Annual General Meeting 2006 Our AGM on the 27th November, held at the Jazz Café, was a great success. It was well attended by parents, carers, friends and other professionals and the children who came had a great time in the crèche with our fantastic playworkers. Jackie Leppert spoke informatively and entertainingly about sensory stories and then demonstrated telling one to some of the children, who clearly enjoyed it, even if they did get a bit damp! (If you missed the AGM, you will have to attend our forthcoming workshop on creative play to understand this!) We also had the results of the poetry competition, where children had been asked to write, recite, draw or otherwise produce a creative piece of work about their name. There were some fabulous entries, we really enjoyed reading, hearing and seeing them. The winning entry, by Sean Hoffman, is printed below for everyone to enjoy. Prizes, which were very kindly donated by children's author Allen Ahlberg, were awarded to all entries. The evening was rounded off by Nicole Mathurin, who sang a song and received a big round of applause; Ben Corrigan, Chair of the Management Committee, commented, 'How can I possibly follow that?' and brought the meeting to a close.

Staff at HFBU were so impressed by this fantastic piece of writing - we thought it definitely deserved to be published!

The Parents' Group which has been meeting monthly at the Huddleston Centre on Thursday mornings now has a new name chosen by the parents; 'Hackney Families Together'. The group has also moved and has a sparkling new venue at the recently opened Ann Tayler Centre on Triangle Road, E8. The group is for all parents of disabled children and provides a forum to meet other parents and professionals, exchange ideas and help to shape the future of services for disabled children in Hackney. The Group meets monthly on a Thursday morning 9.30 -12.30, the next dates are 15th February and 22nd March.

Please call HFBU on 020 7275 0088 for more info.

For our Council of Management: the committee NEEDS a parent to represent parents' interests and help HFBU continue to provide appropriate services. Full training will be given. For an informal chat about what's involved, please call Sheila at HFBU (020 7275 0088).

As usual, HFBU is planning a party during the February half term for all our families, carers and volunteers. The event will be held on Wednesday 21st February at the Trinity Centre, Beechwood Road, E8. Back by popular demand, we'll have the wonderful Potty Patrick who will be entertaining the children (and adults) with his music, tricks and balloon modelling. We will also have the sensory van again plus some massage treats for weary parents and carers!

We will be sending out invitations closer to the time but keep the date free in your diary.

We are offering a Playing Creatively Workshop to parents, carers and volunteers. This will be a half day workshop from10am-1pm and will be held before the end March 07, according to interest shown.

The aim of the course is to learn more about adapting play so that any child can participate and enjoy themselves.

Participants will learn to begin to:

• Discover ways of making sensory play more accessible for disabled children
  
• Gain increased confidence to develop more play activities using resources available in the home
  
• Gain and share ideas about play activities with other group members
  

Please, please, please make sure that you send in your vouchers for care hours on a regular monthly basis and ensure that we have all your vouchers for care completed by the end of March at the latest.

We are now able to pay carers directly into their bank accounts. If you would prefer to be paid this way, please contact Deborah Walsh at HFBU on 020 7275 0088 for more information.

The HFBU Family Club for families with children aged 5-12 years old with challenging behaviour has been going really well since it started in September last year. Eleven families have come along to our monthly Saturday afternoon club and both parents and children have met new people and really enjoyed themselves. Parents have told us that they find it really good to meet others with similar experiences to there own and have found it useful to exchange ideas on how they can support their children. One parent said 'So often people (who don't have disabled children) tell me they know how I feel. They don't know, how can they? Here, you know that people really understand what it's like.'

If you are interested in finding out more about the Family Club, please contact Emma on 020 7275 0088.