Building Futures

Here is an update on our final day (day 5) at Timbrell house,
Crewe

Words and photographs by Jennie Watson

The night before…

The evening before, the girls celebrated the success of the week with a lovely glass of bubbly at a local Italian restaurant. It is fair to say that the team have definitely become a little DIY-obsessed now… Kate even started inspecting the quality of the paintwork ‘cutting-in’ in the restaurant toilets! 

We set off bright and early again in the morning to get the house finished. The pressure was on as we had all of the great furniture Suzi and Jackie had bought yesterday to assemble before the local residents were due to arrive at 1pm for the launch!

In the garden…

Helen Cook had arrived the night before and quickly got all enthusiastic and stuck in, planting flowers in the garden and sweeping up the grass cuttings. (We kindly declined her offer to ‘watch the bags’ for us instead!).  Fiona remained surgically attached to the wheelbarrow (wow, she must be really strong now) and you could tell that Karen was delighted to be back working in the garden with Brian our gardener (and star dancer it turns out) again. 

Justina and Eileen bought a garden gnome for the garden as a finishing touch and we found a real-life friendly frog hopping around the garden to keep it company!  Tom, a local, came along and helped Mark sweep all of the disgusting muck into a manhole… Tom has also signed up to join the centre’s employability programme next week so is our first success story with the centre.

Meanwhile in the house…

Much to the relief of Sarah and Jennie, the downstairs toilet was finally decorated and we didn’t need to venture back in there with our paintbrushes… phew!  Instead, they were able to get their screwdrivers out with the rest of the girls and put together the shelves, cupboards and chairs from Ikea which everyone seemed to enjoy!
 

The fun then started blowing the balloons up (with Louisa needing lessons on how to tie the ribbon properly!). Jackie also made us laugh as she tried to disguise her poorly finger by popping finger puppets alongside.

…and onto the launch!

Hooray, we’d done it!  The house was finished just in time and some of the locals arrived with a buffet to feed the masses.  Geoff Thomas, (ex-Crewe Alexander footie star) arrived and the official cutting of the ribbon took place to open the centre.  The crowds had arrived and listened to some great speeches from Geoff and Yvonne before they all headed inside to see our handywork.

Eileen had had a brilliant idea to buy some footballs for Geoff to sign and give away which went down really well with everyone.  She’d also arranged for T-shirt painting in the garden which the children really seemed to enjoy.  Ruth, our techie guru, had set up the laptops we’d donated and was busy showing the locals how to navigate the net and also showing them the photos on our blog.
 

The local press were also there (check out the story here) to follow the story. The launch was a great success and from Monday the centre will be open for business.

A final thank you to everyone

Yvonne made us all feel a little emotional when we all gathered together to say our goodbyes.  It was clear how much the centre means to her, Pathways and the local community. We gave a few thank you presents to the builders (Build-rite), Three Hands and Brian the gardener as they have all been fantastic this week. Well done to Luke who got his NVQ certificate today too!  Then it was almost time to go… once Justina made sure that she kissed everyone goodbye!

It has been a roller-coaster of a week and I personally feel as if I’ve made lots of amazing new friends within IBM (I’m sure the other girls will agree).  We’ll certainly all miss Maria’s amazing hand massages, Suzi’s sophisticated look in a paper boiler suit and Sarah’s wild sense of humour!

So until next years project (whatever that may be!), it’s time to say ta-ta from the Building Futures girls (although we will hopefully update the blog next week to show you some before and after photos of the house!)

Bye from the team…
Helen Cook, Kate Pennell, Justina Gilbert, Jennie Watson, Nic Cheetham, Sarah Kitching, Eileen Buglass, Fiona Breed, Jackie Hicks, Jan Johns, Jane Everden, Karen Parker, Louisa Houghton, Maria McDade, Ruth Weaver, Sarah Athey, Sima Hakeem, Sue Parkin, Sue Burlison, Suzanne Ryder, Suzi Surry

Here is an update on Day 4 at Timbrell House, Crewe.  Written by Sima Hakeem and Jackie Hicks. (photos by Jennie)

In the Garden…

In the morning Brian, Fiona and Sima were on a mission to complete the garden work. There were 3 bags of bark to shift from the patio to the back of the garden; the turf and slabs were to be laid, the graffiti had to be removed, the walls had to be painted (many coats of paint), the patio had to be cleaned, the door and door rail had to be painted and yes it goes on…. And yes, to get this done they got the extra support of Justina, Sarah, Karen and Mark. The garden was not only very very close to finishing, but also looked very stylish – a round of applause to the garden team – they’ll all have aching backs after moving all that bark and learning how to manoeuvre a wheel-barrow!

Meanwhile in the house…

The girls painted rigorously on the walls, skirting, doors, radiators, ceilings and hallway with many coats of paint. Louisa took time out to offer and make tea for the builders… yes the Builders! Jan spent a lot of time grooming the new wooden doors, with primer, undercoat and many coats of gloss. Jan asks “ Why didn’t they buy white doors, it would have saved us so much time!” – Too right it would have Jan!

Despite Louisa kindly making tea for the builders, they were getting quite cheeky with the girls. However, the girls still had the men wrapped around their fingers and had Luke sing and dance for the girls! Also, Jennie had three men in the toilet with her… 3 men in the toilet – Well we can only ask Jennie what went on in there!

Determined to finish the painting, there were 5 people bumping and knocking into one another. While, Ruth tried to calm the heated atmosphere by supplying an iPod and speakers, the girls then sang along to the music.

There was plenty of cleaning up to do after everyone had finished painting. Yes, we got some paint on the carpets, stairs and tiles. Poor
Georgina was one of whom was scrubbing the tiles to get the paint off – guess we’ll be more careful next time.

Jane managed to form a mini fan-club of her own, four eight year olds from the local community. One of Jane’s favourite was PJ – Percy John, awwww! I don’t think that’s why Jane was then found lying on the floor… was she hiding or really painting radiators?

Jan says one thing she thinks the girls have earned from the week is everyone has now developed a strong bladder! The girls used the toilets very rarely due to the wet paint on the toilet doors and if they were used, they were guarded by a couple of girls… good going girls!

…and then there was shopping!

Suzi and Jackie were on the shopping run – easy they thought – how wrong they were – even with the personal shoppers in Ikea, they nearly lost the will to live.  Gary organised Geoff Parker, no relation to Karen (they checked), to take us to each section.  Easy?  NO!! Armed with measurements, none of these were any use as the computer said no – “Ikea do not do that size”.

So each department – chairs, tables, shelving, kitchen etc was a challenge plus Jackie was able to do her 10,000 steps on the pedometer – have you seen the size of Ikea?  24 hours later at check out and £900 on the till, they produced an IBM Amex – the computer says no again – they do not take Amex.  OMG Suzi had already maxed out her card – anyway with a few phone calls this was sorted.

They then had Geoff and another load the car up for them – which was a godsend send – Jackie with her dodgy finger and Suzi with dodgy back – they were not well equipped for cargo work.

A nice security guard watched the load as they were backwards and forwards and asked Suzi where her mother was – meaning Jackie!! – ‘if I don’t laugh I will just cry!!’ said Jackie upon their return!

Anyway only other worry was that Suzi had locked the back door of the van – they had visions of all our purchases displayed along the M6!

LAUNCH DAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

The story continues…
Here is an update on Day 3 at Timbrell House, Crewe.  Written by Louisa Houghton and Jane Everden (photos by Jennie Watson)

Day Three – half way point – the best and worst of days. Today the extent of the magnitude of task remaining merged with the achievement to date.

In the garden
It was a day of graft in the garden. Led by Fiona working tirelessly to shift 3 tonnes of soil and 3 giant sacks of bark thank goodness for the glorious sunshine. Whilst Brian the gardener revealed a previously hidden dance talent the team rebuilt the existing raised beds – Eileen joined the team and needless to say targets were achieved.  Nic achieved the previously deemed impossible and turf WILL be delivered tomorrow. The pirate mural was obliterated from the back wall – thanks to Lesley and
Georgina from all.

Meanwhile in the house…
The kitchen/diner was transformed by the team led by (and entertained) by Justina who in the absence of a radio showed her talent by reciting “so called” jokes! Karen and her roller “Rolf” showed true dedication to the pipe cause. Sima (our team leader today) led from the front on woodwork. Thanks from the kitchen team to Yvonne and Lesley from Pathways. Suzanne was the cutting-in Queen – a skill she will surely find invaluable moving forward. The whole kitchen dining team stayed until light faded to reach the end of the to-do list.

The team appreciate the support of the building team (especially today) although have yet to accept the kind offer to shoot a calendar – Jennie says the jury is still out!  A special mention also to Sarah K – who spent a solitary day in the toilet…….decorating of course.

Louisa, Kate and Sue battled paint fumes, peeling ceilings and filing cabinets but were eventually victorious against the therapy room and bathroom.

Shopping (sorry, procurement) continued apace thanks to our resident experts Suzi and Jackie – The web team enjoyed a very successful session at Webby.  It was great to meet the local community.

Despite the work completed, the launch remained a major focus for the team – becoming more of a reality today. Eileen erected the bunting giving the street the first signs of what is to come on Friday. Eileen engaged the community with posters, flyers and balloons designed by Jennie – we are greatly looking forward to celebrating with them.

 
  The team relaxed together – knowing that tomorrow is the crux….

So what is all this painting and gardening frenzy for? THE LAUNCH!!! Eileen, Karen and Jennie produced the master plan for Friday’s event which involves football, streamers and some very professional looking posters. The word will be spread… At the end of the day we all returned to the hotel tired and pleased – it has been quite a day, but we are all up for tomorrow’s challenge! Thanks for visiting and we will be back tomorrow.

Let the story begin…
So, here is an update on Day 1 at Timbrell House, Crewe.  Written by Sarah Kitching and Justina Gilbert.

The day started with breakfast in the hotel restaurant as you would expect.  At 08:30 everyone piled in to the car park to experience Justina’s first attempt at driving a 17 (yes 17!!) seater mini (or not so mini) bus.  To everyone’s relief (and perhaps surprise) we arrived in one piece and no animals were hurt in the process of driving.  Directions were provided by local to the area - Eileen - who wisely advised at the T-junction with Timbrell Avenue that it was either left or right!!!   Suzi also had a safe journey after taking 10 minutes to figure out how to switch on the engine!

Once there we did a tour of the house and garden - all of us were overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead of us.  With just 4.5 days, we knew we had a challenge ahead. We then split in to four groups:  Webby’s (community / skills sharing); shopping (oops don’t we mean procurement?); garden and indoor.

Suzi set about her task with (tactful?) enthusiasm asking “don’t the over 50s get discount in B&Q” (we won’t say who she was asking).  Meanwhile, Sarah A started project planning activities in the garden by asking a team mate “do you want to grab a builder”!!!

In the Garden…
A quick poop scooping by Sue P and the garden crew were ready to start.  First task of the day was attacking a huge mound of soil in the garden.  Two hours later the team realised this was no easy job and in no time at all after Nic’s initiative and Suzi’s charm the digger arrived.  It’s safe to say that all the garden crew are all now in love with “Bob the Digger Man” who kindly saved the day with his digging machine.  It wasn’t only the digger man that was roped in to help.  With some gentle persuasion Jan’s husband arrived with saw in hand to cut the wood for the raised plant beds.  At the end of day walkaround, the progress the team had made was fantastic.  Everyone is eager to get stuck back in again tomorrow (in fact there is already a small fight brewing as to who gets to use the pressure washer tomorrow!).

 

Meanwhile in the House…
Not letting the fact that the girls had no tools get in their way, the “in da house” team set to work clawing off the wallpaper with their fingernails.  After a well deserved tea-break the tools for the job arrived (wallpaper strippers, scrapers, electric sanders, etc) and things got a little easier.  There were a few  “doh” moments; eg Sarah A trying to get mould off the walls but forgot to turn the nozzle of the mould remover to “on”, and there were “hob nob” moments with Sue B having a well deserved break.  Sheer determination on the faces of Sarah K and Georgina were clear for all to see, with both battling to remove some rather stubborn wallpaper that seemed to have been stuck on with superglue!   Justina had a go at tiling under the watchful eye of Ian the builder (let’s see if they are still on the wall tomorrow!).  Jennie did a grand job removing what can only be described as “brown stuff” from one of the walls with sugar soap and a generous amount of elbow grease.  She then decided enough was enough and went back to taking some wonderful photos that you see here in this blog.
 

and not forgetting Webby’s
For many at the grannies on the net session it was their first time on the internet.  For most it was their first time on a dating web site!  Ruth, Eileen, Jan, Suzi, Nic, Sue B and Suzanne took the grannies and grandads on a magical mystery tour of the internet calling at Llandudno, Blackpool, Wellington and Shrewsbury.  It wasn’t only the grannies in the room that learnt some new things…team members now know train times to Llandudno as well as the cost of recent developments in the community!  One attendee will remain in the IBM teams’ minds…Michael (aka”Beethoven”) an 84 year old man who was one of 15 children and 12 of his siblings died.  He was placed in an orphanage and has no family.  He has also recently undergone cancer treatment, however, throughout the session he laughed and joked with the team.

At the end of the day we all walked around the house and garden looking at what we’d achieved in a day.  We were proud of how far we’d got and are looking forward to more fun, laughter and hard graft tomorrow.  Until then, night, night!