League services and activities
The League is involved with so many services to the community that there is always something for everyone to try and new skills to be learned. And all at the same time as helping other people — what could be better!
- Hospital services
- Services for elderly people
- Children
- People with disabilities or learning difficulties
- Day centres
- Counselling
- Other services
- Culture, learning and influence
Hospital services
- Clerical and reception work
- Light ward duties and linen sorting
- Distributing leaflets
- Relieving Staff on Christmas Day
- Manning hospital shops
- Ward trolleys with telephones, books etc
- Running tea bars and shops
- Feeding patients
- Helping at A & E Departments
- Visiting, writing letters and reading
- Transport and shopping
- Beauty care therapy
- Handcare therapy
- Cosmetic camouflage
- Head Start - Scarf tying after hair loss
- Blood donor sessions
- Activities in hospice day centres
Services for elderly people
- Distributing kosher meals-on-wheels
- Distributing Christmas & Passover parcels
- Creating and running day centres
- Reminiscence programmes
- Helping at Jewish Clubs
- Lay assessors with homes inspectors
- Jewish Friendship Clubs
- Visiting, shopping and transport
- 'Hospitality Teas' at League members' homes
- Outings for housebound people
- Facilitating 'Open House' meetings
- Plant care in residential homes
- Serving meals in residential homes
Children
- Baby clinics
- Day nurseries
- Probation office creches
- Pre-school playgroups
- Reading in schools
- Children's Country Holiday Fund
- Jewish Children's Holiday Fund
- Rehabilitation centres
- Speech therapy clinics
- Help at special needs schools
- Youth clubs
- Lay assessors with inspectors of homes
- Toy Libraries
- Parent-child contact centres
Services for people with disabilities or learning difficulties
- Assisting those with MS, stroke, Parkinson's
- Teaching at schools for the deaf
- Patterning exercises for brain damaged children
- Helping at clubs & day centres
- Running discussions groups
- Taking patients on shopping excursions
- Supporting patients in the community
- Religious services & celebrations
- Shopping, transporting & escorting
- Assistance at specially organised holidays
- Horse riding, swimming
- Deaf Awareness Project
- Lay visiting at Ravenswood Village
- Visiting Ravenswood homes
- Corresponding with Ravenswood residents
Day Centres
There are twelve day centres under the League's auspices, in Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, London and Manchester. These provide transport, morning coffee, activities, a three-course lunch, afternoon tea, entertainment and, most important of all, companionship in a safe and caring atmosphere.
Activities may include keep fit exercises, music appreciation, reminiscence sessions, current affairs and discussion groups, cards, painting and handicraft classes. Some day centres have hairdressing and manicure facilities.
Counselling
The League provides individual and confidential counselling through our organisation in Manchester and through our membership of the British Association for Counselling. We can help with anxiety, depression, family problems, panic attacks, bereavement, distress, loneliness and relationship problems.
Other services in the wider community
- Adult literacy schemes
- Books-on-Wheels
- Assistance at Strangeways Prison Visitor's Centre
- Caring for Carers Project
- National flag days
- Escort & transport work
- Charity shop work
- Collection of articles for various causes
- Help for asylum seekers and refugees
- Aid to war torn areas
- Knitting teddies for disadvantaged children
- Sandwiches for homeless people
- Phone-a-Friend
- Jewish Way of Life exhibitions
- Glasgow Annual Sharing of Faiths Exhibition
- Help at national exhibitions
- Manchester Jewish Museum
- Singalong Group
- Citizen's Advice Bureaux
- Teddies for a children's hospital for contagious diseases in Belarus
- Samaritans
- Victim Support
- Expert Witness
- Relate Centres, family contact centres
- Jewish Women's Aid
- Jewish Emergency Support Services (JESS)
- Immigration Advisory Service - clerical work
- Home Start schemes
Culture, learning and influence
The League provides many opportunities for members to develop their interests and skills, and make their views heard.
Our Membership and Group Development programme offers training in several areas, including management and leadership, organisational, finance and planning skills, presentation and public speaking, computers and the internet. The League Artz group organises group outings to theatres, galleries, and places of interest, while our Health committee organises seminars and lectures on specific health issues of concern to our members.
The Social Issues committee contributes to national policy development by responding to government consultations on key topics, and feeds into the wider women's movement through our representatives on the National Council of Women. Through our affiliation to the International Council of Jewish Women, we work for human rights, peace and social justice at a global level.