Choices 4 U, a service which provides day opportunities for people over the age of 16 with learning difficulties in South Gloucestershire, is celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Service users and support staff were joined by Vice-Chair of South Gloucestershire Council Cllr Brian Allinson at a celebration event held at Kingswood Active Lifestyle Centre on Wednesday 13 March to mark the anniversary.
Choices 4 U provide support that is adapted to enable people with learning difficulties to become more connected to their community, achieve learning, signpost users towards employment aspirations and access meaningful social and leisure interests that promote good health and wellbeing. The overall aim is to help people lead a fulfilling life.
The service is run by South Gloucestershire Council and gives those with learning difficulties a range of activities to try out as well as helping them to learn new skills. Example activities include:
* access to lifestyle facilities and gym equipment to improve wellbeing
* cooking sessions
* money smart courses
* Bollywood dancing
* community safety courses supported by emergency services
* day trips out to places such as Weston-super-Mare.
The dedicated team work with more than 50 members across South Gloucestershire. At present almost half of the members are involved in employment or training supported by the service.
Stasiu Kuchcinski, who is one of our longest standing Choices 4 U members, said: “Choices 4 U is great and I enjoy attending the sessions very much. Since coming to Choices 4 U I have been more active, I feel relaxed and welcome – it feels like home.”
Vice-Chair of South Gloucestershire Council Cllr Brian Allinson said: “It was great to join in with Choices 4 U’s tenth anniversary celebrations and meet some of the people who benefit from the service.
“Choices 4 U provide valuable assistance to some of our more vulnerable residents. The support and encouragement the team provide is excellent and really shows through in the development of their members.”
Centre Manager at Kingswood Active Lifestyle Centre, Martyn Hinam, said: “As an organisation that’s heavily invested in the local community, we’re passionate about our work with Choices 4 U and are proud that we’ve been part of their journey since the beginning. Having the service at our Lifestyle centres means that our customers and staff regularly engage with service users, which helps them to feel connected to the community.
“It’s honestly been a pleasure to work with the Choices 4 U team, and of course the service users, for the past ten years and we look forward to supporting the service for many more years to come.”
Find out more about Choices 4 U by visiting www.southglos.gov.uk/choices4u
