Tag: Reflections

This week the theme was cooking. We were impressed to see people had been baking – unfortunately we couldn’t sample each other’s efforts (and David had eaten most of his).

We were very pleased to welcome back two long-standing members of the group, who had moved to Exeter. Running our group online means we can welcome visitors from anywhere in the world.

Following Janet’s introductions, we moved into our conversation rooms for 30 minutes. The small groups seem much more chatty now people are more relaxed with Zooming. Sharon, from the Carers Centre, gave some professional advice and guidance to two people at either end of the meeting (in private rooms).

Lynne’s quiz stretched our brains. If only I could have found a pen, I would have got 10/10.

Danny introduced his window with this: “Visual clutter becomes a problem when the eye can see too many things which causes a distraction in what you are doing. Even if you are not aware of these distractions, it can happen subconsciously. When there is too much visual clutter, it can make it harder to concentrate on carrying out a task or to find something in a room.

Our weekly polls confirmed that the group were keen on cooking and eating. Not everyone seemed to have the best approach to regular meals (Sharon’s snacks) – but perhaps we need to find out more, there could be some interesting dietary planning at work.

The singing was of its regular high standard. I always enjoy the slight delay between the music and each person’s singing. We are all on “mute”, so this isn’t a problem, but the collective movement from each person’s is delightful.

We are so pleased that our group members continue to pop into these Friendship Group sessions. We know not everyone will be able to come every week, or for the whole meeting. It is wonderful that people come when they can. I have trial runs on Mondays for those wishing to join-in and new to Zoom. This week another couple set up Zoom on their smart-phone and should be joining us next week. If you want you know more about our groups please contact us.

It is Volunteers Week from 1-7 June. A big thank you to all our wonderful team, without whom we couldn’t do what we do. There are no paid staff in Reflections everyone volunteers their time. We are very grateful for all they do to make our groups a success.

Today’s theme was Hobbies. Most of us have enjoyed the chance to immerse ourselves in something we want to do, be it stamp collecting, knitting, belly dancing, sewing, singing in a choir etc. It’s never too late to start a new hobby.

The group chatted about their hobbies in the Zoom rooms. There were some interesting examples and some group members had even made money from their hobby. Joyce showed us one of her many scrap-books from over 40 years ago.

Janet is always keen on a quiz and today was no exception. Everyone wracked their brains to find answers to questions about May. The exception was Mary, who had done the quiz before and got all the questions right.

I was very pleased to see that some members of the group managed to join us live and direct from their gardens. Fortunately, the sun was shinning. Gyda’s craft window was a bit tricky today – drawing a word with outlined letters, then cutting them out, cutting each letter in half, then trying to reassemble the original word – an instant jigsaw! Gyda gave us the suggestion for homework of repeating the craft, by writing our name on a piece of card and colouring it in, before cutting it up and bringing it along next week to share with the group.

Every session has singing and, for once, we managed to have a reasonable sound quality. Everyone was particularly pleased when they could make out all the words to Tony Chestnut.

Every week we find out more interesting snippets about our group. Danny was very chatty about his architecture studies in one of our chat rooms. Next week he has promised to start a short weekly window about how we can improve our homes to improve our lives – particularly for those affected by dementia.