Would you like to be part of a friendly, successful team who together make a real difference to people’s lives, or simply find out more about what we do? Then why not come along to meet us on Friday 26th January when we will be holding two Recruitment and Information Events. The events will be held at DVSC, Naylor Leyland Centre, Ruthin between 9.30am and 11.30am, and 1pm and 3pm so you can decide which one would suit you best.
Due to our expanding workload we are now looking for the right people to join our team. Essentially you should have a genuine interest in people, their lives and backgrounds and be flexible and adaptable to change. We should say that no day is ever the same here at Book of You and you should be happy and confident working this way.
Book of You is a small and friendly team of 12 years’ standing based in the heart of Denbighshire but working across the whole of the UK. Although we started life working with people living with dementia, we now work with adults of all ages and backgrounds, including older people, refugees and asylum seekers, people with a learning disability, veterans and various local interest groups. Check out our website and social media pages (links at top of the homepage) to find out more about our work. Recently we’ve received funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund, Denbighshire Key Fund, National Lottery Community Fund, Community Foundation in Wales and The People’s Postcode Lottery. And our brand new Care Home Buddy Scheme has seen us commit to recruiting 100 volunteer Buddies in care homes across North Wales which is an exciting new venture for us.
If you would like to know more, please contact us by email at info@bookofyou.co.uk or by phone on 01492 444381 and we will send you more detailed information. If phoning, please ask for Kathy.
Looking forward to meeting you!
Grant from The National Lottery Community Fund to help publish two new Community BooksIn late 2023, following receipt of a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, Book of You began planning and working with 2 diverse community groups based within North East Wales. This followed discussions with North East Wales Community Cohesion (NEWCC) with whom we have worked closely over the last few years, having published two highly successful community books: our Syrian and Afghan book, and the recent Portuguese Ladies Group.
The first of the two groups is PALOPS United, a community group based in Wrexham. PALOPS stands for ‘Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesea’, which is Portuguese for ‘African Countries of Portuguese Official Language’. The group represents a large number of residents in Wrexham and North Wales and gives them the opportunity to come together to promote the development of their culture and education as well as the preservation of their African native languages. The group conduct a number of activities within the Wrexham area,such as dance, music, cuisine, culture and the arts and aim to create social cohesion between the African speakers and the wider community in North Wales. The book will offer a platform to showcase this.
The first two sessions have taken place and there will be a short break over the Christmas period, after which we will meet up again and hear the personal stories from around eight ladies whose contributions will form the basis of the book.
In late January, we will also start work on our second book, telling the story of the UK North East Wales Chinese Women’s Association 英国-威尔士东北部华人妇女会. Once again, we will begin with group sessions, but will then hear stories from smaller groups or individuals that will add a personal touch to the book.
Once complete and before the books are published on our website, we will hold celebration events to reveal the finished books to each of the groups and participants. We hope to be able to open these up as usual to members of the public, helping to foster understanding and connections within the community.
Denbighshire Key Fund Award for Resilience and Sustainability moving forwardWe are pleased to announce that Book of You were recently successful in an application to Denbighshire Key Fund. Unlike our usual projects, this is crucial for us right now as it is a capacity-building programme, enabling us to become more resilient and sustainable over the coming years. It means we will have the technology and resources to increase the breadth and quality of our current service alongside expanding the work we do, helping even more beneficiaries.
The Denbighshire Key Fund is part of the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund which aims to create stronger communities and better chances in life. Although we are a successful social enterprise of more than 12 years’ standing, the type of work we do has grown faster than our website and marketing currently reflects. We developed organically from our initial concept, supporting people living with dementia to share their life stories with loved ones, to storytelling in its wider sense. Today we work with more diverse beneficiaries including young adults with a learning disability, refugees and veterans. Recently, we have moved from personal life stories to community-based stories that support wellbeing, connectivity, different cultures, heritage and community cohesion.
We are extremely proud of our work and the difference we make to people’s lives. However, this evolutionary process, spotting opportunities and responding to change, had left us without the essential foundations for growing in a focused and effective way. The Key Fund will enable us to re-launch Book of You as a modern social enterprise, so as not to be thought of solely as a business limited to working with dementia, but rather one that works with diverse partners, funders and communities in Denbighshire and beyond.
The fund will allow us to completely update and expand the outdated website that will help us market our full range of produces and services, including ‘Community Books’, ‘Book of You Classic’, ‘Book of You-run Training Courses’, our new ‘Lifebook’ app and our ‘Care Home Buddy’ project. With a desktop printer/photocopier/scanner and Canva for Teams, we can design and print relevant marketing materials to match each new project in-house, reducing cost. Core staff will all work on MacBook Air laptops with iMovie built in, meaning that we have three staff members who can make our Community Book films in-house, instead of just one. This frees up more time and allows for us to take on more projects. All this will support our business plan, which is currently being developed with an Innovate UK Edge Consultant’s support. The fund will also help us effectively recruit 2 more volunteer board members and 4 new Associate staff members who will support our core staff team on all projects. Together, this will futurproof our community interest company and give it resilience to change, as well as helping us access more diverse and sustainable funding sources.