Your Stories

The Thame community team have spent over a year organising a placement for Stuart at the Chinnor Railway. They have all become members of the railway and the support workers had to undergo a day’s induction before he was able to start.

Stuart’s family have had their own light engineering firm which produced aluminum car trailers. Unfortunately, due to family illness this has stopped. Stuart has missed the sense of achievement and satisfaction that his work used to bring him. Working in the engineering department at his local railway seemed a good way to help him regain those feelings.

He started volunteering with the Plant Manager, Gavin in July and it has become a regular part of Stuart’s week now. At the moment Stuart is visiting and interacting well with Gavin who is very kind and patient. We are hoping that as he becomes more familiar with the site and his colleagues he can become more actively involved in the engineering side, but at the moment it gives his week some structure, he is making new friends and getting involved in an industry that he is really fascinated by.

This is a real success story for the Thame community team and for Stuart – congratulations everyone.

Would you like to get involved? We need volunteers, drivers and companies willing to offer placements to continue the success of our work program. Please contact us for further information.

Ryan goes to Windles in Thame, every Thursday. Windles Group is a creative and versatile team of print specialists, offering unique and high-quality products with advanced finishes.

Ryan makes document wallets to hold finished print jobs and helps with other administration tasks. He has been going there for 6 months now and has shown great commitment to the role. The team at Windles have said that they have seen his confidence grow since he joined them, and he is interacting more with the team. They have increased his workload as well.  A great success all round.

Why not get involved? We need volunteers, drivers and companies willing to offer placements to continue the success of our work program. Please contact us for further information.

Katy-Anne works at the Style Acre Tea Room, she enjoys working at the Tea Room every week and feels valued and fulfilled in her role. She particularly enjoys working front of house and using the till as she likes to meet and chat to the customers.

Katy-Anne’s mum says “Katy Anne has had various opportunities over the years to do cookery and catering courses, and to work in coffee shops in ‘closed’ settings…I was delighted when I found that Style Acre’s Tea Room would give her a chance to use her skills in a real commercial setting, interacting with members of the public, but with support as and when needed..”

Katherine volunteers at a small café that is open to the residents of an over 55’s housing association development in Wallingford. Katherine also has a paid role as a cleaner at Style Acre’s Didcot community hub.

At the café, Katherine is supported by Carla, one of our Employment Support Workers.  Carla picks Katherine up from her home to take her to work and back again. Katherine’s role is front of house, serving customers, taking cash and card payments, taking trays of drinks and cakes over to tables and cleaning up after her shift. Katherine has also gradually become more confident making hot drinks. Katherine has overcome a lot of anxiety whilst working at the café, when she first started, she struggled with being overwhelmed when having more than one customer at a time. Working 1:1 with an Employment Support Worker has enabled Katherine to have focussed support to work on her confidence to talk to the range of customers. Katherine can now confidently initiate conversations and has learnt to independently make pots of tea using the hot water dispenser. Katherine has also learnt how to complete the daily fridge temperature checks, warm up scones and serve them with jam and with support will use the coffee machine to help make a latte or cappuccino.

Katherine says “I love working here. I am getting much better at serving lots of customers without “freaking out” and I am doing a good job at making cups of teas and talking to the residents. Carla has been really helpful at reminding me of how to do something if I am not sure. I want to carry doing this as long as I can.”

At her cleaning job, Katherine is supported by a volunteer who takes her home after her shift, knowing that she is going to be working the same time each week has helped a lot with Katherine’s anxiety. Katherine works through a personalised job list which includes hoovering, cleaning toilets and surrounding areas, emptying the dishwasher, replenishing cutlery, tea bags and coffee and emptying the bins. Katherine really enjoys her job and it is clear that she takes it very seriously. She says “I am the best cleaner at T2 and I like that I get paid – if I don’t work I won’t get paid.” Katherine values her work as part of her routine, she is able to do her work independently, only needing support for transport and to lock up the building.

2023 saw the opening of a lovely new Style Acre house in Abingdon. Ollie, Tom and Matt and their support team have settled in really well, quickly creating a happy and relaxed place to live.

The support team empower Tom, Ollie and Matthew to make their own decisions about their lives, running their home and choosing how to spend their time. Michael leads the support team and says ‘as long as they’re at the centre of everything, I’m a happy Support Manager’ and ‘I like that we just hear laughter’.

The housemates all have their own interests alongside having fun together on day trips, using gym memberships, cinema cards, playing PlayStation together at home and basketball using the hoop in the garden; they have created active lives for themselves. A board in the kitchen displays their house rules, photo’s, everyone’s favourite things to do and usual weekly timetables.

The support team work quietly in the background to help the housemates overcome any issues and to keep everyone safe. The housemates have a great base from which to live their own lives and see their families who live nearby when they want to.

There are lots of plans for the future and a great garden space to work on.