Tag Archives: Self advocacy

GAVO Volunteer Achievement Awards

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Yesterday was an absolutely amazing night at the GAVO Volunteer Achievement Awards (Caerphilly) ceremony at Blackwood Miners Institute where Caerphilly People First were presented with a ‘Highly Commended Community Inclusion’ award. We were over the moon when this was announced, and we’d like to say congratulations to the members who volunteer with us at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens and Nursery – well done to you all. Of course we ended the night in Wetherspoons where we celebrated our achievement. Well done to all the winners and runners up.

Hate Crime Training

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Thank you to Noah from Victim Support for delivering Hate Crime Training to our members yesterday. They found the training easy to understand and really enjoyed taking part in the session.

Hate crimes are crimes targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards that person’s disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.

You can report a Hate Crime to the police or contact Victim Support for help and advice.

Cookery

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At the latest cookery session members prepared vegetables to go with sausage, mash, and gravy, and we also served hotdogs for the non veg lovers.

It was great to welcome new members and to see everyone socialising and having fun with the quiz and bingo (thanks Ffion). Thank you to all our volunteers who work very hard every week – we couldn’t do it without you.

Next time the lovely Cheryl & Zoe will be serving up chicken curry and rice, and our members will be preparing the ingredients. See you all on Friday, 11am until 2pm.

Gardening

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Yesterday, at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens and Nursey, our volunteers managed to pick green beans before the weather turned bad. Following this, the plots were too wet to work on, so we picked tomatoes and cucumbers in the polytunnel.

On our fruit plot, the raspberries have started to make an appearance. Early varieties of summer-fruiting raspberries should be ready for harvesting from June, with later varieties ripening into September.

If you would like to join us at the allotments, we are there every Tuesday morning 10.30 until 12.30.

Cookery

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We have relaunched our Reconnect through Cookery project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. For our first week back members prepared salad, mushrooms and onions for spaghetti bolognese (chosen by Ffion), served with a side of cheesy garlic bread.

Lucy’s choice of chicken stir fry during week 2 was also delicious, and we served it with spring rolls and prawn crackers. Members also prepped broccoli, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and pak-choi, and everyone did a great job. Thanks to Ffion for the bingo session, and well done to all the winners.

Massive thanks to everyone who volunteered at both sessions. It’s been great to see everyone enjoying socialising and catching up with their friends. We have missed you. We do have limited spaces available but if you would like to join us please email or call us.

Parent Network Event

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Thank you to the Parent Network Community Forum for inviting us to their Teddy Bear’s Picnic event in Bargoed Park last week. Our volunteers set up an information stall and chatted to children and parents about all the hard work they do as volunteers, and the work of Caerphilly People First. They also handed out newsletters, healthy eating leaflets, colouring books, and gel pens.

Gardening

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Yesterday our volunteers tidied up the plots at TARRAGAN Educational Gardens and Nursery and also picked some green beans and courgettes.

We’d like to send massive congratulations to the group on being shortlisted at the GAVO Annual Volunteering Awards! Well done guys!

This is a report written by our head gardener Morgan Jones:

My employment with Caerphilly People First has started. I’m now the head gardener at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens. At the allotments yesterday, my job was to give orders to Rees Powell and Gethin Chamberlain. The main thing we all had to do was to dig out the weeds which had been growing and growing, because of the rain we’d been having over the last few weeks. Once we had finished our work, I asked Rees & Gethin to clean all the tools and put them away neatly and tidily.

I’m very grateful and satisfied because before now, I hadn’t been paid at any of my jobs, because all of them had been voluntary. I’d like to thank Caerphilly People First for awarding me the TARAGGAN allotments job, because since I started working there, I’ve loved every second.