity chief Michelle Smith, that Carers Trust Fylde Coast has been “inundated with requests to attend. We have had to provide extra capacity to cope. It is a sell out.”

Awareness of the charity is at an all time high. It has been boosted by campaigns enlisting business help through the annual Cash Quest for Carers.  Former young carers champion Lauren Codling, 21, is now leading on business and other partnerships to drive up interest.

The charity’s core work continues.  There are youth clubs, a sibling group, parent carer group; family focus project- working with the most socially excluded families, mental health group, coffee mornings, tea dances, dementia peer support, one to one support, outreach and so much more.

It has long since outgrown its current base at Norman House, off Robson Way, on a small business park in Blackpool.

“We need to grow the charity to meet needs,” stresses Smith.

Local press and radio have been particularly responsive to the charity’s cause.   

Blackpool based Radio Wave staff recently volunteered to man switchboards for an all-day auction of local business services in aid of the charity – raising over £13k in pledges. 

The local radio station’s founding father, businessman John Barnett and wife Danielle, who has multiple sclerosis, were also closely involved with the formation of the charity.

Both are now actively drumming up business and community support for the 3in5 campaign.

The independent charity is also part of the national Carers Trust network which is hosting the second Young Carers Awareness Day on January 28 – just ahead of the Blackpool charity ball.

Local young carers will be meeting groups of young people to spread the word.  Young carers champions,  specifically appointed and funded to fight the corner of other young carers,  join forces with  charity operations chief Nigel McMurdo for a special assembly of local schools to urge educationalists to  play their part on YCAD and give young carers a better start.

Young carers themselves acknowledge one of the problems is they don’t like talking about what they do – because they don’t want to be seen as different.

Erin, seven, who looks after two brothers who are autistic, says  most of her friendships have been made at the weekly young carers club because “they are the same as me.”

She adds: “Only one boy at school understands what it’s like because he looks after someone too.”

She doesn’t see herself as a carer.

Tara Bragg, 21, Radio Wave Carer of the Year, looks after an older sister with Down’s syndrome and a younger sister too.   Tara says: “I’ve learned it’s important not to feel guilty about wanting some ‘me’ time because you go through so much you need time out. If you’re offered help and support, take it.  And believe in yourself, because it will get better.”

Louise Poyner (pictured, above right, with her sisters)  who is 17 in early February, has helped mum Sarah, 43, care for dad Chris, 42, since September 2010 – when he had a stroke followed by a heart attack in February 2011.  Her two sisters Katie, 13, and Lily, eight, also help around the home and in other ways.  Sarah and Louise now help run the carers youth club.

Louise, who’s in the running for a citizenship award in Blackpool, says she never considered herself to be a carer but is now proud to be one.  “Without being a carer I would not be where I am today. I would like people to understand what a carer is – which is NOT a paid one who looks after the elderly or infirm.  When I tell people I’m a young carer they say to me ‘what does that mean?’ which really winds me up.  They don’t even get it when I try to explain. I think everyone should know - because there are a lot more carers out there who are not getting the help and support they need.”

                    

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