Our Hubs
Oak Green Lodge
Address:
Oak Green Way
Oldbury
West Midlands
B68 8LR
Call: 0121 544 6611
(Our main offices and administrative base are also at Oak Green Lodge)
Oak Green Lodge is a busy and bustling community providing a range of interesting and exciting activities for our participants.
We have 2 large rooms downstairs and 1 upstairs that are used for activities, lunch clubs, evening supper club, craft days.
Dining Room connected to a Large Kitchen
This room is used for a variety of activities and sessions including lunch clubs, evening supper club, craft days, cookery/baking/entertaining sessions to name a few.
Art Studio
This purpose built room has lots of resources including a pottery wheel accessible for wheelchairs.
Adult Changing Room
We have a large adult changing room with hoist and shower facilities.
Music Room
We have transformed the music room into a creative space equipped with a stage, speakers, lights and acoustic treatments. Several sessions take place here where we invite musicians to perform and demonstrate their practice and instrumentation. All equipment were donated by The Will Charitable Trust.
Beauty Salon
The Beauty Salon at Oak Green Lodge was setup in 2022 with the grants from Arnold Clark Community Fund and Morrisons Foundation. We have mirrors, styling chairs, nail station, hair styling equipment, trays and shelves, make up kits, mannequins, Alexa and a reception table in the salon. It is a place where participants come to pamper themselves and feel good about their appearance.
Green Lodge is also where our head office is situated and our Secret Garden where participants enjoy doing outdoor activities, growing plants, outdoor crafts, relaxing with friends or just taking some time out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
We create bookable activity schedules based on the participants preferences and needs. Part of our aim is to provide community experiences for participants which others may take for granted.
Our Oak Green Lodge Food Hygiene rating
The Ashes
The Ashes offers lots of activities and sessions. There is a large multifunctional space on the first floor that can have table and chairs laid out for sessions and be used as a dining room, moving the furniture makes it an ideal space for exercise classes, Zumba being very popular, as well as the ever popular discos!
There is a smaller room next to it where beauty sessions take place and can also be utilised for IT sessions. The kitchen is where the cooking and baking sessions happen.
The Ashes Food Hygiene rating
Acorn Lodge
Acorn Lodge is based in Oldbury, this is a purpose built hub for people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities.
The Zone
Interactive floor/wall projector that displays captivating special effects and multimedia content onto the floor or table surface. The interactive display responds to the slightest movement and puts you in control of the display.
Surround Sound System
This can be used for sensory stories, general music sessions also for movies.
Overhead ceiling hoist
This allows participants to be taken out of their wheelchairs in various locations in the room.
Non slip waterproof floor mats
These are used daily to give participants the opportunity to come out of their wheelchairs for activities, physio and sleep systems.
Wedgies/Roll Mats
These are to support postural care whilst our participants are out of their wheelchairs.
Adult sized Bean Bags and Swing Chair
For participants to relax in, listen to music or watch a movie.
Sensory Garden
Wheelchair accessible swing for participants to get out and have fun, enjoying the fresh air.
Colossus Columns
Great for sensory and interaction. Ranging from 1.6m-2.4m tall this sound sculpture delivers powerful resonant tones and players can feel the sound resonating through their whole body when they reach out and touch the chimes after being struck with the mallets.
Sansa-Rimba
This outdoor musical instrument is a clever blend of two African instruments; the Sansa (thumb-piano) and a Marimba (xylophone) it is easy to play and a perfect introduction to musical exploration and improvisation and it offers maximum vibration with incredible resonance and durability.
Specialised Music Equipment
We have a dedicated Music Development Worker, Tom Peel, who has designed, developed and introduced the following musical resources for our participants:
Sensory Resonance Boards
Working with fabricator and designer Joe Welden of The Lombard Method in Digbeth, we developed two Resonance Boards. These are designed to carry the vibrations from a downward facing speaker at one end across the surface of the whole board for participants to feel. Participants can interact in various ways: by sitting - directly onto the board, or in a chair, by placing their hands on the board or by watching items placed on the board vibrate.
Music Bottles
These are speakers that are cased and capped with a large plastic bottle, making the speaker for holding, hugging and feeling sounds. The funnelled top to the bottle also generates air pressure that can be felt as puffs of air.
Sensory Music Balls
Developed with Matthew Evans from Birmingham City University the sensory balls contain a battery powered microprocessor that takes movement information (shaking, spinning, rolling etc) and turns them into MIDI information. So, a roll of the ball translates into a musical scale or a shake of the ball can trigger for a drumbeat. There are many further functions to this that can be developed.
The waterbed
With music being piped into it, provides vibration and sound, so the music is felt as well as heard.
Sensory Room
Bubble tubes, projectors and other sensory equipment make this room an enjoyable sensory experience. The room includes a waterbed with a music speaker installed in the structure to enable the participants to listen and feel the vibrations of their favourite music.
Shower rooms/toilets
We have three purpose built personal care rooms that support all care needs including shower facilities, ensuring dignity is maintained at all times.
We are currently in the process of registering Acorn Lodge to be part of the national Changing Places scheme.
The Acorn Lodge Food Hygiene rating
Ocker Hill
Ocker Hill is based in Tipton and is locally known as ‘The Can’. It hosts a wide and varied activity programme of regular and one-off sessions. There is a large room, which is often used for drama group, choir and music sessions, it also offers plenty of space for other activities such as exercise classes and our very popular discos. Another room is specifically designated for arts and crafts with lots of resources available.
The dining room is a great space for friends to get together over lunch or a cup of coffee and the kitchen can be used for baking, cooking and preparing lunches (or buffets for those discos!). There are also facilities available for personal care. Ocker Hill’s garden has raised beds so that everyone can take part in growing whether that is plants and flowers or vegetables, there is also a greenhouse in the garden for everyone to use. A decking area that has garden furniture and large umbrellas is a great socialising area in the summer.
The Ocker Hill Food Hygiene rating