March 2011

We are glad to see the back of the winter weather and are looking forward to spring and warmer weather. It has been a busy period for Assist with a lot of time being spent on our conference. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the exhibitors, many showed latest equipment and what's new in the market. We were fortunate enough to display a converted vehicle from Gowrings, great interest was shown in the new Dignity Commode from Gordon Ellis (Assist had some input into it's design), Accessible Travel showcased their new cruise service which can accommodate 10 wheelchair users to enjoy holidays exploring the river Rhine and waterways in Holland. All exhibitors promoted interest with lots of questions by attendees. The conference had a real buzz to the day.

Keynote Speaker, Stephen Thrower from DWP was well received and gave us an updated position on human rights. The highlight of the day with the audience was a presentation by an assistance dog at work especially the pictures of her at work emptying the washing machine!

The AGM gave a good opportunity for members to network and to be brought up to date with the affairs of Assist UK. The conference was a great success as we attracted 80 people on the day.

I am glad to inform you that we will be having a stand at Naidex on 5th, 6th and 7th April - if you are able to please come and have a chat with us on any of those days. At the exhibition Assist UK will be launching a new commercial website called Assist Direct.

We have now concluded the Malta contract and I gave a presentation at their conference watch out for the forthcoming newsletter for a full report and pictures.

On 26th January I attended the grand opening of the DLF new demonstration centre. They are showing some new exciting equipment and if you are in London it's really worth a visit.

Assist has had some recent success in obtaining some transition funding from the DOH to keep us a float until we change our financial footprint.

We are shortly going into our final year of the Mystery Shopping Project. Year two's report is being viewed by the Department of Health. We hope to be able to release it to you in the near future.

Thank you all for filling in the questionnaire. We are revisiting our Business Plan to take in your comments and wishes and we are aiming to get our next newsletter out April / early May. We will be staying in our Manchester offices for the foreseeable future which is Number 1, Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3BE - if you are ever in Manchester please call in and see us!!

We were contacted by some centres that had unspent budgets at the end of this financial year and asked for their subscription invoices to be sent early, we have adhered to their request and obviously early payment will help our cash flow problems.

Don't forget if you have any problems you can reach our team at the office on 0161 238 8776. Do not hesitate to call if we can help in anyway.

Alan Norton