6 Feb 2017
This morning at Young At Heart ULO, held at St John’s Church, Durham Road, Stockton, we had a games session.
Starting with the usual orientation exercises and register, we quickly moved on to getting active. Our volunteers set up indoor bowling and got busy with the indoor tennis and badminton sets. For those who didn’t feel they were able to take part, the volunteers all arranged dominoes tournaments on their tables to ensure everyone was active and engaged in an activity.
Debbie from Volunteering Matters visited to confirm details of an upcoming event that Volunteering Matters are organising and also to recruit Young At Heart members for an upcoming artistic event taking place at Preston Park.
Next week I have something special planned for all of the Young At Heart groups.
In Billingham, we had 2 new members join us, which was brilliant!
After we arranged refreshments from Cafe In The Park, we spent 15 minutes playing with the Toss’n’Talk ball, which is a giant inflatable ball that you throw to each other and you answer a question that is on the ball. Starting with this game gave us all a great opportunity to get to know each other, through questions we may never ask in general conversation.
After around 15 minutes it was becoming apparent that our members were losing interest and becoming distracted, so we ordered a fresh round of refreshments from the Cafe In The Park and played a few rounds of dominoes.
After the session, I had the opportunity to meet with one of ur ex-volunteers, Georgie, who is hoping to return to our group to conduct MA research focusing on carers. I look forward to working with Georgie again, and using her findings to further improve our service.
In Thornaby we also welcomed 2 new members to the group. It’s always nice to have the opportunity for the group to get to know new members.
The original plan for today’s session had been for the group to take part in a writing exercise; to write a letter to their past, present of future self. However, the room wasn’t set up in a way that would make it possible for each participant to write a letter. I decided that we could try to write a letter as a group, asking for each participant to contribute a small section. Yet, the group size (once everyone had arrived) was clearly going to be too large for a group contribution activity.
Instead, we had a ‘getting to know you’ session, with everyone present taking it in turns to tell the group their name and an interesting fact about themselves. Afterwards, the group had a sing-a-long to some of their favourite songs, while others chatted amongst themselves.
