Caerphilly People First volunteers visited TARAGGAN Educational Gardens & Nursery yesterday morning! We spent time planting lettuce, cabbage, and radish, and the garden is looking great. Kyle and the team are doing an incredible job — keep it up! See you all next Tuesday at 10:30!
Amazing day at the University of South Wales on Friday! Caerphilly People First TRAC volunteers teamed up with third-year student nurses for a hands-on simulation session. Nat rocked her fake wound makeup, and Ffion’s acting as a patient with severe abdominal pain was spot on! The nurses handled the pressure like pros, showing just how valuable these real-life practice scenarios are. Huge thanks to everyone involved — what a fantastic learning experience!
What an incredible turnout at our “Reconnect Through Music” session at the Little Chapel on the Hill! We had 35 amazing people — old friends and new faces—come together to sing their favourite songs, dance, and share a delicious lunch. Karaoke brought out everyone’s inner superstar, and the shared lunch created such a warm, welcoming vibe — it was all about connecting through music, laughter, and good food.
We enjoyed many other performances from our talented members, making the day even more special! A massive shoutout to Jason and Kylie, AKA Ffion and Karen, Ronan Keating AKA Morgan (our fantastic head gardener), and our Dancing Queen Paula on the mic! Huge thanks to Lexy and Zak from RecRock for running the group, and to the Libanus Lifestyle gang for funding the session through the Moon Dance Foundation. And let’s not forget the delicious cake that made the day even sweeter! Can’t wait for the next one!
Yesterday our rep Ffion Poole attended the National Council at The Grand Hotel in Swansea, where members gave overwhelmingly positive feedback on Adfest, calling it the best one yet! Well done to everyone at All Wales People First for making it such a success!
The council also discussed important issues affecting our community, including the rising cost of living, benefit cuts, and staff shortages within social care. We also talked about the recent changes to purchasing rail tickets in Caerphilly. These changes will make it much harder for adults with learning disabilities to buy tickets independently, which is a major concern. Ensuring accessible transport options is vital for our community, and we’ll continue to advocate for better solutions. Let’s keep working together to make a difference.
Here are the activities for this week. As you can see, our music and cookery sessions are restarting this week, so please come and join us if you can.
Ahoy, Mateys! What a Fantastic Pirate Party! Today, Caerphilly People First Volunteers had an amazing time at the Caerphilly Parent Network Pirate Party! It was wonderful to see all the children having a blast – from playing on the bouncy castle to making their own pirate bandanas and eye patches. And, of course, there was plenty of delicious ice cream for everyone to enjoy! The pirate costumes looked fantastic, and a big thank you to the Parent Network for inviting us!
Last week, as part of our Wellbeing Wednesdays project, we had our first monthly reflexology session with Emma. Reflexology is a therapeutic technique where pressure is applied to specific points on the feet, hands, or ears, which are believed to correspond to different parts of the body. This therapy can be especially beneficial for individuals with learning disabilities and autism, as it helps reduce stress, improve mood, and ease physical tension.
In our session, we focused on the feet, but Emma will also cover hand reflexology in future sessions. Many of our members felt more relaxed and comfortable afterward, and we look forward to the continued benefits of these sessions.
A special thank you to the Gwent Regional Partnership Board for funding our wellbeing project. We have lots more planned over the coming months, including chair yoga sessions, mental health coping strategies, and much more!
Yesterday, our volunteers visited TARAGGAN Educational Gardens. The weather turned out to be beautiful, especially compared to the morning. During our time there, we moved plants to the bottle greenhouse, arranged plant pots into sizes and stacked them up, and even had a go at using a wheelbarrow, making the most of the pleasant conditions.
We volunteer every Tuesday morning from 10:30am until 12:00pm. If you would like to get involved, please email enquiries@caerphillypeoplefirst.org
Here are the activities Caerphilly People First will be taking part in this week. Come and join us if you can.
On August 15th members attended a Co-Production Luncheon to talk about how to make Gwent healthier over the next ten years. The goal was to share ideas and work together to improve health services in the area.
We discussed how different groups can work together to improve healthcare and looked at what needs to be done first to make Gwent healthier. Attendees came up with the following proposals:
The luncheon was a great success. We shared many good ideas about how to make Gwent healthier. Now, we need to work together to make these ideas happen. We look forward to seeing you all at the next event.
