Wales & West Utilities invite you to join them for the premier their new film, ‘Carbon Monoxide – The Silent Killer’. The film has been produced with support from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and will be premiered at the College’s Richard Burton Theatre on  Friday, February 24^th 2012.  A reception for guests will begin at 6.00pm with the screening scheduled for 7.00pm.  The event will finish at 8.pm.

Every year Wales & West Utilities is called to incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning – and a number of them involve fatalities. They are committed to raising awareness of this potential danger and advising people how they can stay safe.   To mark the launch of their new awareness campaign,  they have produced a film with a difference – a dramatic 6 minute film that highlights the dangers of CO poisoning and how to avoid them.

If you are interested in coming along to the premier please call Danielle Royce on 029 2027 8546 or email danielle.royce@wwutilities.co.uk. 

OpenLearn Wales brings together a collection of free educational resources about Wales. These are designed not only for Welsh people or people living in Wales, but for anyone anywhere in the world wishing to be informed about Welsh society, it’s history, culture and landscape.

OpenLearn Wales is also a portal for other important educational resources that are provided from Wales.

Specific Welsh content includes:

• Welsh history and its sources
• Aberdulais Falls:  a case study in Welsh heritage
• Contemporary Wales
• Croeso:  Beginners Welsh
• Am I ready to study in English?
• Plus hundreds more free learning materials

If you wish to take up this opportunity visit OpenLearn Wales.

We have taken on six apprentices who are working in Customer Services, Calon Residential Leasing and Cadwyn Works maintenance team. Take a look at what some of our apprentices have to say below:

Ross Grimaldi, Trainee Plumber said, ‘Before I joined Cadwyn I was studying plumbing in college. Working at Cadwyn has given me hands-on plumbing experience and helped me to improve my customer service skills and confidence.’  

Kayleigh Sexton and Fahmi Haddad are both Trainee Customer Service Advisors. Kayleigh commented: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity. I never thought I’d be able to work in this type of job but the apprenticeship has given me a new career prospect.’

Fahmi added: ‘Cadwyn always put the tenants first and make sure their needs are met at all times. This has helped me to understand the importance of customer service and I am interested in pursuing a career in this area.’  

Our Money Advisor Jean Lloyd is also on hand to help you with your money management including benefit entitlement, budgeting and referring you to other agencies that can help you. Call Jean on 029 2043 4438 or email jean.lloyd@cadwyn.co.uk.

Currently 9 clients can be seen at any one time; and 8 sessions are offered.  We offer Intergrative Counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Waiting lists are short currently.

Please see our Counselling Service Leaflet for more information on eligibility criteria and who to contact to apply.

Our Trainee Customer Service Advisor Fahmi Haddad

Looking to get back into work or improve your chances in 2012? We can help!

We are offering work based opportunities to help you learn new skills, grow in confidence and gain valuable experience.  We have various opportunities which we can tailor to your goals and needs. Let us know what you want to do and we’ll do all we can to help make it happen.

We have opportunities both at Cadwyn (within our offices or at our homes) and with partner organisations.

Things we can work with you on are…

• Work Experience
• Volunteering
• CV writing, interview and  job search skills
• Accredited training to help you move into employment or further education
• Confidence building

We can even contribute towards the cost of childcare and transport.

Fahmi Haddad is currently with us on a placement as a Trainee Customer Service Advisor. He said ‘Taking on this placement with Cadwyn has really benefited me. Before I came here I was quite shy but this placement has helped me to develop my communication skills. Cadwyn is a great place to work and I am really grateful for this opportunity.’ 

For a chat about any of these opportunities please call Clare on 029 2043 4425 or email clare.watkins@cadwyn.co.uk. 

In need of a New Year clear out? Come and sell your items for just £5 a pitch or bag yourself a great bargain at Cadwyn’s charity car boot sale. 

Visit the Cadwyn stall for more bargains and a tombola with lots of great prizes! All proceeds will do to our charity of the year Alzheimer’s Society.

Saturday 28th January, 1-3pm (available from 12 noon for sellers to set up) at our office car park on 197 Newport Road, Cardiff. 

To book your pitch please call Anna Evans on 029 2043 4416.

If you have any queries please contact us on 029 2049 8898.

Thanks for your patience.

Large fruit, vegetable, salad and stir-fry bags for just £2.50! (per bag)

If you’re pledging to eat healthier in 2012 then why not try our Food Co-operative?  

The Food Co-op was set up last year to provide everyone with good-quality, affordable fruit and vegetables. It runs every Thursday from our office at 197 Newport Road, Cardiff, and is open to anyone.

So if you’re looking to eat healthier in 2012 come and bag yourself a healthy meal with the Cadwyn food co-op! 

It’s that time of year where everyone pledges to make a change to their life – gym memberships increase, sales of nicotine patches go through the roof and people everywhere try desperately to resist the temptation of their favourite junk food/takeaway. We have decided to make our own New Year’s Resolutions following feedback in our customer survey.    

Most of our customers (87%) are satisfied overall with our service and satisfaction levels have been going up since the last major survey in 2008. More of our customers are satisfied with repairs – up 8% to 81% and 85% were happy with the quality of their home (up 2% since 2008).  

However there is always room for improvement so in keeping with the spirit of New Year, we resolve to:

• Review our opening hours
• Improve our system for making repair appointments
• Provide better information about improvements to our customers’ homes
• Help customers reduce their energy bills
• Simplify our system for moving customers out of their homes while major works are being carried out  
• Improve communal areas

We will be revisiting our new year’s resolutions regularly throughout the year to ensure we meet them and we look forward to hearing what you think about our services too. Keep checking the news section for regular updates on our progress. 

I’m Lauren Davies and my New Year’s Resolutions are:

• To eat more healthily
• To exercise more regularly
• To learn to play the guitar

I’ll let you know how I get on! Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions? We’d love to hear from you if you have! Send them to me – Lauren Davies, at Cadwyn Housing Association, 197 Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 1AJ or email lauren.davies@cadwyn.co.uk and I hope to post them to the website. 

Throughout January we’ll be posting some handy tips to help you stay on track with your New Year’s Resolutions. Keep checking back the news section for updates.