27 Mar 2017

This morning we had a very creative session, revisiting the poetry theme that we had played with before Christmas.

Each table was given a selection of templates for Easter themed and Springtime themed acrostic poems and mesostic poems. An acrostic poem is one where the first letter of each new line spells out the theme of the poem, whereas a mesostic poem has letters in the middle that spell out the theme.

The volunteers took the lead with each group, exploring the themes of Easter and springtime and writing down the ideas and words associated with the subjects. Then the groups worked together to construct poems with their notes, although it was difficult because the group wanted them to rhyme but rhyming wasn’t important at this time.

We ended the session listening to some music on the theme of Spring, and the group sang along to ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ by Max Bygraves.

Our theme for next week is physical activities, so we will be getting active taking part in some indoor games.

In Billingham we had a creative session making our own pantoum poems about Easter and springtime.

Sticking with the theme of poetry that was adopted at the Young At Heart session this morning in Stockton, we used stories and songs about Easter and Springtime to create pantoum poems. Pantoums are a form of Malaysian nursery rhyme made up of phrases that are repeated in a particular order.

Rory and Kirsten (our volunteers) worked 1:1  with participants to read through song lyrics on the theme of Spring, and stories on the theme of Easter and selected short phrases that they found appealing. They wrote the words on the template and then read through the draft poems to see if they liked them. Only one of the pantoums were altered slightly, by rearranging 2 of the phrases so that it flowed.

Next week our theme is physical activities, possibly the parachute game for the first time, depending on numbers.

In Thornaby our theme was physical games.

We started the session with hot drinks and the usual orientation exercises – chatting about good news and sharing some sad news too. Then I introduced the group to Rachel, the Welfare Benefits Advice Worker from Age UK.

Rachel can assist people in Stockton with claiming benefits, giving advice on housing costs, council tax, carers allowance, etc. She can also advise on challenging decisions, writing letters to government organisations, phone calls and appeals.

If you would like to be referred to Rachel, please get in touch with me.

Rachel spoke to both groups at Young At Heart ULO about the work that she can do over the course of the session.

Next, we spent some time playing the parachute game together, following the instructions and dancing along with the music. That was until the beach ball song, which always seems to get everyone excited.

After the parachute game, we discussed meaningful music in preparation for an upcoming music reminiscence session.

Next week we will be writing poems.