Author Archives: admin

Cookery

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At this week’s cookery session Caerphilly People First members and volunteers made Easy Hunters Chicken (as suggested by Adrian).

Ready in just 30 mins (if you already have BBQ sauce), it’s full of flavour, and there are loads of different options when it comes to how to serve it.  Each member had a go at wrapping the bacon around the chicken breast and adding the sauce and grated cheese.  They then served their chicken with carrots and broccoli, and white rice.

Great choice Adrian, everyone really enjoyed the food.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered – you all worked so hard.  Wayne has chosen to make sausage casserole and mash next week, so we’ll see you all then.

Health Meeting

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Ffion and Natalie recently took part in an online meeting with Swansea University, attended by health professionals and other People First groups.  Ffion and Nat spoke about their experiences of COVID and lockdown.  Ffion talked about how she struggled with her mental health, anxiety and depression during this period, and how happy she is now things are back to normal and she has regained her freedom.  She also talked about her experiences of receiving the vaccine.  Natalie spoke about how frightened she was before having her jabs, and how ill she was afterwards.  Despite this she is glad she had the vaccine because it meant that she could start seeing her family again and make a return to work with Caerphilly People First.

Mindfulness Session

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Caerphilly People First members attended their third mindfulness session with Andrew at Libanus Lifestyle this week.  Andrew is brilliant at helping people to relax and overcome feelings of anxiety.

We talked about practicing mindfulness and how it can overcome anxiety.  Any type of meditation will help slow down overthinking, but mindfulness meditation is a particularly good place to start.  Even a small amount of meditation can be beneficial, so to reduce negative thoughts try sitting and observing your breathing for ten minutes.

RecRock Concert

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The free St David’s Day concert which featured musical performances from music wellbeing groups run by RecRock in Caerphilly County was a massive success, with a great turnout there to witness the brilliant musical performances.  Caerphilly People First members Sophie, Natalie, Morgan, Richard and Chris were among the singers at the White Rose Centre in New Tredegar, where songs by The Police, Elvis, George Ezra, Dusty Springfield, Elton John, Alicia Keys, The Beatles, and many more were performed.  A big well done to everyone who performed and attended (and sang along!), and thank you to Dan from RecRock who put the concert together.

Gardening at TARAGGAN

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This week we visited our plots at TARAGGAN and decided it was too cold to get the tools out, so our volunteers had a look at the space we have and how we can best utilise our plots.

Sophie wants to grow sweetcorn, Morgan wants to grow carrots, Sam wants to grow beans, Chris wants to grow potatoes, Anthony wants to grow courgettes, and Gethin would like to grow grapes.  On this day, we visited Woodfields Nursery garden centre in Ystrad Mynach to purchase the seeds for these items, plus seeds for broccoli and beetroot.  We can’t wait to see the results, and we’d like to thank John from TARAGGAN for giving us give us the best advice and help, as always.

Cookery

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What a fantastic cookery session we all enjoyed last week.  Moira chose to make creamy buttery mash served with fish fingers and peas (or beans).  The meal was prepared and cooked by everyone, and we’d like to thank all our volunteers and staff for their help on the day.  As we didn’t make the fish fingers from scratch, we also had time to make pancakes and rice krispies cakes, and the group also took part in a quiz and dancing.  Next week, Adrian has chosen to make hunters chicken and rice. 

Reconnect through Music

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Concert practice was in full swing this week, and everyone sounded great.  It was great to see some new people attend our Reconnect through Music session with Dan from RecRock, taking part in singing and playing instruments.  It can be very nerve-wracking to perform in front of people, but everyone did brilliantly.

The group will be taking part in the St David’s Day concert at the White Rose Centre in New Tredegar on 1st March at 1:30pm.  This is a music performance by various wellbeing groups in Caerphilly and is free to attend.  We hope to see you there!

Gardening

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This week Caerphilly People First Volunteers have been hard at work on their garden plots, planting broad beans.

Broad beans are packed with a whole host of vitamins and minerals, and including them in your diet can be beneficial to your bones, brain function, and immune system. Broad beans take 16 to 20 weeks to reach maturity and can be planted from February onwards, for harvest throughout the summer.  We are looking forward to picking them and eating them when the time comes.

Caerphilly People First Volunteers are at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens & Nursery in Gilfach every Tuesday morning from 10.30am onwards, so feel free to pop along if you would like to get involved.

Reconnect through Music

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Another great session last week with our reconnect through music group, led by Dan from Recrock.  At the session we practiced for our St David’s concert which is happening on Wednesday 1st March at the White Rose centre in New Tredegar.  All are welcome to attend this event, which will consist of musical performances from Caerphilly People First members and individuals from other groups. 

Cookery Course

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Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s cookery session – it was another great success.  The group made beef burgers from scratch, as suggested by Carly.  We made the burgers using 5% fat lean mince, and added fried onions, cheese, and ketchup to our buns, and the results tasted amazing.  Some members chose to have their burgers with salad and onion rings, and some chose chips.

It was lovely to see everyone coming together, learning new skills and sharing tips with each other on how to make the perfect burger.  Thanks again to everyone who volunteered – we couldn’t do it without you.

Moira has chosen to make creamy buttery mashed potato, served with fish fingers and peas next week.  We won’t be making the fish fingers from scratch, so we will also have time to make some chocolate Rice Krispies cakes.