WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE BARKING NEWSLETTER
8th July 2005

Remploy Barking opened in 1965 to provide jobs for the disabled people living in the East London area. The first factory manager was Eric Hampstead managing cardboard box assembly and bookbinding as two separate factories on the same site. The two activities finally united in 1989. In 2000, the factory started producing Electronics and gained two more divisions with Metro Windows and E-cycling.

Now, Barking has a working force of 110 people where communities can work together to build a better future for Barking. Recently Mr Alan Johnson, MP, cabinet minister visited the site to celebrate the 60 years of Remploy and we were delighted and honored to have him here for this occasion. There are other important guests who have visited the site, which includes Mr Jeffrey Archer, Mrs. Margaret Hodge and Mr Ken Livingstone. Remploy is proud of its achievements in helping the workforce with IT training skills and providing jobs in the community. Presently the company is focusing on training all its employees with NVQ Level 1 & 2 and teaching British Sign Language at the Barking site. All the employees now have a greater understanding of health and safety procedures, quality, teamwork and the continuous improvement to be a successful business site. There are two trade unions on the site, which are Amicus and GMP. We hope you enjoy this first edition of the newsletter!

LEARNING AT WORK DAY - 31st MAY 2005 (GET RID OF YOUR GREMLINS)

The day kicked off at 9.30am in the learning centre with computer skills, Heather Tarbard and Mohammed Varman from the Barking & Dagenham Adult College were also on hand for advice and information on all present and forthcoming courses. It was a relaxed day where students could just come in for drop in sessions. In training room 19 there were five laptops which students could chose from BBC Web wise, brush up their words and number skills with BBC Skill wise or Cash wise, all these contain games and quizzes to make learning fun and enjoyable.

Also students could have a go at a mini test to see what level they should take in the National Tests. These tests and other freebies were provided by the Move on Campaign. Three Remploy employees are dressed up for the day as Gremlins. Students could also test their knowledge on the Disability Confident course. Gabriella Garwood from U Can Do I.T was also on hand for advice and recruitment for the one to one computer training she currently provides at Barking.

SPORT

Tony Collins (on the right) ran in the Paris half marathon, with 20,000 entrants he finished in 82 minutes and was GB first entrant home at number 371. His brother Neil came in second. Tony competes for the Great Britain team for people with learning difficulties. The GB team received the bronze European cup medal. Tony could have run in Italy this year but the expense is too great, later this year he will be competing in Australia, it will cost him £2,000. Tony receives no funding. We would like to wish Tony all the very best luck for the future!

TAKE A LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOWS...

Congratulations to the 'Windows team' of Barking! They have just won with their colleagues from Oldham and Bridgend, the award of 'Supplier of the Year' organised by Housing magazines for their Building Products.

Not only they've won an award, but they've also won a major contract that insures them at least 3-4 years of work for a company called Symphony Windows. A sample of 23 windows were delivered and installed at the end of May for approval. No doubt, they will be accepted! The new job means that the whole workforce will be very busy and will probably need to get new people to join the team! Good luck to: Richard, Rag, John, Roy, Tony (back row), Barry, Mike, Chris, Karl, Jamie (front row) and (from left to right on the picture) and Steve (missing from the picture)!

BYE - BYE BRIAN ...

Sadly we will be saying goodbye to Brian Gunnell (above on the right) who retires in August after 21years at Barking. Brian started work in February 1984 in the book binding section. After 10 years happy service in the book binding section closed, he went to Contact Services.

While Brian will miss everyone at Barking, he is looking forward to his retirement. He says he will have plenty to do including sorting out his garden which is 'like a jungle'. Brian's other interests are collecting cameras and watches (see picture), including one he received for his 20-year service award. He has had a varied career before working for Remploy. He has been a steam engine cleaner, and really enjoyed operating a weighbridge when the Thames Barrier was being built. We will all miss his happy smile and sense of humour and would like to wish him a long and happy retirement. Don't forget to come back and visit us. Good luck for the future!

We would like to welcome Benjamin (picture on the left). He started on the 31/05/05 on a three months work placement in Barking Electronics area. With a technical background acquired at Lille University (France), he will mainly be working with Jamie, Bob and Ian. We wish him good luck and a warm 'bienvenue' (French for 'welcome').

INTERWORK AND ELECTRONICS ... WORKING TOGETHER

The Interwork team of Barking has recently grown. Four people (from the left: Julian, Laura, Wendy and Kerry) joined the team to expand the opportunities of placing disabled people into work. As an example of 'Working Together', Interwork has just placed 2 new people; Adam (left) as a permanent member of the Electronics team and Tyrone (right) who is on a two weeks work trial.

We wish to all of them a good integration to Barking team!!!