What a fantastic session we had on Friday! Our members cooked up a delicious lasagne made with 5% lean minced beef, served with fresh salad and sides. 🥗 Our wonderful members worked hard preparing the salad, chopping lettuce, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, cucumber and peppers. We also enjoyed peas and garlic bread with our meal. Everything tasted amazing! 😋
A big thank you to Natalie for being our brilliant quiz master 🧠 and Sian for calling the bingo numbers 🎱 – lots of laughs and fun as always! Huge thanks to all our volunteers for their hard work in the kitchen 👏Thank you to Anthony for sweeping the hall 🧹 and Peter the caretaker for setting up the tables for us.
The atmosphere was lovely, the food was delicious, and most importantly our members absolutely love this group and the positive impact it has on them. Sessions like this bring people together, build friendships, and help everyone learn new skills while having fun. ❤️ We’ll see you all Wednesday for our Reconnect Through Music session 🎶
Amy and Christy from Caerphilly People First attended the **All Wales People First National Council meeting on 10th and 11th March at Galeri Caernarfon.🚆 We travelled by train from Cardiff with other staff and members from All Wales People First, and the journey was smooth.
🗓️ Day 1
We started by going through the minutes from the last meeting. We checked the actions that had been completed and asked questions if anything was unclear. 👨💼 Joe Powell, Chief Executive of All Wales People First, gave us an update about the important work they are doing across Wales. 🗣️ Speaking up for Caerphilly Amy spoke on behalf of our members. She shared concerns about: 💻 GP appointments moving online 📱 The new e-consultation system for booking appointments. Amy explained that some people with learning disabilities may find online systems difficult to use. 👏 We are very proud of Amy for speaking up and sharing our members’ views. 💬 National Council Review All the representatives had a chance to talk about: ✅ What is working well ⚠️ What could be improved There were really good discussions and lots of positive ideas shared.
🗓️ Day 2
We were joined on Zoom by the Senedd Engagement Team who gave a presentation about voting. 🗳️ Voting is important because:
Your voice matters
You can help choose who makes decisions
It helps create change in your community 📅 Remember: Elections are in May. 🏡 Homes Not Hospitals Joe also shared an update about the Homes Not Hospitals campaign. This campaign is about making sure people with learning disabilities can live in their homes and communities with the right support, instead of staying in hospital for long periods. Everyone agreed this is really important work. 📱 Sharing Social Media Ideas We also had some group discussions and shared ideas for good social media posts.
It was great to see everyone: 😊 Taking part 💡 Sharing ideas 🗣️ Talking about their lived experiences 🚶♀️ A Lovely Walk Around Caernarfon
We also enjoyed a lovely morning walk around Caernarfon. It is a beautiful place with lots of history. We saw the famous Caernarfon Castle, a huge medieval castle built over 700 years ago by King Edward I. The castle is a very important part of Welsh history and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 🏰 It was great to see such an amazing place while we were there.
It was also really nice to Catch up with other People First members, and spend time with the All Wales People First team. Thank you to everyone for a friendly, positive and productive National Council meeting!
We had a fantastic time at this morning’s Reconnect Through Music session! Our members were in great voice and together sang an amazing 25 songs, matching the beautiful sunshine outside. 🌞🎤 We heard favourites both old and new, and every performance was wonderful. Here are just a few of today’s highlights:
🎵 Sean sang Going Underground by The Jam 🎵 Ellysia performed Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Kylie 🎵 Theresa gave us a lovely version of Eternal Flame by The Bangles 🎵 Anthony sang Against All Odds by Phil Collins 🎵 Christine performed Material Girl by Madonna 🎵 Morgan and Mandy performed a brilliant duet of Seasons in the Sun by Westlife
We truly loved every single performance – thank you to everyone who sang and supported each other. 💙 A big thank you as well to Christy, Cheryl and Zoe for preparing our delicious pizza lunch 🍕 and to Pete for setting up the hall ready for the session. It was also wonderful to welcome two new members to their first session — a big welcome to Robbie and Joe! 👋 We hope you enjoyed your first Reconnect Through Music experience.
💬 Some lovely feedback from today:
Chris said he enjoyed interacting with people Judith enjoyed meeting new people Olivia enjoyed the lovely atmosphere
Thank you to everyone who came along and made the session so special. We’re already looking forward to the next one! 🎶✨
Yesterday we had a visit from Gerraint from All Wales People First 😊 He delivered a SATV Roadshow session to our members. We talked about the Manifesto 🗣️
👉 What is a manifesto? A manifesto is a document that says:
What we believe in
What is important to us
What changes we want It helps people with a learning disability speak up and be heard 👂
We also talked about Adfest 2026 🎉
Adfest will be in Cardiff 📍 At the Future Inn Cardiff Bookings are now open! 📝 You can get the booking forms from:
The All Wales People First Facebook page
The All Wales People First website
Thank you Gerraint for a great session! We enjoyed it 😊
What a lovely Reconnect through Cookery session we had on Friday💛 We enjoyed a delicious chicken curry with rice, prawn crackers and vegetable spring rolls 😋🍛🥟 and our members did a fantastic job preparing the peppers, onions and mushrooms — great teamwork and confidence in the kitchen! 👩🍳👨🍳
We also had lots of fun with a quiz and bingo 🎉 Huge well done to all our winners 🏆👏 A big heartfelt thank you to our amazing volunteers and everyone who helped out today — we truly couldn’t do it without you ❤️ And special thanks to Peter the caretaker for kindly setting up the tables for us 🙌
These sessions are about more than just food… they’re about friendship, laughter and feeling connected 💞 We are so proud of everyone who comes along and gives it a go. We will see you all Wednesday for music and pizza 🎶🍕 🎤
Today we visited the TARAGGAN Educational Gardens and continued digging and weeding on our plot 🌱🧑🌾 Everyone worked really hard and the plot is really starting to take shape – we’re so proud of the progress! Huge well done to our amazing volunteers 💚👏 The beautiful flowers have started to bloom 🌼🌸 and it really feels like spring is almost here!
Just a reminder that we won’t be at the gardens next week as we’ll be welcoming the lovely Gerraint from All Wales People First to talk about their manifesto and Adfest. The meeting starts at 11am – you’re very welcome to join us 🗣️✨ TARAGGAN is always looking for volunteers who have knowledge and some time to spare. If you think you could help, please get in touch 🙌🌿
We had another fantastic Reconnect Through Music session this morning! The room was full of energy, laughter, and brilliant performances as we sang an amazing 28 songs together. 🎵💃 Our members brought us a wonderful mix of classics and hidden gems, covering music from the 1950s right through to the 2020s – what a journey through the decades, and what a joy to see everyone dancing, smiling, and socialising 🕺📻🎶 It was also lovely to welcome two new members, Cheryl and Claire, to their very first session with us. We hope you both enjoyed it and felt the warm Reconnect Through Music spirit! We were treated to so many brilliant performances, including:
Hywel and Kelvin – bringing us some fantastic Cliff Richard favourites 🎸 Rebecca – with a toe-tapping rendition of 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton 🤠 Adrian and Andrew – rocking the room with a couple of Elvis classics 🕺✨ Sean – getting us Eurovision-ready with Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz 🎉 Christine – bringing the party vibes with We Like to Party by Vengaboys 🚌🎶 Ffion and Amy – delivering two powerful Tina Turner classics 🔥🎤 Anthony – leading us in a triumphant We Are the Champions by Queen 👑🙌
And of course, there were many more brilliant performances that kept the atmosphere buzzing all morning! 🌈🎼A big thank you to Christy and Cheryl for preparing our delicious lunch of ham and cheese rolls and crisps – it was very much appreciated after all that singing! 😋👏Thank you to everyone who took part and made today’s session so special. We can’t wait to do it all again in two weeks! 🎶💙
Today we visited TARAGGAN Educational Gardens 🌱✨ It was lovely and fresh with the sun shining ☀️ but still a little chilly ❄️ We started digging on our plot and over the next few weeks we’ll continue working on it to get everything ready for planting 🌼We’ll be volunteering at TARAGGAN every Tuesday from 10:30am – 12pm ⏰ If you’d like to join us, we’d love to see you 💚🙌
On Friday we made a delicious cheese and potato pie 😋 Our members worked hard preparing fresh salad with tomatoes 🍅, cucumber 🥒 and lettuce 🥗 to go alongside it. We also served ham with the pie – it was absolutely delicious!
We were pleased to welcome a trainee social worker who visited to see the fantastic work we deliver in the community 💬💙 We also had a fun Valentine’s quiz ❤️🧠 which everyone really enjoyed! As always, we had lots of fun with bingo 🎉 and even a little dance from Sian and Paula 💃🕺 which made everyone smile!
A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers 🙌 Your support makes these sessions so special. The feedback from members was great as always 🌟See you all on Wednesday for music! 🎶🎤
Last week Ffion and Christy attended The Lewis School for the First Give Final 🌟 The First Give programme gives Year 7 students the chance to learn about social issues in their community, choose a charity they care about, and take part in fundraising and social action. Each Year 7 group delivered a presentation on their chosen charity to a panel of judges, who asked questions and decided which group had made the biggest impact. The winning group receives £1,000 for their chosen charity 👏 All Year 7 groups did an amazing job presenting their charities — congratulations to the winners! 🏆
A very special thank you to Year 7S for choosing Caerphilly People First. We thought your presentation was absolutely fantastic 💙 As well as raising an incredible £75 through your scavenger hunt, 7S also wrote us a beautiful poem, which will be framed and proudly displayed in our office — a truly thoughtful and meaningful gift 🌈✨
If you know of a secondary school that would like to take part in the First Give programme, please contact info@firstgive.co.uk for more information. Well done everyone!
