Enfield Clubhouse

A group of staff, members and volunteers were recently invited by the MP for Enfield Joan Ryan to a tour of the Houses of Parliament. It is the seat of the two houses (the House of Lords and the House of Commons).

Lunch break - St.James Park

Yes, a fine time was had by all, and vines have been planted too!

People from Clubhouse have contributed their time, strength and a lot of energy to help with planting the vineyard at Forty Hall. This initiative is being led by Capel Manor.

Some of our volunteers, and they are still smiling!

These pictures were taken by one of our members..a budding photographer, I think you'll agree.  Even the bees were buzzing louder, and I do believe the sun was shining even brighter that day...providing nature's own flash.

A group of staff, volunteers and members decided to venture into the hitherto unknown territory of Clapham which lies somewhere in deepest South London.

The purpose of our expedition was to find out exactly where Mosaic Clubhouse was and ingratiate ourselves within the heart of their inner sanctum to learn the 'goings on' as our sadly missed Vedaste would have put it!

We were welcomed by an affable member wearing a Chelsea shirt who gave us a grand tour of the impressive Victorian house set in its own grounds after we had all signed in at the reception desk.

We were shown around the many rooms utilized for different functions and activities of the clubhouse.

Upstairs, was the Finance & Administration department, with rooms for IT development and Further Education for members and staff. A special room for their Transitional Employment Program which helps members back into full time paid employment.

Downstairs was the Catering department with a very large professional kitchen and canteen.

After lunch we were invited to take part in the Catering Department meeting and encouraged to assist in the jobs and tasks required.

At Enfield clubhouse we have a meeting in the mornings starting at 10am to talk about any issues members like to discuss with the group and at the end of discussion members volunteer for tasks required such as who will do the cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc for the day. At Mosaic there are three departments having meetings in the morning and in the afternoon to keep pace with the work required to keep the house running shipshape.

Having 12 full time staff and being open Mon-Fri 9-5 with substantial funding from the local council has enabled the clubhouse to provide many activities for its members especially its Transitional Employment Program which has been very successful in getting many members into paid employment. At Enfield we are just starting on this journey with our STEP up plans.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Lenka & Jenny for inviting us to their clubhouse and would like to reciprocate the favour by inviting them to Enfield to see how we run things here north of the river!

Vedaste started at the Clubhouse as a volunteer and joined the staff part-time in February 2008. We have valued his unflinching support in all facets of the Clubhouse activities and enjoyed his unique sense of humour.

We wish him well in his new full-time role as Social Therapist with NHS Hackney and as a token of our appreciation we presented him with a card designed by Andy and a  gift - one of Chris's fabulous hand-crafted ceramic bowls - at his leaving party in our local pub.

"I wonder how much I can get for this on Ebay?!"*

* If you are interested in buying or commissioning a similar, yet unique, ceramic bowl, vase or pot hand-crafted by our very own master potter Chris, then please give us a call on 020 8360 6660 on a Monday or Friday after 11am.

Our two dedicated volunteers Stephen & Atul attended the Enfield 100 Hours Scheme Volunteering Awards Event at Enfield Civic Centre.

The Certificates & Badges were presented by the Mayor of Enfield Lee Chamberlain & Spurs player Tony Stevens.

Other Voluntary organisations included were Age Concern Enfield, Enfield Disability Action, Enfield Voluntary Action, Home-Start Enfield & One to One Enfield.

Today we were treated to Vedaste & Diane's cottage pie with some homegrown leeks freshly picked and washed from our garden for lunch. If you also wish to taste their pie you may follow Tina's receipe & instructions by clicking here 

Libby from Enfield Alcohol Information Service visited us last Friday. We had a lively discussion about alcohol awareness and the short term and long term effects of drinking, its effects in general and in particular on our mental health.

Thanks to Libby for an informative & engaging talk.

More information can be found at the following links:

Rugby House - Enfield

For under 25s

Alcoholics Anonymous

Department of Health

Thanks to Ashley, Patrick and Vedaste for cooking everyone a superb roast beef dinner at the Clubhouse on Monday.

What a great way to start the week and to banish any winter blues!

This afternoon we had the pleasure of Rashid and Emmanuel, two pupils from Turin Grove School in Edmonton, visiting us.  They wanted to know more about the goings on at Enfield Clubhouse to present their findings as part of their Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) school project.

"The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is an international programme designed to develop community leaders of the future and to raise awareness of the work of grassroots charities.

"Pupils are given a hands-on experience of philanthropy that highlights the positive impact they can have on their communities and provides them with the tools to lead."

After sharing lunch with us, Rashid and Emmanuel had a tour of the house learning about all the different things we do in the kitchen, house and garden, office and IT, community work and social activities.

Vedaste even showed them how to load our dishwasher!

Then we had a chat on the sofas and comfy chairs about how the organisation works - our aims and achievements, fundraising activities and "good news" stories. (If you're interested in these, you can take a look at our Annual Reports.)

We wish Rashid and Emmanuel good luck with their presentation to their classmates and hope that theirs will be considered the best one! (If you visit the link to the YPI you will know why!!!)

Whatever the outcome it was good to meet two new friends of the Clubhouse and we feel sure they will go on to better things themselves in the future.