On Wednesday 26th July Ffion Poole delivered her relationship course to people from Jackie Hughes’ Person to Person group. The topic she spoke about was friendships and relationships, and the next session will be about understanding your body and giving consent. This will be held on Wednesday 23rd August.
This week the group attended the Min-y-Mynydd Gardens open day. What a magical place! It was wonderful to see everyone’s hard work and creations on display; Gethin and Rhys particularly loved the Transformer. Well done to everyone who has helped create such a place – you have done an amazing job. And thank you for our plant which has taken pride of place in our office.
The following was written by Morgan, one of our volunteers:
Hello, my name is Morgan Llwyd Jones and I’m a volunteer at Caerphilly People First. This morning at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens & Nursery allotments me and the other volunteers spent most of the morning digging out all the weeds. Once it was time for us to put the tools away in the shed I stored them nice and neatly so that John didn’t have to tidy up after me or the group.
Just before we all left, me, Christy Taylor, Sam Evans, Gethin Chamberlain & Rees Powell picked some produce from our allotment plots, including onions, broad beans and courgettes, and took it to the YMCA for the vegetables to be shared out between everyone.
Yesterday we were visited by Gerraint from All Wales People First to discuss the 40th anniversary of the All Wales Strategy. The group talked about being grateful for the strategy, and the benefits it has brought to people with learning disabilities, but agreed that there is still more work to be done. We would also like to say a massive Welcome to our new volunteer Briani – we can’t wait for you to become part our little family.
On July 19th Ffion, Gethin and Natalie attended the University of South Wales’ Learning Disability Conference 2023. Guest speakers included Professor Ruth Northway, and Shaun Haugh who spoke on the subject of mental health. Ffion spoke about the work TRAC does and what it means to be part of TRAC. Siobhan Benjamin was next, talking about her son Daf who has severe learning disabilities. After the speakers there was a quiz with really good questions, which was amazing. This was followed by the presentation of the Paul Wheeler award for excellence, which was awarded to learning disabilities nurse Kloe Leigh Edwards.
Last week TRAC colleagues held their annual review, which we were very glad was a face-to-face meeting on campus. Discussions included past and future research, what has worked well this year, what needs to be improved, where shall we meet, and how often should we meet.
It was great to see everyone and we look forward to working with all the student nurses in the future. Also at the meeting TRAC colleagues decided to meet quarterly instead of monthly.
This week volunteers and members had a crafty scrabble art session with Cheryl Smith from the Parent Network Community Forum. We used a blank canvas and glued on a themed napkin of our choice, then added scrabble letters to spell out our names and interests.
Arts and Crafts is a great way to improve self- confidence and reduce stress, in addition to improving mental health and well-being. Our next Arts and Crafts session with Cheryl will be on August 1st at 12.30pm, and you can reserve your space via email or phone.
Thanks to Cheryl Smith and Zoe from the Parent Network Community Forum for a fun afternoon of crafts last week. Our members and volunteers made personalised bags that can be used for stationery, make-up etc. Our next session with Cheryl is on Tuesday July 18th at 12.30, so please get in touch if you would like to join us.
Since we returned to our allotment at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens in February our volunteers have worked there every Tuesday morning, preparing the plots for planting vegetables and fruit, and learning how to sow the seeds. Our volunteers are learning new skills every week and enjoy working in the fresh air, even on drizzly mornings.
Last week we continued working on the fruit plot and weeding the vegetable plots, and you can see how much progress we have made in the picture below. If you would like to join us we are at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens every Tuesday morning from 10.30am.
Gethin Chamberlain and Rees Powell have been busy volunteering at Llancaiach Fawr gardens. Well done lads, you did a great job. Caerphilly People First will be there every Wednesday from 10.30 until 12.30 if you would like to join us.
