Press and media

Every month until January 2021, three lucky Silva customers will win a Love2Shop voucher in our prize draw.

Three prizes will be given out each month:

First prize: £150

Second prize: £100

Third prize: £50

 

About Love2Shop

Love2Shop vouchers are extremely versatile. They are accepted by most high street stores and chains, including Boots, PizzaExpress, TK Maxx, Mamas & Papas, Foot Locker, HMV and more…

 

How can I enter the prize draw?

If you let our contractors into your home to carry out an electrical inspection or audit, before 31 January 2021, you will automatically enter the prize draw.

At the end of every month until then, three randomly-chosen customers, who had a test or audit that month, will win one of our prizes.

If you had an electrical test or audit before October, you still will be entered into the prize draw.

 

About the electrical inspections

We are carrying out routine electrical tests and electrical test audits in some of our homes, to make sure they remain safe to live in. In order to carry out these tests and audits, our contractors need to enter our homes.

Our electrical tests are being carried out by Crystal Electronics and Pilon. If your home requires an electrical test, either Crystal Electronics or Pilon will contact you to book an appointment.

We have also appointed an auditor called Phoenix Compliancy Management (PCM) to check that the electrical tests which are being done in our homes are to our high standards. PCM is sending letters to some Silva customers who had their electrics tested this year. Recipients of this letter will be asked to call PCM to book an appointment for their electrical test audit.

Read more about our electrical inspections

If you let Crystal Electronics, Pilon or PCM into your home to carry out an electrical test or audit, you will be automatically entered into our prize draw.

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They say fine wine gets better with age, but that’s also the case with birthday parties. There’s nothing quite like a birthday celebration to raise the spirits, and this became obvious during the lockdown for everyone at Silva Homes.

Our colleagues pulled out all the stops to make sure that 100-year-old Winnie could celebrate her birthday in style, despite all the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Winnie lives in one of our affordable independent living homes in Sandhurst, and we’d been planning a big party to celebrate her 100th. The coronavirus pandemic sadly put a stop to the social gathering, but we were determined that nothing was going to stop us making a fuss out of Winnie. And so, with that in mind, our independent living team at Broadway House staged a surprise celebration, with social distancing measures in place.

Winnie’s family gathered in the communal garden alongside her neighbours and Silva colleagues to give her a socially distanced, two-metres-apart rendition of happy birthday. We even made a colourful banner which read: ‘Happy 100th birthday lovely Winnie! From all of us at Broadway House.’ As Winnie waved to her loved ones and danced from her flat window we knew this would be a highlight of what’s been an extremely tough summer for everyone, especially those in the care sector.

But it also epitomised everything that is good about our independent living homes, especially places like Broadway House. In simple terms, independent living is designed for older people – including those who are living with dementia - who want to be as independent as possible but need assistance with some aspects of daily living.

Broadway House has colleagues on duty and provides a freshly cooked meal every day. We are very attentive and carry out regular care assessments, as well as organising activities, but we try to enable and encourage independence as much as possible. Ageing is a gradual process, and most people don’t need to go straight from living in a two-bedroom house (with garden) to a care home.

There’s a period in life, where you can still organise your time and manage your own affairs, but maybe you want to live somewhere a bit less stressful, near likeminded neighbours, and with the option to take part in communal activities or get some extra help or if you want to.

Winnie, for instance, moved into her independent living home because her previous home garden was too large for one person and the garden was a challenge – but she wasn’t suited for a care home. She loves living independently and even now, aged 100, she doesn’t need any extra care.

The social care crisis has been one of the greatest challenges facing the UK since before Covid-19, and we hope the government considers investing in independent living, managed by housing associations like Silva Homes, as a solution.

 

This article was written by Dasos Christou, our Executive Director (Customer Relations), and was published by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

Read more about Winnie

Read this article on the SCIE website

If you are aged 55 or over and want to make your lifestyle more manageable (without moving into care), then independent living could be the right option for you.

Read more about our independent living homes

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Michael was homeless for 26 years before moving into Liscombe House. He wanted to find a safe home where he could maintain his independence and enjoy a high quality of life.

“Coming off the street and being somewhere for nearly a year is a rare and exciting experience for me.”

Now, Michael enjoys going for walks around South Hill Park, having his sister over for tea and taking part in activities with his neighbours. As a Liverpool fan, he enjoys playing FIFA online against his brother – and good wifi is a new experience for Michael.

“I have a much healthier and happier life now and I really value the roof over my head and being able to invite friends over.”

Michael has taken to independent living like a fish to water and has made some good friends in the community. He has daily catch-ups with an older neighbour, who he affectionately calls ‘step-grandma’, and also gets on well with our Liscombe House colleagues.

“I really like Sandra, the manager of Liscombe House. She’s easy to get on with and is extremely polite. She checks in on me every day, which makes me feel safe.”

 

Michael found his home in Liscombe House by joining the housing register on his local council’s choice-based lettings website.

You can find out more about our independent living and extra support homes, as well as how to apply, here: About independent living

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We are pleased to announce that our routine repairs services have started to reopen. You can now book a repair for your home in less than a minute, using My Silva. Thank you for your patience as we have worked through all your requests from before the lockdown.

 

Which repairs are available?

You can now book some types of routine repairs, including:

• Fixtures and fittings 
• Electrical wiring 
• Heating 
• Plumbing  
• Communal areas 
• The outside of the home 

The following types of routine repairs are currently unavailable, due to resource limitations caused by Covid-19:

• Fencing
• Roofing
• Carpentry
• Plastering

We are getting in additional resources to help carry out these repairs while our supply chain recovers from Covid-19. Fence repairs will start again in the autumn.

 

How to book a repair

There are three ways that you can book a repair for your home. We are expecting an increased volume of calls and wait times when our system reopens, so if you have an email address, please try to use My Silva to book an appointment. This will help to ensure that our customers who can’t access My Silva will be able to get through to our team over the phone to book a repair. Once your appointment has been booked, you will receive an email, text or call to confirm the date and time. 

 

My Silva

This is the quickest and easiest way to book a repair.

You can use My Silva to book a repair slot directly in our system, up to 40 days in advance, without speaking to a member of our team. All you need is an email address.

If your home requires more than one repair, please book a separate appointment for each request.

Please note, you cannot book the following types of repairs through My Silva:

• Emergency repairs (please call instead)
• Repairs for communal areas in the building (please email or call instead)
• New build home defects (please email or call instead

Book a repair on My Silva

 

Send us an email

You can send us an email at any time and we'll book it into our system between 8.30am and 5pm, from Monday to Friday.

Email us

 

Call us on 01344 382 800

You can call us any time between 8.30am and 5pm, from Monday to Friday.

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As our catering manager, Lorraine is responsible for planning and cooking a wide variety of meals for our independent living customers. In this interview, she talks about herself and her role, including her favourite meal to cook, how her job has changed since lockdown and what her ideal superpower would be.

 

What does an average day look like for you?

I start the day by cooking and preparing lunch with my team for our customers in Clement House and Broadway House. Our kitchen is located in Clement House, so all the food needs to be ready by 11.30am, so that it can be taken to Broadway House on time.

We have made a lot of changes to the way we work this year, due to Covid-19. I don’t get to interact with our customers as much as I used to, but I still enjoy saying hello and having a quick chat when I see them.

We now change our menu every week, instead of every month – and our customers can choose what they want to eat in advance. The food is freshly prepared every day and delivered directly to their doors. This was a challenging adjustment, but thanks to our hard work we have perfected the new system.

 

What’s your favourite part of your job?

A lot has changed recently, but I still look forward to coming to work every day. For starters, I take great joy in cooking with fresh produce, and most of the vegetables and meat we use are fresh and sourced locally.

I also enjoy cooking surprise goodies for our customers. We didn’t let the lockdown stop us from treating them, and we baked over 400 cupcakes for our scheme customers, as a part of a goody bag and for our VE day celebrations. This was a huge task, but it was well worth it as our customers loved them!

It feels so good to know our hard work is appreciated and we have received some lovely thank you cards, which I have displayed in the office for the whole team to see.

What’s the biggest challenge you face?

At the moment, my greatest responsibility (and challenge) is making sure that our customers remain safe from Covid-19. We have always followed excellent hygiene practices and were given a 5-star rating in our environmental health inspection earlier this year. We use high-quality PPE (personal protective equipment) and have daily health checks, and we also introduced new rules to limit the number of people in the kitchen, so that social distancing can be maintained.

A more general challenge is making sure we prepare the daily meals on time and to an excellent standard. As lockdown eases we are now planning how to reopen our canteens safely again so that customers can once again enjoy their meals in the company of friends.

 

What’s your favourite dish to cook?

I love cooking traditional English food. Meals like steak and ale pie or traditional roast dinner are my absolute favourites. They always tend to be the most popular, particularly the roasts, as everyone loves our potatoes.

As it is summer, we’re making a lot of salads for our customers, but otherwise, the menu hasn’t been impacted too much by the lockdown. Today, our customers can choose between fish pie and gammon for dinner.

What would you change about the housing industry?

I think Silva Homes sets a great example for other housing associations wishing to provide homes for older people. These homes are designed to help people live independently for longer, which isn’t the same as a care home. I think independent living should be much more common in the UK, as it offers a better quality of life for people who want to live in an affordable home.

 

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

I’d like to be able to stretch time slightly, so that I don’t have to rush around in the kitchen get to all the meals cooked on time!

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