13 Mar 2017

This morning was a very laid back session focussing on cognitive stimulation, reminiscence and socialising.

We started off the session with hot drinks, biscuits and orientation exercises before we asked for volunteers to sell raffle tickets for the 10 item food hamper, and blind card numbers for afternoon tea for two.

Today’s activity involved individuals and small groups completing crossword puzzles and word searches on reminiscence topics. This led to lots of discussions, jokes and laughter.

The winner of the blind card was Mandy, who won afternoon tea for two at Remember Me Tea Rooms in Stockton.

Next week we will be having the parachute game as our physical activity.

This afternoon at Young At Heart ULO held at the Community Hub, John Whitehead Park in Billingham the group members took part in a TV themes quiz.

We started the session with hot drinks, cupcakes and scones while we caught up with each other and completed the orientation exercises. We chatted about the theme of today’s session and about TV habits from days-gone-by.

I played a range of TV themes and gave hints about the TV shows when the group struggled to identify the answers. We then took the time to chat about popular stories lines, when appropriate and favourite characters too. Although discussion often digressed onto other topics, it was a great opportunity to get to know more about the family life of participants.

Next week is the physical activity theme again, but the actual activity is yet to be decided.

In Thornaby we had a relaxed but active afternoon. We started with our orientation exercises and a bit of a gossip and catch up with each other. For our physical activity we had a quilts competition and tried to get a real competition going with the group. It was nice to have everyone take part in the activity and to have them all supporting and encouraging each other – a real team spirit.

After the quoits competition we took a break to enjoy a fresh cup of tea, and while we enjoyed the cup of tea we listened to Edward, one of our participants, talk about some model trains that he had built himself and brought in to the group to share. Edward had 4 different trains with him, all of which were able to run on an track he has at home.

Next week we will be doing some kind of creative, cognitively stimulating activity.