We have just been reassessed for Investors in People and our award continues for another five years! Our new appraisal system for staff has been very well received.
Francis House has had its latest inspection by The Commission for Social Care Inspectorate and passed with flying colours. It actually received six "Excellents" which is almost unheard-of, and is the best report we have ever had. The Commission made no recommendations for change at all which, again, is exceptional. Well done to Helen and her team for the high standards set.
We had an early start on Sunday to get to the disabled sports organised by the Rotary Club. We left Searchlight in two buses at 8.30 a.m. On board were ten residents and daycare clients all hoping to win a medal for Searchlight.
Three teams were entered for the boccia competition, we also had people competing in the darts, weight-lifting and short mat bowls. One of the team also entered the wheelchair slalom on the day.
We arrived at the K2 centre in Crawley, all the residents were amazed at the size of the place and were impressed with the climbing wall just inside the entrance. This centre has so much space and the facilities are good for wheelchair users, no problems with chairs getting in and out of toilets here!
We registered and went along to the main hall to see when and where the events were taking place. The hall we were in and where most of the events took place was huge. On one side the boccia and weight-lifting took place and the other the short mat bowls. Darts was upstairs, though the lift could have been bigger, as only one chair at a time could fit in it.
We won our first boccia match, one team got through on a by and the other didn't get through to the next round. Eventually one team got through to the quarter finals.
We had three competitors in the bowls. We eventually came fourth overall. Darts went to the third round, the darts was over-subscribed and overlapped the timings of other sessions but we did well to get through to the third round.
A silver medal was won in the weight-lifting by David Coulthard, a daycare client and we came third in the slalom, although they only had two medals for this event, as they thought not many people would enter but as it was such lovely weather there were lots of contestants.
We took a picnic lunch with us and sat outside during the lunch break, the residents enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and chatted to each other and the staff about the games and many other topics.
We got back to Searchlight about 6.30 p.m. and finished off the day by having take-away pizzas, garlic bread, coleslaw and ice-cream in the daycentre. It was good to see all the residents tucking in and eating so well. They went home happy and very tired.
I would also like to mention the staff who gave up their Sunday to volunteer to take the residents to the games and give them a good day out, without them the residents would not be able to go. Out thanks must also go to the Rotary Club of Seaford for their generous donation which gave our residents such a good day out.
