ST PETER’S:
THE HEART OF ENABLING ADVENTURES
Our base facility of St Peter’s Gardens, Stafford, has recently undergone total refurbishment to provide a pleasant and comfortable base for our customers. It provides a safe, secure and stimulating environment from which we offer a range of activities designed to encourage our customers’ independence and to encourage physical and cognitive development.
St Peter’s includes:
- a newly-fitted kitchen to support individuals’ independent living skills
- a large indoor activity area for crafts, indoor exercise and life skills
- a newly-fitted disabled toilet, with a changing bed, allowing personal care needs to be met in a bright, clean environment
- a large grassed area with adjacent allotments, a potting shed, polytunnel and herb garden to enable our customers to participate in the growing of vegetables and flowers.
Enabling Activities was established by us, Phil and Cathy Peplow, parents of Kelly, a fun-loving young lady with complex physical and learning disabilities. Despite these, Kelly has led an eventful life: she has walked in the Lake District, skied in the French Alps and cycled wherever there are hills and mountains throughout Europe. When Kelly was about to leave college, we found that there were no services capable of meeting her needs. We realised that only through flexible, professional and individualised support could she be fully engaged and so, in April 2016, Enabling Activities was born.
Our core activities here include:
Cooking Activities
Cooking lunch is a regular activity at St Peter’s. With the help of our Enablers, our customers plan and are then taken into Stafford to buy food that they come back and cook in our newly-fitted kitchen. Most satisfying of all for our customers is cooking food that they have grown themselves at St Peter’s!
Horticulture Activities
We are very keen to develop our customers’ horticultural skills and proud of the facilities that we have to offer at St Peter’s. Gardening is thought to benefit both mental and physical health and it is very rewarding for our customers to see and even cook the results of their labours. Our customers are able to plant, nurture and harvest vegetables, herbs and flowers and learn more about the natural world and the cycle of the seasons as they do so.
Indoor Activities
We have a range of keep-fit equipment that customers can use under the supervision of our Enablers. We also offer table tennis and a range of ball games.
Crafts are not only an enjoyable activity for our customers, but encourage creativity and help to improve skills of co-ordination. We undertake a range of craft activities with our customers, many of them seasonal and sometimes based on items that we have found on our walks or in the forest.
At St Peter’s we also offer a wide variety of games, such as pool, skittles and cards, and have a stock of Lego.
If you would like to visit us at St. Peter’s, please go to Contact Us.
Forest Activities
We believe that time outdoors in a forest environment is enjoyable, educational and highly therapeutic for our customers.
Enabling Activities is lucky to have the use of 20 acres of semi-natural ancient woodland, with the trees predominantly oak and silver birch. There is a wide selection of plant life together with many resident animals and birds that share the woods with us. The area is fully fenced and gated to provide a safe environment and to prevent anyone wandering off.
We have access to a lovely wooden lodge with a fitted kitchen to enable us to practise independent living skills and a large seating area with tables. There are toilet facilities and a changing room if required.
The area is very peaceful and relaxing and our customers can choose to follow paths through the woods to different adventure areas. Our Enablers provide help with a wide range of stimulating activities: orienteering, trail-making, shelter-building, bug hunting, making campfires, cooking, outdoor artwork, woodland bingo and making bird feeders. However, if our customers would prefer a quieter time, there are shelters where they can just sit and watch the birds and wildlife.
Our country crafts have a ratio of one client to one member of staff and strict safety procedures are followed when tools are used.
Out and About Activities
Integration into Public Life
Enabling Activities encourages and supports integration into the local community with frequent trips into Stafford, with the assistance of our Enablers. Our aim is to help our customers feel confident and safe when out and about in the community and to encourage their independence.
Typically, one of our trips will involve catching a bus into town and visiting a local cafe for breakfast, where the customers will be able to choose their own food and drink. We may then move on to a supermarket to select food for a picnic or ingredients to cook in our Forest Activities or back at our base at St Peter’s. At times, this has resulted in a few extra items appearing in the baskets! We are always keen to get outdoors, so when the weather permits, our trips also include visits to local parks.
We understand because we are parents as well as providers and can work with you to create a individualised programme.
If you feel our approach could deliver positive outcomes, Go to Contact Us.
You are welcome to visit us (by appointment) or we’ll visit you to discuss your needs with no obligation.
We also offer free taster days.
Enabling Activities Ltd Company no 11367228
Registered address: BelAir 4 Barn Bank Lane, Stafford, ST17 9HF