Seeing is Believing
With hopes of an England victory still soaring, Jigsaw gathered at the iconic York City Football Stadium for a meeting on the theme of ambition.
Beth kicked off proceedings by embodying the theme as the first representative to co-chair the meeting. Having recently co-chaired the Recruitment Group, Beth took the leading role in her stride and in doing so enabled fellow representatives to see themselves as leaders. A co-chair rota is now in place, with all representatives signed up and we look forward to being in Anthony’s capable hands in September.
Dreaming Big
Rachel Coupe from DanceSyndrome joined us on the day to share the stirring story of Jen Blackwell, the co-founder and Creative Director of DanceSyndrome.
Jen, who has Down’s syndrome, tried for years to realise her dream of becoming a community dance worker. But the lack of suitable dance training for people with learning disabilities held her dream out of reach. So Jen took matters into her own hands. In 2009, she founded DanceSyndrome and with the support of a community she inspired along the way, DanceSyndrome is now a beacon for inclusive dance classes and dance leader training.
As a group Jigsaw only need to look around them to see inspiring individuals achieving their goals. Since our last meeting Katie and her support worker Liam have set up the Wilf Ward Wanderers walking group in Scarborough. Elizabeth has taken steps towards volunteering in her community and Keith has put the finishing touches to his dream sun house.
Dedicating time at meetings to voicing our dreams has helped every member of the group take steps towards to achieving them. But Jen’s story inspired us all to think about the scale of our dreams.
Hands…Touchin’ hands, reachin’ out…
From November 2024, Jigsaw will host virtual meetings between our main sessions, inviting all individuals we support to get involved in what we do. Our goal is to make sure that the needs, interests and dreams of our community shape our agenda.
The “Good News’ stories shared throughout Active Support Month show our character as individuals. They are tales of dreams, courage, motivation and determination.
Imagine that collective impact on a larger scale?
The virtual meetings will provide the opportunity for individuals to unite as a team. Creating the space and time to ask ourselves, ‘how big are our dreams?’
A Winning Team
As of now the England football team has yet to realise their dream. Like Jen, they will be re-imagining their strategy to go again, with the power of a community behind them.
But dreaming big is not reserved for the Jen’s, the Gareth’s or just a select few. It’s time to move the goalposts on our dreams and unite behind them. Together, we can be the beacon of achievement.
Together we can be a winning team.