At Friday’s cookery session members prepared broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage and potatoes to cook and serve with sausage, Yorkshire puddings and onion gravy. Everyone did a fantastic job and the food tasted delicious.
Thanks to everyone who volunteered in the kitchen, and also to Sangeet for delivering the second part of the digital awareness and mindfulness course. Next week we will be making Chinese chicken curry chosen by our member Nick.
This week at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens & Nursery, Kyle Richards and Sam showed our volunteers how to plant bulbs. We all had a go at planting daffodils, snowdrops and mixed crocus. Snowdrops and daffodils are amongst the first plants to flower in late winter and early spring, and the plants will look great decorating the borders of the plots when they bloom. If you would like to volunteer with us we are at TARAGGAN every Tuesday morning from 10.30am.
Tuesday afternoon marked the beginning of our Christmas Craft sessions, and Caerphilly People First members and volunteers made a start on making their own advent calendars. We used toilet roll holders and stapled them together to make a Christmas tree shape and covered them in tissue paper. At the next craft session we will continue decorating the trees and filling them with goodies ready for December.
Thanks to Cheryl Smith and Zoe Dummett from the Parent Network Community Forum for facilitating the group.
On the evening of Tuesday 7th November Caerphilly People First were at Blackwood Miners’ Institute to celebrate the tenth anniversary of RecRock. RecRock is a social enterprise based in Caerphilly which works with people to improve their skills and confidence through music and other creative activities. Caerphilly People First has been working with Dan from RecRock since Summer 2022, with our members attending music sessions where they have been given the opportunity to sing, play musical instruments, write songs, and make music videos.
As part of the evening, two Caerphilly People First members performed onstage – Mathew, who sang That’s All Right by Elvis, and Natalie who sang Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. They gave brilliant performances, and it was great to witness the musical performances by other groups who work with RecRock, many of whom performed songs they have written themselves. Everyone who was there witnessed so much talent onstage, and the crowd loved every single performance.
We will be restarting our music sessions with Dan in the new year, and our members can’t wait.
Spaghetti Bolognaise was on the menu at Friday’s cookery class. Well done everyone – you did a great a job prepping and cooking as always. Thank you to all our volunteers who always work so hard in the kitchen, especially those working on the pots.
During the second half of the session some people took part in our weekly quiz, and others joined Sangeet from Wise Kids to take part in a focus group. This is in preparation for our Digital Wellbeing advice and mindfulness course that will run for the next six Fridays after cookery. We ended the day with a mindfulness meditation.
We will see you all next week for sausage mash and onion gravy chosen by our member Sian.
At yesterday’s craft session our members and volunteers created wall art and had some spooky Halloween photos taken. Thanks to Cheryl from the Parent Network Community Forum for running the session. Crafts sessions usually occur every other Tuesday but we have an extra session next week, so if you would like to join us from 12:30pm onwards, please get in touch.
Our volunteers Ffion Poole and Gethin Chamberlain did a great job yesterday at the Parent Network Community Forum ‘Trunk or Treat’ event at Morrisons underground car park in Bargoed. Gethin, Ffion and Christy covered Christy’s car with Halloween decorations and handed out sweets and stickers to the children walking around the witch trail. We’ve never seen so many happy little faces in scary outfits, and we’d like to thank Amanda Jones and the team for inviting us to this fantastic event.
The group was recently joined by Sangeet from Wise Kids, an organisation whose aim is to promote digital literacy and wellbeing. Sangeet talked to the group about their use of social media, including what websites and apps they visit, and the good and bad things about using social media. The group also discussed the ways they relax if they feel stressed. This focus group was in preparation for a course of six sessions which will offer members mindfulness and digital wellbeing advice, such as recognising how the internet and technology can make us feel, and the impact being online can have.
On Friday 27th October we held our Reconnect Through Cookery Halloween Party. It was great to see so many people dressed up – everyone looked scary and fantastic. We played a game of spooky bingo and then handed out certificates for Best Carved Pumpkin, awarded to Sian, Best Spooky Dancer, which went to Briani, and Best Costume, awarded to Gethin. This was followed by some lovely buffet food. Thank you to everyone who volunteered – we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to Jamie Pritchard, Deputy Leader for Caerphilly County Borough Council, and Councillor Carol Andrews for paying us a visit and judging our competitions.
This report was written by our head gardener, Morgan Jones:
When I arrived at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens and Nursery, I told everyone what their job was. Usually it’s me Gethin, Rees, Chris, Anthony and Connor who work on the plots, but because there was a meeting in the office, it was just me, Chris, Anthony and Connor at the allotments this week. We planted garlic cloves and covered them with soil, and the garlic will be ready for us to pick next August.
