October 2019

Monday 7th, Billingham this afternoon it was all about the money in Billingham, firstly we looked at comparing the prices of a number of items, from chocolate bars to houses, which we might of bought in the 1940’s-50’s and today. The group then discussed how these items would be paid for, whether we would use cash, card, savings etc.
Thursday 9th, Eaglescliffe had a sensory session with poetry, looking and feeling some corkers, in and out of their shells, reminiscing of playing conkers in our school days, the group read and discussed poems about Autumn.
Monday 14th, Billingham group took part in Circus skills, this week we practiced our co-ordination and movement skills with the Diablo, spinning tops and flower sticks, the group worked hard today, especially enjoyed the spinning tops which involved an action like skimming stones across the water, something many of us have had a go at at some time in our lives.
Thursday 17th, Eaglescliffe split themselves in to groups, a relaxed session playing dominoes.
Monday 21st, Billingham it was all about the Words. The group worked hard this session; we started with a giggle repeating tongue twisters eg. ‘Red Leather, Yellow Leather’ ‘Mother Mingle makes wax matches’. before stimulating our brains with Riddles and Rhyming words. There was just enough time at the end to have a quick game of ‘Words in Words’ – a group member chose the word “Caution” and then the rest of the group looked for as many words as they could within that word from 2 to 7 letters.
Today’s session was followed by Musical Memories with Trish, singing some popular songs from times gone by and laughing along with Trish as she throws in a few stories along the way. The group are welcome and encouraged to request their favourite songs.

On Monday morning in Stockton we had our Living Active session with Julie. Although the numbers were lower than usual, those who were there were keen to take part and we quickly get everyone sat in their rows ready for their activity. The group worked on their balance, coordination and strength before the session ended with a song.

On Monday afternoon, we had 2 people at the Young Onset group that meets at the LiveWell Dementia Hub. We started the session with a bit of dancing along to some Zumba Gold routines before we enjoyed tea and cake while making music and creating pottery on the iPad.

On Tuesday afternoon, the activity group in Thornaby took part in seated exercises to music which was followed by a discussion about which activities they would like to keep or try in the coming year. The group provided really good feedback and we will be having the same conversation across all of our groups over the coming weeks.

Thursday 24th, Eaglescliffe took part in the MCST Words. We started with a warm up of tongue twisters, before the group worked together to Work out the Riddle and Rhyming words. The group worked speedily through first quiz and moved on to discussing “having you ever ….” eg. flown in a plane, travelled abroad, had a dog etc. Busy activity session.
Monday 28th,

This week, the theme across all of our groups has been Halloween because it really is difficult to resist the lure of the spooky sounds, sweet treats and fun and games!

The Stockton group started off the week with the Halloween props, Spider Splat and Pumpkin Beanbag games. They whole group got into the spirit (get it?) of Halloween Charades, with everyone being willing victims and getting up to have a go at acting out a halloween associated thing. After charades, we moved on the the more active games – the poor spider from the spider splat game must have had a headache after the group had finished throwing it at the wall! At the end of the session, we shared the November newsletter and chatted about upcoming activities and events – can you believe it is almost Christmas!?

In Billlingham we talked about Halloween, a couple of Halloween poems where read through, there were two teams who answered questions related to Halloween facts and celebrations, a lot of laughter and fun in the group this afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, the Young Onset Group reignited my interest in using touchscreen technology for entertainment, engagement and socialisation. We did start the day with some Halloween word games, but the group quickly got bored of that so we spent the afternoon chatting about the array of apps available on tablet devices and even managed to connect an iPad up to the CleverTouch television screen at The Hub so we could also see what was happening on the small tablet screen. We tried HD Pottery – an app that can become very competitive if you have a few people playing along; Kaleidoscope – a visual art app that creates an effect similar to Spirograph; Scribblify – another art app; and Particlescape, while looking for a Swirlicity replacement. We had a great time looking at the different apps and now have an ongoing competition for who can create the most expensive pot on Pottery HD.

In Thornaby, on Tuesday afternoon, we got out the Halloween props and games and had another afternoon of halloween charades followed by spider plat and the beanbag game. This group didn’t respond as well to the physical games, so we quickly switched to the word games and listed as many words as we could make from the letters that make up ‘HALLOWEEN’. The group quickly came up with no less than 25 words containing 3 or more letters so we switched words and did the same with ‘CAUTION’. It didn’t take long for the group to see that they could also make ‘auction’ with those letters and that really brought the session to a close, apart from sharing the newsletter.

Thursday 31st, Eaglescliffe shared in the Halloween quiz and poetry, we talked about Halloween along with it’s traditions and celebrations.

Veterans
Friday 11th, AT The Veterans group this week we started our monthly talks. The group thought it would be a nice idea to share their experiences from their time served. The first member to talk was in the RAMC, he talked to the group about his time served at home and abroad, highlighting some of the lows and the advantages he gained from his time in the Army. The group had a visit from Mike of the Yorkshire Regiment based at Catterick, who is hoping to become a regular part of our sessions.