Category: Dementia Friends

Lots of entertainment, no entertainer

by Peter, posted in Dementia Friends, Friends Group

A near record turn-out, but we were sad that our booked entertainer could not come due to his car breaking down! Our wonderful volunteers rose to the challenge and we all had a very good time.

There was plenty of chat, quizzes, jigsaws etc for the first hour or so.

I ran a Dementia Friends session which included group members, volunteers, some people who had signed-up via the DF website and Josie and a friend from Josie’s Keep Fit in Retirement group.

After all that we had some dancing and a singing-a-long.

As our group is becoming so popular, we have the opportunity to make some positive changes in the near future. Watch this space.

 

Reflections in May

by Peter, posted in Carers Group, Dementia Friends, Friends Group

A busy month!

We ran three Friendship Groups in May. Young Tony came along to sing to us as usual. Janet started a new seated exercise session, which was very popular indeed – more of these to come. We had the usual quizzes, aqua painting, dominoes and lots more.

Our regular monthly evening Carers’ Group had us talking about the issues of the day for carers. There was a lot of discussion on how to safely plan a trip away for elderly people who have memory and other issues. As ever the group was mutually supportive and came up with many ideas.

Janet and I spent two days at Oxleas early in the month. The first day was an awareness event, where we had the opportunity to speak to a variety of people with a recent diagnosis and their carers. The second was a chance for us to meet the latest Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) group, have a chat, and invite them to move on to out Friendship Group.

Over five days I addended an introduction course, then started as an “apprentice”, as part of the latest Remembering Yesterday Caring Today (RYCT) group in Woolwich. For more information on the 10/12 weekly themed reminiscence sessions see the comprehensive web site here.

Towards the end of the month I was very pleased to run my 33rd Dementia Friends session. Thanks to Bob the (website) builder for arranging the event. I have now presented to over 700 people as my contribution to the 2.5 million Dementia Friends. If you want to know more about Dementia Friends, please contact me or visit here.

Janet and I then attended the innovative Dementia Action Week event in Woolwich library on the 24th. Angelika had set up a Dementia friendly Street with the help of Richard and the other library staff. The “street” included businesses and services across the borough which have received recognition for being dementia inclusive. There is more about what Greenwich is doing to become a dementia friendly Borough here.

Finally we popped along to the Park Avenue Care home on two days, to sample their entertainment. We were so impressed by one of the singers, Jamie Steen, that we booked him on the spot to perform at our Friendship group. More about Jamie here.

Enjoy the sunshine.

October 31st: Halloween fun

by Peter, posted in Dementia Friends

A Halloween themed afternoon. 35 Friends came along to join in the fun. Lots of lovely goodies were donated for sharing, including the biscuits shown, which were made by the daughter of a carer.

There were Halloween quizzes and an opportunity to made a pine cone bat or a rosemary broomstick. It is believed that rosemary wards off evil and helps with memory recall. There was also an opportunity to take part in our Halloween raffle to win one of the carved pumpkins and a few other prizes.

As other events will be happening before we next meet, we also did a gunpowder plot quiz and a Remembrance wordsearch. As usual, we finished with a sing-a-long.

A memorable afternoon.

Thank you to Shrewsbury House for the great decorations in the room. We were lucky they had a party booked immediately after our group, so had decorated the room in advance.

 

 

 

August 8th: archery and quizzes

by Peter, posted in Dementia Friends

Another busy group today and we were very pleased to welcome three new people.

25 Friends came along for some archery, quizzes and a chat.

We are very grateful to Marc for managing to squeeze in another visit in his busy schedule. His archery sessions always prove popular, with new customers and veteran archers.

Janet has found a source of excellent quizzes. These proved popular, so we will be doing more of them in future. And we’ll make sure we give out the answers before everyone goes home – it’s clear that people are keen to know what their score was – and what were the answers they didn’t know: like the name of the first Russian dog in space.

Thank you to Sarah, Marc’s wife, for donating the skittles. The biscuit stock was also replenished with some welcome nibbles, thank you.

Angelika Welzel-Connolly, Dementia Action Co-ordinator for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, briefly introduced the Dementia Reference Group and gave out some information about the group (see here). Next time Angelika will return to answer any questions about the Reference Group and invite people to join.

As part of Dementia Dialogue Angelika will also run a knitting session that is guaranteed to produce wonderful results by 3pm!

For more information about Angelika and Dementia Dialogue see here.

 

Making Royal Greenwich a dementia-friendly Borough

You might be interested in Greenwich Council’s (slightly dated) guidance. You can find information on their web site here or read their pdf “A toolkit for business” here.

 

See you all next time,

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday Friendship Group: 11 July 2017

by Peter, posted in Dementia Friends

On the 11th July we celebrated the 1st birthday of the Friendship Group.

It was a lovely afternoon with 28 friends joining in the celebrations.

We had strawberries and fizz and Marc the archery coach came along again. Thank you to Bronwyn and Rob for supplying the strawberries, cream and bowls – Gloria and Martin for the cake – and Shrewsbury House for some fizz.

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Some wonderful bunting was made by the group. It is too nice to display just once, so it will be displayed over the next few sessions.

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Tina suggested the group could make some bunting for me. It was so thoughtful and I have displayed it at home.

As well as celebrating, it was also a time to remember and toast absent friends – those who can no longer attend for various reasons.

It was definitely an afternoon to lift the spirits. Thank you to everyone who has visited our group and especially to Deb, Tony and Thorntree School without whose donations we would not have been able to develop the group

Here’s to our next year!

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Return of The Archers 18 April

by Peter, posted in Dementia Friends

We were pleased to welcome back archery coach Marc. Archery was again very popular. With help and support everyone who wanted to, was able to have a go.

Other usual activities – bingo, dominoes and knitting also took place.

We were also pleased to welcome back Ellie. She had come along with her classmates on 7th March (see blog here) to do a sponsored dance routine, which she had choreographed. She announced the money is still being counted, though believes they have raised around £207 – which is wonderful.

I shall be taking a short break and hope to be back at the group in the not too distant future.

Janet and the team look forward to seeing you on 2nd May, when singer Tony Martin will be returning.

Dementia Friends session

by Peter, posted in Activities, Carers Group, Dementia Friends, Events

I plan to run another Dementia Friends session on 18th April. The session will help you learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and turn that understanding into action. If you are interested in coming along please e-mail me on reflectionsgreenwich@gmail.com.

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[Dementia Friends Champion]

You can find more information about Dementia Friends here.