Halloween Event

Members recently enjoyed a great Halloween event at Fleur de Lys Community Centre in Blackwood.  The event was organised by our volunteers, who did a fantastic job while looking amazing in their costumes. The team also did a great job of carving their pumpkins. Thanks to everyone who took part – it was great to see everyone having fun together.

Pencoed Fach Organic Farm Visit

Last week members visited Pencoed Fach Organic Farm where we had a great time looking at the stalls, pumpkins, and farm animals, including chickens, pigs, and cows. Don’t forget when you dispose your pumpkins to think of our wildlife. Lots of different animals can eat pumpkins and it’s a great idea to pop them outside after they’ve had their Halloween use. Squirrels, birds, foxes and even badgers can eat pumpkins.

Gardening with Groundwork Wales – Week 6

The most recent gardening workshop with Rachel and the team from Groundwork Wales was another great success. We transplanted raspberries and grapes from cuttings. Transplanting raspberries is really easy to do. The best time of year to transplant red raspberry plants is in early spring (before the leaves start to sprout) or late autumn (after the leaves have fallen), when the plants are dormant. We look forward to the remaining two weeks of this eight-week course.

Autistic Minds Living Skills

The team at Caerphilly People First recently met with the outreach team from Autistic Minds to discuss the skills courses they have on offer. Our members decided that they would like to learn more about living skills such as: cooking, shopping, cleaning, budgeting money, understanding bills, and many more. The group will be taking part in these skills workshops in the near future, and they are open to all who are interested.

Gardening with Groundwork Wales

This week we attended our second workshop with Groundwork Wales. We planted onions and lettuce, and learnt about different types of mint and tiger nuts. We planted the onions and lettuce into small pots, and we will transfer them into the ground when they begin to grow. We also took some cuttings from two types of mint plants (mint and strawberry & mint and pineapple) and planted the cuttings into hanging baskets, so they will have plenty of room to grow. Rachel showed us the grapes they are growing in the polytunnel, and they tasted delicious.

VIVA Fest 2022

Ffion and Christy recently attended the Cwm Taff People First VIVA (Vision Inclusion Voice Advocacy) Festival at the Swallow Barn in Treharris. Ffion ran her relationship course where she talked about LGBTQIA+, what is a good friend, what is a bad friend and how to make friends. Other organisations such as Gig Buddies, All Wales People First, Learning Disability Wales, and the Welsh Ambulance Service were also in attendance, some giving presentations. For the evening entertainment we enjoyed a comedian, live singer and a disco. It was great fun and we did not stop singing or dancing.

Safeguarding Training

On Monday 5th September Ffion Poole and Sam Evans delivered a Safeguarding training session to staff at the Islwyn Park Coffee shop. It was great to be back out in the community delivering our sessions, and we’d like to thank the group for for having us. We can’t wait to do more training in the future, so if anyone would like us to deliver training on Safeguarding, Learning Disability Awareness, or Ambulance Training, please get in touch.

University of South Wales Filming

We recently did some filming alongside Cwm Taff People First at the University of South Wales simulation suite. The film will be used to educate medical staff, using the experiences of patients in hospital. Ffion and Natalie dressed up and played the role of Paramedics, and Christy acted out the part of Dr Strange. Although this is a very serious subject we had lots of giggles during the filming.

Focus Group Activities

As usual, the Focus Group spent Tuesday morning at Taraggan Educational Gardens, and this week was spent harvesting beetroot and potatoes. Beetroot can be harvested from early summer through to mid-autumn, depending on time and variety, and are rich in folate which plays a key role in controlling damage to blood vessels, which can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The afternoon session was spent making chocolate shredded wheat cakes. These are easy to make and taste delicious. We melted the chocolate in the microwave and mixed it into a bowl of shredded wheat. We then spooned the mix into the cupcake cases and popped them into the fridge to set (except some didn’t make it to the fridge). Thanks to Amanda from The Parent Network for helping out and supplying the ingredients.