Lloyds Banking Group really did make a difference on Friday 28 May 2015. AMH New Horizons Antrim and the Men’s Shed have greatly benefited from the most generous donation of time, effort and hard work that Lloyd’s volunteers gave to assist us with the development of our garden project.
A big thank you to all those involved in the volunteer day, which included tasks such as, moving and spreading 24 tons of soil for our new lawn area, painting a 60 foot fence both sides!, weeding our raised beds and potato plots, washing dozens of donated garden planters to be reused and sold with summer plants, removing litter and brushing pathways.
We even had a visitor today in our garden pond!
Everyone had great fun and enjoyed this very real challenge! Once again many thanks from the staff and clients from AMH New Horizons Antrim and Men’s Shed.
We had an amazing day on Saturday in the beautiful surroundings of Field of Dreams in Bangor for the first ever AMH Give It A Shot Clay Pigeon competition. The event was organised in partnership with the Wilson Group, our charity partner.
Particular thanks to Des Wilson and Neil McIvor for their support, and to all our volunteers and competitors. Many congratulations to Jamsie Clydesdale who won the perpetual cup with a score of 25/30.
Local celeb Pamela Ballentine also dropped by and was not only a great shot but also the best of fun helping out with the BBQ!
Lots of money was raised and there was also a lots of goodies to be won in the raffle.
Many congratulations to our very own IT Manager, James Costello who completed this year’s Belfast City Marathon.
Taking on the challenge, James said,
“I am hoping to raise £500 for AMH and hopefully give something back to a fantastic organisation that I have been lucky enough to work with for 5 years. I have experienced first hand the incredible work we do with people living with Mental Health needs or a learning disability and how we try to improve their quality of life through caring support facilities across Northern Ireland.
I am heavily involved with Football so wouldn’t class myself as a “Runner” so marathon’s aren’t what I am used to. Being an I.T professional sometimes carries a stigma of not being the sporting type but I am running to break that mould and prove to the good people of the world that I.T professionals are all-rounders! Fingers crossed I manage to get over the finish line still dawning the AMH colours and do everyone proud”.
James completed the marathon in a time of 4 hours 11 minutes! He also smashed his fundraising target and raised an incredible £850! Well done James and thank you!
Huge thank you to our staff member Lisa Moore and her husband for donating £100 to our Antrim New Horizons Service in lieu of favours at her wedding. Lisa is an Outreach Development Skills Coach and helps us to take action on mental health on a daily basis.
Neil McIvor, Event Promoter; Desmond Wilson, The Wilson Group; Callum Clark, Events Officer-AMH; Tricia Browne, Communications Manager-AMH
What is ‘Give It a Shot’?
Give it a Shot is a clay pigeon shooting partnership event between The Wilson Group and Action Mental Health
The event includes:
9.30: Registration with tea and coffee
10.00: Welcome and briefing
11.00: Give it a shot-40 bird round of clay pigeon shooting
13.00: BBQ
14.00: Archery-5 shots per participant
15.00: Optional 2nd round of Give It A Shot (additional fee)
16.00: Presentation of prizes & draw of raffle
18.00: Finish
For more info please contact Callum Clark, Events Officer, Action Mental Health: [email protected] or 07891114178 or 27 Jubilee Road, Newtownards, BT23 4YH
I would like to raise some sponsorship for the charity, where can I get a sponsorship form from?
You can download a sponsorship form by clicking here:or you can contact Callum on the above details
Yes you can register on the morning of the event from 9.30am or you can send a cheque to the above details, made out to AMH prior to the event & your tickets will be posted out to you (pre registering is advised)
I don’t have a gun or ammo: can I still participate in the event?
Yes for an additional fee of £15
I have a gun but do I need a fire arms license?
Yes this is a legal requirement
Is there a specific type of ammo I need to use?
Yes only Fibre Wad Lead or Steel cartridges will be permitted on the day
Will ammo be available on the day?
Yes if you require ammo on the day we can supply this to you priced at £10 for 2 boxes (enough for 1 round of shooting)
Does the 2nd round of shooting count towards the prizes?
Yes it does
How much does the 2nd round of shooting cost?
Additional fee of £10 or £25 if you require the use of a gun & ammo
Is archery included in the price?
Yes it is
How many shots are included in the archery?
Each participant gets 5 shots per entry however you can have another round for an additional fee of £5.00
I plan to bring family & friends, can they participate in the archery & avail of the BBQ?
Yes of course, for an additional fee of £5 per person for the Archery & £5 per person for a BBQ
Will the archery & BBQ be available all day?
No archery will be available from 2pm-3pm & BBQ will be available from 1pm-2pm
Is there any special guests attending?
Yes NI TV Presenter Pamela Ballantine will be attending from 12.00-14.00
What are the wining prizes for the shooting?
Top Gun of £250
1st of £150
2nd of £100
3rd of £50
Please note only one prize per participant
What are the raffle prizes?
Luxury food hamper from JC Stewarts
Luxury food hamper from CostCutter
Luxury alcohol hamper from Belfast International Airport
Many thanks to the students of Dalriada School in Ballymoney who entered into the ‘Young Enterprise Competition’ and won ‘Best Social Enterprise’ with their ‘Don’t Put A Lid On It’’ business idea raising £200.00 along the way for AMH.
Read the students story below:
In a Jar – Mini Company and Social Enterprise
Our Aim – Our business aim, as we were a social enterprise was to raise awareness of a social issue. We decided that the issue which was frequently appearing in the papers and newsfeeds recently was the hot topic of adolescent depression and anxiety. The profit that we raised would therefore be donated to a charity to benefit this cause and raise awareness; on Friday 17th April we donated all of our profits to Action Mental Health NI.
Our Slogan – We based this solely around our social issue and came up; “Don’t put a lid on it”. We thought this was perfect as it raised awareness of the issues of mental illness and depression among young people; bottling up their feelings and not talking to someone. We also loved the idea as it made practical reference to our product.
Our Product – We also wanted to show care for the environment and wanted to recycle a common product to give it a new function. The use of glass jars was the first idea to come to mind. We then decided on how best to decorate them, what to put in them and who would be our main target market. We priced the jars according to size and the quality and their contents, some jars contained candles, some jars were left empty and some were filled with sweets. We designed the jars was a Christmas theme as we would also be entering the Yong Enterprise Competition at Ballymena Tower Centre was on the 3rd December. There we were awarded with ‘Best Social Enterprise’ and sold £240.74 of stock. We also attended various Primary School Craft Fairs including the Irish Society Primary School and Carnalridge Primary School where once again we were very successful with sales. Following our success and determination to raise as much money as possible for our charity we also paid for a pitch at the Vineyard car boot sale, an extremely early start but well worth the effort.
Our Team – In the company there are eleven team members who are all AS Level Business Studies students. They volunteered their skills and abilities in the subject to create and come up with an innovative idea that would be appealing to members of the public. The product that we came up with was homemade jars which we decorated and added value by making unique alternations to recycled jars, we sourced the jars from fellow pupils and teachers who very kindly donated any empty jars that they may have accumulated over time. We all applied for different roles within the business and were assigned jobs which suited our personalities and skills; Director, Marketing, IT, Operations, Secretary, Sales and Finance. Team members included Lewis Dobbin, Cait Kirkpatrick, Ruth Taggart, Sarah Crossey, Katie Pierce, Rachel Taggart, Emily Mainwaring, Andrew King, Alice Coulter, Ellen Reid and Oonagh Jordan.
Our Skills – During the whole process of setting up and running the mini company we developed many useful and practice skills. Organisation, sharing ideas, dealing with conflict in the team, delegating, applying business ideas, time management and the most important and basic skill of all effective communication. We also developed our sales skills at the various events & trade fairs that we attending, negotiating with the general public. All in all this prepared us fully for the young enterprise competition where we competed against other strong mini companies from many schools. Our business idea and sales technique clearly impressed the judges as we won the award for best social enterprise.
Thank you – The team would like to thank the various members of staff at Dalriada who contributed towards the start-up capital through buying share in the company. We would also like to thank the pupils & staff of Dalriada and all customers who bought our product and contributed towards fund raising for the charity Action Mental Health. Also a big thank you to Danske Bank, who assisted the business during many of their meetings. Finally, we really appreciate all Mrs Parkhill’s help, advice and guidance during the year and for all her hard work and dedication to the company. We were delight to be able to present Action Mental Health with a £200 cheque which will go towards raising awareness of mental health in primary schools in Northern Ireland. Being involved in Young Enterprise’s Company Programme has been a great experience and provided us with many opportunities.
Clients from our Ards New Horizons Service graduated from the WRAP Course taken by Facilitator John O’Grady. The Wellness Recovery Action Plan or WRAP is used worldwide by people who are dealing with all kinds of health and life challenges. WRAP was developed by a group of people with mental health issues. They learned to identify the things that they can do to feel better and stay well. These personal resources are ‘wellness tools’. You can learn about WRAP working with other people in a group, or you can learn on your own or with a supporter. Its your plan. For more info on WRAP; please visit: www.wrapandrecoverybooks.com
Lloyds Banking Group really did make a difference on Friday 28 May 2015. AMH New Horizons Antrim and the Men’s Shed have greatly benefited from the most generous donation of time, effort and hard work that Lloyd’s volunteers gave to assist us with the development of our garden project.
