Prader Willi Syndrome

Happy Birthday Bishops Lodge

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:55:27 +0000

Bishops Lodge celebrated its ‘4th Birthday’ on the 15th December 2008. This was marked by a residents theme night, which was a home cooked indian meal that was throughly enjoyed by all.

In the four years that Bishops Lodge has been open a total of 46 stone has been lost between the 6 service users.

Mandy and her team welcomed a new service user to Bishops Lodge in October 08, she has already acheived significant weight loss and is enjoying her placement at Bihsops Lodge and is an asset to the home and has made new friends within New Directions and the local community.

Merry Christmas!

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:14:17 +0000

Today New Directions held a Christmas Party for all of the service users from the four homes. It was held at the Working Mans Club (Tin Hut) in Ninfield. The party turned out to be a huge success, with a film starting it off around 11am. The film was Mamma Mia and most of the service users (and all of the staff!) sung along with the songs and even did a little dance to go with it! After the film has finished Champagne was handed out to all Service Users as a Christmas treat from the New Directions Directors.

Not long after that the Service users sat down to a buffet lunch and whilst they were munching away, Christmas Crackers and Party Poppers were handed out for afterwards. Then the party hats were put on and jokes were read out and all the Service users seemed to have an enjoyable time.

After lunch the festivities continued with a karaoke and music. There was a bar where all Service Users had drinks tokens to purchase two drinks each. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful festive occasion and thanks go to the Ninfield Working Mans Club for allowing us to use their facilities.

For further information on New Directions residence go to www.newdirections.gb.com

Walk in Memory of Vincent Palmer

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:28:33 +0000

The 10th anniversary celebrations for New Directions to fund raise for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, concluded Sunday 28th September 2008 with a sponsored walk along Hastings Seafront.

This was a great success - we do not yet have a total sum of money raised, but people with Prader-Willi Syndrome and staff walked and collected money from the public. Many of the walkers were in Pyjamas to attract further attention.

The walk was approximatley 4 miles and everyone slept well that night.

As soon as we have a figure for the total amount of money raised for the PWSA by the walk, and a total for the year, we will publish this.

For further information on New Directions residence go to www.newdirections.gb.com

Specialist PWS Care Homes 10th Anniversary

admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:07:18 +0000

This year is New Directions 10^th anniversary and there have been various events to raise money for the PWSA (Prader Willi Syndrome Association) and to raise awareness of the syndrome. This years fundraising events have been hugely successful, they included things like, staff jumping out of planes. One of our staff has done various runs and has reached her target of raising £1000.Our service users have run car washes which were very successful, and there was a picnic in the park which had events like throwing sponges at staff and games in the park. The most recent event was held in a caravan park just down the road from one of the homes.

Last weekend was New Directions 10^th actual Anniversary, and our development manager had organised for roughly 18 of their Service Users to stay at a caravan park just down the road along with some of their parents and as many staff as required. There were various events going on, including a play Written by Hilary Mackelden (one of the service users parents). This play was called ‘Sammy’ and it was all about PWS and family life.

During the course of last week heading up to the weekend, everything started to go wrong. The actors dropped out of doing the play and phone numbers were lost. Fortunately all of this was solved and the weekend approached. Everyone arrived all right and the weekend began. Everybody had a fantastic time and the play was a blast! Saturday night everyone enjoyed the evening entertainment and danced the night away. All of the service users and their parents that came to stay said it was a huge success and said that they would love to do it again.

Our last awareness and Fundraising initiative of our 10^th anniversary is this Sunday 28^th September 2008. A “walk for Vincent”. Vincent Palmer was New Directions development manager’s nephew, he had Prader Willi Syndrome. He met n early demise, like Chris Leppard, from Hastings, at the age of 20 weighing in excess of 26 stone in January 1997. It was his death that led to the opening of specific accommodation for adults with Prader Willi Syndrome. This walk is in memory of Vincent and for all of his family and˚ friends who miss him dearly.

For more information on New Directions residence go to www.newdirections.gb.com

New PWS Service

admin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:28:00 +0000

Bishops Way, a new specialist service for adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome opened today (1st Sep 08), when Sally from Somerset became the first Service User.