Support Services

Cheadle is fortunate in having a large body of charitable individuals and groups willing to assist others. The details listed here represent the best information gathered to date, but cannot claim to be complete in every detail. If there are other groups, or if some details are incorrect in any way, please contact us, and we will be glad to update the site.

The support information here includes local groups, local branches of national organisations and links to many other national groups who may not have a local presence. For more information about Support Services and how this facility can be helpful, please read these comments.

Moorlands Helpline

There is an Emergency Alarm System for the elderly and vulnerable in the Moorlands called Moorlands Helpline. It offers emergency assistance at the touch of a button, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The scheme costs £10 per month (including VAT, but subject to review). The alarm is activated by a pendant button which can be worn to ensure it is always with you. You will need a plug-in telephone socket and an electrical power point close-by, for the equipment. A battery in the unit means it will still work in the event of power failure.

When an alarm is activated, a call goes to a central control who can deal with getting help to you even if you are unable to talk.

CRUSE - Bereavement Care

Bereaved people often need to talk to express their feelings, to enable them to grieve. CRUSE provide trained and experienced counsellors who know about the feelings of despair or guilt or remorse that bereavement often brings and who understand how to cope with these feelings. Help is free for as long as the need exists.

Bereavement can bring with it loneliness. CRUSE social groups provide the opportunity to make friends and begin a journey back into the community. 

Bereavement can also bring practical problems and financial  worries. CRUSE provide accurate advice backed by a wide range of Fact Sheets and information on where help may be found.

Careers Service

There is a careers service which operates from premises behind the Library. This service is open at this address on Monday and Thursday between 9:30am and 4:30pm,, closed at lunchtime between 12:15 - 1:00pm. Advice is available for all ages and there is a vacancies service available for the 16-19 age group (later years are dealt with by the Job Centres). 

To contact the local careers service call 01538 483889, or the Leek office on 01538 483170. The internet offers an alternative view of job prospects. Here are a few sites of general interest but be aware that they are not focused exclusively on Cheadle ! If you can let me know of others that may be helpful and more relevant, please send an EMail.

North Staffs Carers

A carer is someone who is looking after a spouse, relative, friend, or neighbour, who because of disability, illness or the effects of old age, cannot manage without help. The North Staffs Carers Association is a local charity providing a large range of support for Carers - the people who look after others - in the area. It provides a resource of other who the carers themselves can call upon for support. 

Telephone Information Line (01782 273833) for information or a chat, Mondays 10:00am - 6:45pm, Tue-Fri 10:00am - 3:30pm. There is also the Drop-In Centre, open Mondays 1:00pm - 6:45pm, which is also open other days but do please phone first to make sure someone is free to talk when you come. There is an Outreach Team providing information and emotional support via a mobile information service, and a quarterly newsletter "CLAN" which is available on request. An Information Pack is available to carers, full of useful information also available on request. On the first Friday of each month there is a column in "The Sentinal" prepared by NS Carers. There is also a Helpline offering the Hand of Friendship to lonely, isolated carers who are looking after someone.

Other activities include a Young Carers Project offering support to carers under the age of 18 in a way that meets their needs. There is training for carers on care related issues (subject to funds being available), and Carer Awareness training, helping the carers indirectly by training those likely to come into contact with carers. Then there is the Carers Liason Project, providing a focus for th eexchange of information and views between carers, purchasers and providers of services, giving the carers a voice.

If you are a carers and need information or would like a chat to someone who understands what caring is al about, please feel free to write, phone or pop in. If you wish to become involved, do just call for an informal chat, or if you have any comments which would help improve the service, th eAssociation is always open to views.

Deaf Children's Society

This is a society to offer advice and Support to parents, carers, families and especially the deaf children. This is to ensure that as far as possible the children receive the best from modern medical and educational techniques from the earliest stage of their lives. The Society organise trips for all the family, parties for the children, educational equipment, special equipment for the deaf children, and support for families. The national body's website is at www.ndcs.org.uk.

Disability Assistance

The Cheadle Club for the Disabled is a voluntary self-help organisation which meets at 8:00pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at The Lamplighter on Tape Street. The club currently numbers around 32, has its own minibus, and through its volunteers arrange meetings & outings. To find out more contact;

Staffordshire County Council Social Services operate Disability Resource Team's. For Cheadle their contact details are;

There is also the Community Living Service to assist those with disabilities (physical, sensory, learning or mental health) move out of residential or hospital care, or from parental homes, into their own independent facilities. This is done with the involvement of social workers, through preparation, training and continuing support.

Friends Groups

There are a number of Friends groups in Cheadle. Groups of friends generously collect public contributions so as to offer others some form of help. These are the groups we are aware of. If there are any others not ,mentioned here, do please contact us by EMail.

The Cheadle Hospital League of Friends is an independent Registered Charity (No 1003044) it is also a member of the National Association of Hospital League of Friends. Its aim is to enhance the service provided by the NHS, by responding with financial help to specific requests from the staff and others, in order to relieve patients and former patients of the hospital and those in the community who are sick, convalescent or disabled.

Meetings of the League are held bi-monthly, usually on a Tuesday evening (but confirm date and time with hospital reception). All meetings are open to the public and visitors are very welcome to attend.

Fund raising takes place throughout the year and culminates with an Autumn Fayre held in the 'Day Hospital' in September.

A group of volunteer ladies provide a Trolley Service for patients and visitors, stocked with a wide range of useful goods and all profits are used in the League’s charity work within the hospital.

Donations and bequests are always welcomed. All monies received are used exclusively by the League’s committee, to meet the needs and requests as stated above.

Recent projects have included improving the comfort of some in-patients, the promotion of rehabilitation services for patients and new equipment for use in the Physiotherapy department.

The Cheadle League also supports OFRIC (Over Fifties resource & Information Centre), a ‘Drop In’ for the older person where advice, help, guidance, support, a listening ear or directions to other services is readily available. Its office is co-located with Homelink in Charles Street.

Health Groups

There are a number of organisations dedicated to health support and counselling.

Cheadle Physically Handicapped Friendship Club

The aim of the club is to bring together people with physical handicaps for social events, e.g. bingo nights, dinner dances, and day trips. Most of the members are in the 60 plus age group. Meetings take place twice monthly on Monday afternoons at the Conservative Club, Cheadle. Membership is by application to the Secretary, Mrs E M Lownes on 01782 395105. The membership is now full but applications will be considered when a vacancy arises.

HomeLink & PhoneLink

The Cheadle & District Home Link is a scheme to enhance the lives of the elderly and housebound in the area. It provides extra contact and support for those who wish to remain in their own homes for as long as is practicable. This is done by linking someone to a visitor so as to form a friendship, providing transport to the Home Link Day Centre and Luncheon Club to enable people to meet outside their own homes.

It is for a large range of people. This may be someone who is housebound, someone who is lonely or feeling isolated, someone who rarely sees anyone outside their own family circle, or someone under constant care, or indeed the carer.

The Scheme aims to enhance the lives of the elderly and housebound in the south of the North Staffordshire Moorlands who want to remain in their own homes for as long as is practical. This is achieved:

• By linking the person with a new visitor so they can form a friendship together.
• By providing transport to the Home Link Day Centre
• By providing Day Centre and Luncheon Club facilities for those who want to meet together with others outside their own homes.
• The Day Centre is held in Cheadle Methodist Hall on three days a week
• Luncheon Clubs on one day a week in: Blythe Bridge, Ipstones, Tean and Werrington.
• There is a Befriending/Visiting service in all areas, provided by volunteers, and 
• Voluntary Transport is available, provided by people using their own cars to take those who can travel by no other means, to their destination.

The Scheme is financially supported by the Statutory agencies and other national and local groups; by donations, Trust Funds and fund-raising. It is controlled by a Committee but the management and administration of the Scheme is in the hands of the Co-ordinator, Helen Wainwright, who can be contacted for more information at its office at 17, Charles Street, Cheadle Tel: 01538 750511.

Anyone can make contact with Home Link to seek assistance; doctors, nurses, health visitors, social workers, clergy, friends, neighbours, relatives, or even the people themselves. Once contact is established, the co-ordinator will meet them and volunteers, to match them on a one-to-one basis, or arranges visits to the Day Centre.

Phone Link used to be the Moorlands Care Line, a befriending service run by the Beth Johnson Foundation, which is now being combined with HomeLink due to their close similarities. Essentially it offers the same kind of help to the housebound, only it does so through regular contact on the telephone.

Home-Start

Home-Start is a voluntary organisation offering support, friendship and practical help to families at home with children under 5. The service is run by at least one co-ordinator together with volunteers. The service is free and confidential.

Many parents can feel particularly stressed, exhausted and overwhelmed with families that are under-5. This is even more difficult if they have no family or friends that can offer help and a breathing space when you need it most. Some parents lose confidence in their ability to cope and could do with someone to turn to.

The service aims to help any family with children under 5. Circumstances might include;

• Lonely or isolated parents
• Families with twins, multiple births, or pre-school children
• Families with ill-health, disability or special needs
• Mums having post-natal depression
• Families who are new to an area
• Families from all backgrounds

A Home-Start volunteer will visit you regularly, typically one a week for a couple of hours, to help in whatever way they can. They can offer friendly support when times are difficult, reassurance that you are not alone, and a listening ear or shoulder to cry on if needed. They are understanding (being parents themselves), may have been helped by Home-Start themselves in the past, and can be flexible to find the best way to assist. Volunteers are not baby-sitters or home-helps, but can offer practical assistance as friends, and will only come to assist if invited. Information about you or your family is never disclosed to anyone outside Home-Start, unless a child may be at risk. 

Volunteers for Home-Story come from many different backgrounds and vary in age, but all are parents or have parenting experience. They are selected for their friendliness and understanding, are appropriately approved and have to attend a preparation course before being linked to families. They do not replace health visitors or social workers and are not paid for their work. They visit you because you have invited them, because they wish to offer help and will accept you as you are, so please feel relaxed about their visits.

If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer : No formal qualifications are needed, All Home-Start volunteers attend a preparation course (typically once a week for 10 weeks). Expenses for travel, phone-calls, etc., are met by the scheme.

If you would like further details or some help, you can contact the local Home-Start group, talk to your GP, a Social Worker or even ask someone else to contact the scheme on your behalf.

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Cheadle Pensioners Association

Details still to be advised.

Probus

Probus is the retired (or semi-retired and over 60) PROfessional BUSinessmen's society who meet on a monthly basis for friendship, companionship, opportunities for outings and speakers, and aims to foster benevolent activities in the town. Membership is open to semi/retired business people over 60. The secretary is Arthur Hurst, Tel.01538 755456, 18 Tean Road, Cheadle.

Residential Care

Cheadle is served by a number of residential and care homes, some of which are very central whilst others are located further from the town. There are many considerations in choosing a Residential or Nursing Home. Advice on what to consider has been prepared by the Social Services, and a list of those homes in and around the town are provided on a separate page.

There are other leaflets available from the Social Services relating to Financial Contributions, Residential & Nursing Care Assessment, Hot meal preparation, help for looking after friends or relatives, and other social services assistance information.

There is also the Lay Assessors Scheme for those interested in contributing to the quality of residential care locally. A Lay Assessor works on a voluntary basis to a Code of Practise, supplementary to the County Council inspectors, to observe what happens in a Home, listen and talk to residents, relatives and staff about the Home.. Induction training and ongoing support is provided. Honesty, discretion and trustworthiness are integral qualities required to be a Lay Assessor. To find out more contact the Inspection Services at the following address.

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Romanian Childrens Aid

This charity was established in 1995 by the Pentecostal Church / New Life Ministry as a result of seeing the plight of children in Romania since the collapse of the political regime there at that time. The desperate state of the children and dreadful conditions in which they were kept led this group to seek support from in and around Cheadle to gather food, clothes, toys and anything else helpful, to be taken to Romania for distribution, or for selling to raise funds. Gifts of whatever description would be gratefully received at their shop in Tape Street.

Social Services

The Staffordshire County Council operate Social Services in the area, based in the council offices. Cheadle forms part of the Moorlands South Adult Team for social work assessment and care management, making the arrangements align with the local Primary Care Group. In addition there is a Mental Health team based in Leek to provide services for ages 18-65 whether at home or in hospital.

If you need to contact the Duty Social Worker for Cheadle, you can call the following number. You will be asked for your name, the name of the person you are calling Social Services about, together with their address, date of birth or age, and a brief reason for the call. This information will then be passed to the appropriate social worker. If this person is not available, someone will endeavour to contact you as soon as possible.