Reconnect Through Music

Today’s Reconnect Through Music session was another brilliant get-together! 🌟 The room was filled with singing and friendship as our talented members performed an amazing 25 songs. Everyone showed confidence, enthusiasm, and joy β€” it was a day to remember. πŸŽΆπŸ’« Every performer gave it their all, and the support from the audience made it even more special. πŸ‘πŸŽ€βœ¨

Our members gave some incredible performances that had everyone smiling and clapping along:

πŸŽ™οΈ Natalie sang Why by Annie Lennox β€” such emotion and power!
🌈 Matilda brought energy and confidence with Naughty from Matilda the Musical.
❀️ Mandy gave a beautiful version of If You Don’t Know Me by Now by Simply Red.
πŸ’° Adrian had us all moving with Money, Money, Money by ABBA.
πŸ”₯ Theresa performed Eternal Flame by The Bangles.
πŸ’ž Anthony sang What About Us by Champaign and wowed everyone.
β˜€οΈ Ellysia lifted the room with Mr. Blue Sky by ELO.

A big thank you to Christy, Cheryl, and Helen for preparing the delicious sandwiches and sausage rolls. πŸ₯ͺ🌭 We received some lovely feedback from those who attended:

🎧 Jason said he loved the music and singing.
πŸ’¬ Vicky shared that she enjoyed mixing with people.
🀝 Rebecca said she loved meeting up with everyone again.
πŸ—£οΈ Rachel enjoyed talking with new friends.
🌟 Anthony said it was an excellent day.
πŸ’ͺ Judith said the session helped build her confidence.

It was wonderful to see how much these sessions mean to everyone β€” not just for the music, but for the chance to connect, make friends, and feel part of something special. πŸ’žπŸŽΆToday reminded us why these sessions matter so much β€” music brings people together, builds confidence, and fills the room with joy. πŸ’– A huge well done to everyone who took part, helped out, and made the day unforgettable. πŸ₯°

✨ Craft with Deb & Louise from Multiply ✨

What a brilliant day at our Meet and Make sessions yesterday! Our members made gorgeous snow globes ❄️⛄ β€” and they looked absolutely amazing! Our members did a great job learning something new and getting creative. πŸ’™βœ¨

πŸ•™ Session Times:

  • Morning: 10am – 12pm
  • Afternoon: 1pm – 3pm
  • Location: Bargoed YMCA

⭐ How we made our snow globes:

1️⃣ Fill a clean jar with water
2️⃣ Add glitter or fake snow ✨
3️⃣ Glue a small decoration or figure to the inside of the lid
4️⃣ Screw the lid on tightly
5️⃣ Give it a shake and watch the magic happen! β„οΈπŸ’™

A huge thank you to Deb and Louise for another fantastic Multiply session 😊 Everyone had fun, learned new skills, and made something special to take home. Can’t wait for next week!

πŸŽ‰ Reconnect Through Cookery 🍽️

On Friday we cooked up an amazing feast! πŸ˜‹ Our members made sausage bake, tuna bake, and ham & cheese – all served with warm garlic bread πŸ₯–πŸ§„ and a lovely fresh salad πŸ₯— prepared by our fantastic team. We had tomatoes πŸ…, lettuce πŸ₯¬, cucumber πŸ₯’, red onion πŸ§… and spring onions – absolutely delicious!

A huge thank you to Mark, Rees, Nat, and everyone who worked hard in the kitchen πŸ‘ Big shoutout to Sarah for doing the quiz and helping to serve lunch 🧠🍽️ and Ffion for sorting the register βœ… We all had a brilliant day eating, chatting, and socialising together πŸ’›
See you all Wednesday for Reconnect Through Music πŸŽΆπŸ’ƒπŸ•Ί

Breakfast and Belonging / Meet and Make with Multiply

✨ What a fantastic day at Caerphilly People First! ✨ We started the morning with our Breakfast and Belonging session πŸ₯β˜• where everyone enjoyed a warm cuppa, fruit, pastries, crumpets, and a good chat.

This was followed by our very first craft session delivered by Deb and Louise from Multiply πŸŽ¨βœ‚οΈ Our Meet and Make with Multiply sessions will run for the next six weeks with two groups:

πŸ•™ 10am – 12pm
πŸ• 1pm – 3pm

Today everyone enrolled and introduced themselves. The theme was to pick someone in the room and draw a portrait of them! πŸ–ΌοΈπŸ‘€

Both our morning and afternoon members did an amazing job β€” and there were plenty of giggles with a fun game of β€œGuess Who?” once we revealed the finished portraits! πŸ˜‚πŸŽ­ πŸ“Έ Check out our designs below and see if you can guess who’s who! A big thank you to everyone who joined us today β€” what a brilliant start to the project! πŸ’›πŸ™Œ

πŸŽƒ Reconnect Through Music – Halloween Special πŸ‘»

Today’s Reconnect Through Music session was a spooktacular success! πŸ‘πŸ•ΈοΈ The hall looked incredible β€” decked out with Halloween decorations that transformed the space into a fun setting. From cobwebs to skeletons, every detail added to the atmosphere. πŸŽƒβœ¨

Our members truly embraced the Halloween spirit β€” everyone looked amazing in their costumes! From witches to devils, and everything in between, the creativity on display was fantastic. πŸ§›πŸ§™β€β™€οΈπŸ§Ÿβ€β™‚οΈ

We enjoyed an incredible 29 songs today and each performance was filled with energy and enthusiasm. πŸŽ΅πŸ’«πŸŽΆ Here are just a few of the highlights:

πŸ•Ί Joshua thrilled us with β€œThriller” by Michael Jackson
🌞 Hywel took us on a β€œSummer Holiday” with Cliff Richard
πŸ’ƒ Anthony impressed with β€œHelp Yourself” by Tom Jones
πŸ”₯ Ffion and Amy rocked β€œHighway to Hell”
🦁 Chris delivered a powerful β€œCircle of Life” by Elton John
πŸ‘» Elizabeth got everyone singing along to the Ghostbusters Theme
🎸 Sean shook the room with β€œJailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley
πŸ§™β€β™€οΈ Nat wowed with β€œBabooshka” by Kate Bush

In the middle of the session, we got everyone up to dance β€” and what a sight it was! The floor was full of movement, laughter, and fun. πŸ•ΊπŸ’ƒ πŸŽ‚ We also celebrated Andrew’s 30th birthday πŸŽ‰ with a delicious cake and a singalong of β€œHappy Birthday” πŸ₯³ and everyone joined in to make his day extra special. To top it all off, we enjoyed a lunch of hot dogs, prepared by Christy and Cheryl β€” thank you both! πŸŒ­πŸ’– A huge thank you to everyone who helped make today’s Halloween-themed session such a memorable, musical, and magical day. πŸŽΆπŸ§‘πŸ‘»

Reconnect Through Cookery Update! πŸπŸŽƒ

On Friday we enjoyed a yummy homemade lasagna with lots of fresh vegetables prepared by our wonderful members! πŸ₯•πŸ₯¦πŸ… A big thank you to Nat for doing the quiz 🧠🎀 and Sarah for running bingo! πŸŽ‰πŸ‘ And of course, a huge thank you to all our amazing volunteers who worked so hard today β€” you’re the best! πŸ’ͺπŸ’š

It was lovely to see some new faces joining us β€” we welcomed three new members who really enjoyed today’s session! πŸ₯°πŸ™Œ We can’t wait to see everyone again on Wednesday for our Halloween-themed Reconnect through Music session! πŸ‘»πŸŽΆ Don’t forget to dress up and choose a spooktacular song to sing! πŸŽ€πŸ§›β€β™€οΈπŸ•ΈοΈ We’ll be serving hotdogs and cakes too! 🌭🧁

Reconnect Through Music

Today’s Reconnect Through Music group was full of energy, laughter, and incredible talent. In total, our members performed an amazing 28 songs 🎀✨, and each performance brought its own magic to the room. 🌟

Matilda shone with her powerful rendition of Believe by Cher 🌈, while Ffion and Amy teamed up for a lively performance of Rehab by Amy Winehouse 🍷. Sean had everyone smiling and moving along to My Boy Lollipop by Bad Manners 🍭, and Ellysia wowed us with her version of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley 🀯. Natalie brought a touch of pop sunshine with Flowers by Miley Cyrus 🌸, and Jackie gave a heartfelt performance of Back for Good by Take That 🎢.

As the performances flowed, everyone gathered together to enjoy a delicious hot dog lunch 🌭 lovingly prepared by Christy, Cheryl, and Helen πŸ‘©β€πŸ³πŸ‘©β€πŸ³πŸ‘©β€πŸ³. This provided a lovely opportunity to relax and chat with friends. We’re grateful to Sharon and Libby πŸ“ for helping with the paperwork, and to Pete the caretaker πŸ› οΈ who made sure everything was set up and ready before we even arrived.

The feedback we received today really shows how much the group means to people. One member shared, β€œI made more friends” 🀝, while another said, β€œI love singing and seeing friends” 🎡. We also heard, β€œI wish it was every week” πŸ“…, and perhaps the best compliment of all: β€œYou can’t improve this session – I love it” πŸ’–.

Overall, today was a truly joyful session filled with music, friendship, and community. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making it such a success! πŸŽ‰

Online Hate Crime Training

✨ A huge thank you to Noah for delivering the online hate crime training today ✨

Our members really enjoyed the session and gave some great feedback on what they learned:

Andrew – learned how to make accounts private and how to report hate crime.
Ffion – learned the same and found it very useful.
Theresa – found it helpful, especially learning not to answer phone scams.
Morgan – enjoyed everything and learned more about staying safe and interacting with people.
Mark – said he liked it all.
Amy – found all the information helpful, learned more about staying safe, and said it was fab!
Gethin – said it was great for information.
Olivia – found it very interesting and learned about safe settings.
Christy – said the training was very detailed, delivered in an easy way to understand, with a fun ice breaker and interesting conversation throughout.
Stu – said the information was easy to put into practice, very friendly and accessible.

πŸ’‘ Members also learned that hate crime can be reported to Victim Support, as well as through social media platforms if abuse happens online.

πŸ‘ Overall, members said the training was informative, enjoyable, and easy to understand. Thank you again Noah for supporting our members to feel safer online.

Reconnect through Cookery βœ¨πŸ‘¨β€πŸ³

On Friday our members prepared lots of fresh vegetables πŸ₯¦πŸ₯•πŸŒ½πŸ₯¬ – we had cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, peas, and carrots to go with our delicious cottage pie πŸ₯§.
We made it using 5% lean mince πŸ₯© and topped some with cheese πŸ§€ (and left some plain for those who prefer it that way!). Best of all – zero waste πŸ™ŒπŸ‘.
Everyone enjoyed the meal ❀️ and feedback is always fantastic! Huge thanks to everyone who helped out in the kitchen πŸ‘, to Nat for sorting bingo & the quiz 🎢🎲, and to Peter the caretaker for setting up the hall πŸ™.

πŸ’š Why Healthy Eating Matters πŸ’š
Eating fresh vegetables and balanced meals helps boost energy ⚑, improves mood 😊, supports overall health 🩺, and gives our members the confidence to try new foods 🍴.
These sessions make a huge difference by:
✨ Reducing isolation & loneliness 🀝
✨ Building independence and life skills πŸ₯„
✨ Encouraging teamwork & confidence πŸ’ͺ
✨ Bringing joy and friendship to our members πŸ’›
πŸ“Œ Our next Cookery session: sausage dinner with vegetables and onion gravy 🌭πŸ₯”πŸ§….
🎡 On Wednesday we’ll be back together for Reconnect through Music 🎀🎢.
Thank you all for another lovely day πŸ’›