HEAR US HEROES

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 | Meeting Notes 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

📅 Wednesday 3rd June

👥 Our Meeting

• 👏 57 people came to the meeting
  
  

👋 Welcome

Victoria Braithwaite welcomed everyone.

• 📅 She asked if people knew what week it was.
• 💛 It was Volunteer Week 2026.

📊 Thank You Volunteers

Victoria said Care Network has lots of volunteers:

• ⭐ Hear Us Heroes Steering Group ⭐ Mystery Shopping Group ⭐ Library Groups.
• 👏 One volunteer has helped for over 12 years and comes every day.
• 🏅 Certificates were given to volunteers to say thank you.

 

💡 New Ideas

Victoria asked people to:

✅ Share new ideas
✅ Get involved
✅ Join the Mystery Shopping Project

 

🪑 Gentle Exercises

• 😊 Linda Preston came to the meeting.
• 💪 She showed gentle seated exercises.
• 🎉 Everyone enjoyed taking part.

📋 Partnership Boards

Victoria talked about:

• 🧩 Learning Disability and Autism Partnership Boards
•  People looked at the “Terms of Reference”.
• ❓ People did not understand this name.
• 💭 One new idea for the name was:
• ➡️ “Actions and Outcomes”

Victoria asked people to think of more ideas, she would like the name changed.

👥 Sub Groups

Victoria said there are 3 Sub Groups:

• 🛡️ Being Safe
• ❤️ Staying Healthy
• 🏡 Living Well

🗣️ Hear Us Heroes can help by sharing people’s voices and concerns.

Victoria asked if people would like to be involved, have their voices heard and change things to let us know.

The Sub Groups and Hear Us Heroes groups will feed back to the Partnership Boards. Victoria asked if they thought this would work.

People said this was a good idea and would work. 👍

🚕 Transport Problems

Victoria asked people to speak up about problems with:

• 🚌 Buses
• 🚆 Trains
• 🚕 Taxis

These issues can then be shared with the Boards.

🚕 Taxi Driver Training

Philomena Strickland talked about taxi driver training.

Taxi drivers should:

• ✅ Support disabled people
• ✅ Support people with Learning Disabilities and Autism
• ✅ Allow assistance dogs

🐕‍🦺 Taxi drivers cannot refuse assistance dogs.

Philomena explained different taxis:

• 🚕 Hackney Carriages
• 🚘 Private Hire
• 📱 Uber

👀 The Mystery Shopping group hopes to do mystery shopping with taxis.

🚌🚆 People also said buses and trains should be mystery shopped too.

 

🎉  Spring Into Action

Victoria welcomed:

😊 Samantha Nott
😊 Jack Murphy

Samantha works for Spring into Action and Jack is a fabulous volunteer.

They organise:

• 🎵 Social events
• 🤝 Friendship clubs
• ❤️ Dating events
  
  

🌟 Jack’s Volunteer Role

Samantha said Jack is a fantastic volunteer.

Jack helps with:

• 📱 Social media
• 🗂️ Admin work
• 🎉 Events

👏 He does an amazing job.

🎤 Open Mic Event - Spring Into Action

🎶 The next Open Mic Night is:

• 📅 Wednesday 10th June
• 📍 Alta in Whalley
  
  

🎲 New Blackburn Event

Spring into Action want to start a new event in Blackburn.

🍔 Board Games at the new Board Game Café.

• 🎲 Board games
• 🍟 Food
• 😊 Social time

❓ What Stops People Going Out?

People said barriers are:

• 🌙 Not many evening events
  ℹ️ Not knowing what to expect in advance
  💷 Cost
  🚌 Transport problems
  😟 Groups of young people in town
  👕 Dress code worries
  💬 Communication problems
  🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Not enough support

Samantha said support workers would be at events.

📍 Places People Go to access Social Events:

People said they go to:

• 🏢 Headway
• 🏢 Motivate
• 🏢 Gateway
• 🎵 Sliding Doors at Blues Bar

💷 Ideas for the New Game Board Event by Spring into Action.

People suggested:

• 💰 £5 entry including a drink
• 👩‍🦽 Carers could attend free.
• 🕔 Best times:
• ➡️ 5 pm to 7 pm or ➡️ 6 pm onwards

📢 How to Advertise

People suggested:

• 📄 Flyers
• 👥 Groups like Hear Us Heroes
• 📱 WhatsApp groups
• 📌 Library notice boards
• 🌐 Local Offer
• 🤝 Organisations sharing events

✅ What Makes a Good Event?

People said:

• 🥗 Different food choices (including Halal, Vegetarian, Gluten Free)
• 🚗 Parking
• 💷 Low cost

would help people attend and come back.

🪩 Disco in Darwen to Celebrate Learning Disability Week

Victoria talked about a disco event for:

• 💙 Learning Disability Awareness Week
• 📅 Thursday 18th June
• 📍 Artisan Café and Wine Bar, Darwen
• 🕕 Starts at 6 pm
• 🚌 Minibus from Blackburn Library at 5.30 pm.
• 🎟️ Tickets cost £5 and include food.
• 💷 Minibus cost is extra.
• 🏠 People will need to get home themselves.

🗓️ Meeting Information

📍 Hear Us Heroes meetings are on the first Wednesday of every month
🕚 Starts at 10.30am (please arrive at 10:15am)

🗓️ Next date
👉 Wednesday 1st July 2026

✅ Upcoming Dates:

• 5th August
• 2nd September
• 7th October
• 4th November
• 2nd December

Visit our Hear Us Heroes main page

Click here to find information on our new Hear Us Heroes Mystery Shopping Group