27 Jan 2020

This week we finally released our first newsletter of 2020 – it was hard to finalise any plans over the festive break but we are back on track with our planning and plotting for the year ahead.

On Monday morning, the Stockton Activity Group session was very relaxed. The session started with a talk through the new format newsletter and was a great opportunity to collect email addresses so that we can reduce the money we spend on paper and ink in printing the 100+ 2 page newsletters each month. We also handed out leaflets about a new Cycling Without Age initiative which our groups will benefit from very soon. After the conversations had taken place with both the activity group and the carers group, we had very little time left to complete an activity so we spent the remainder of the session playing ‘Play Your Cards Right’ with the group split into 2 teams and playing against each other. It was great fun with the laughing and joking with each other – it always seems to go down well as a ‘filler’ activity.

In Billingham, the group had a mini gardening session where they planted Cosmos seeds into small pots. The group members all took their pots home to care for them until April, when they can be planted outside in the garden.

There was a nice surprise for the Young Onset group on Monday afternoon as Alison took the Cycling Without Age trishaw to the LiveWell Hub so that the group members could experience short trishaw rides (keep an eye on our social media to read the poem written by one of the passengers). Even though we only rode in circles around the car park, the trishaw rides had everyone laughing, smiling and engaging in meaningful conversations.

We were back at the LiveWell Dementia Hub in Thornaby on Tuesday afternoon, where we started work on our Foundation Stones for the Big Idea Foundation Stones project our organisation is taking part in. The group decorated pebbles in memory of the lives lost in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The stones will be part of the foundations of a new UK Holocaust Memorial due to be built this year.

The Eaglescliffe group, who met on Thursday afternoon, also planted some Cosmos seeds with Anne. The seeds should flower between June and October and Anne is looking forward to using this activity as an ongoing discussion topic to track the plant growth over the coming weeks (and months).

NOTES: Musical Memories takes place on Monday at St Cuthbert’s Church Hall from 1pm.