20th January 2021

Just wanted to start today’s blog off with a keep safe message, it is going rain something awful over the next 36 hours.  I know we are in lockdown and people are not going out unless they have to, so I am reminding you, do not go out unless you really have.  We do not want you to get soaked, if you do need to go out, don’t forget your umbrella, wrap up warm, wear a mask and keep safe.

Activities

Shared Reading for Carers – Monday’s @ 11am to 12 noon

This weekly group helps carers to take time out of their busy schedules and listen to a story or poem being read.  You can contribute your thoughts as we delve a little deeper into the story or you can just sit an absorb the words.

Chill with Casey – Thursday’s @ 11am to 12 noon

This weekly session helps you stretch, keep your body mobile, help with balance, get your blood pumping.  There is also a chance to learn how to massage your own body, treat yourself with oils you can make at home.  Carers have reported that it has helped them relax, feel less stressed and calmer.

Shadowing Boxing & Mindfulness – Friday’s @ 11am to 12 noon

It’s more important than ever to look after your physical and mental wellbeing. Boxing & Mindfulness allows you to do a tailored workout in your own home using fun and simple boxing techniques. It’s available to all abilities and once we have done the boxing, we then wind down into a relaxing meditation session where you can learn to completely switch off.

Take part in our new project with Age Exchange – the UK’s oldest reminiscence charity working to improve well-being and quality of life for older people.

HOW?

Receive a monthly Activity Box. Giving everyone the opportunity to be creative, stay active and have fun – whether that be through visual art, crafts, games, song, or movement – is very important to our work at Age Exchange. In order to continue doing this during the pandemic, every few weeks we send out activities specially designed by our experienced team of practitioners, delivered directly to people’s doors. These include themed activity boxes and DVDs. Uniquely designed by our practitioners, the activity boxes contain a range of stimulating, inventive activities for all to enjoy whilst at home. As this is a funded project Activity Boxes will be FREE for you to receive. Here’s some more information about them.

We use creative reminiscence as a tool to help people to value their lives and to remember and celebrate the rich experiences they have had over a lifetime.

BOXES OF JOY

Our monthly boxes contain a selection of easy-to-deliver, reminiscence arts based activities, with colourful non-toxic materials and friendly, clear instructions. Our Reminiscence Arts Practitioners have designed the activities to stimulate memory and inspire story-sharing, with a recent themed Activity Box being Armchair Travel. They have been inspired by places and sensory experiences around the world: lavender from Provence, Dutch flower painting, the parrots of Costa Rica and much more. It doesn’t matter if people have visited these places, seen them on television, or know nothing about them – because each activity has links to people’s own experiences – for example, we can talk about pet birds, walks in nature or favourite colours and scents.

So sit back and let Armchair Journeys take you back to places you have travelled to or fond memories of where you and your loved one grew up. Have a look inside….and remember it’s FREE for you to take part…

https://www.age-exchange.org.uk/order-an-activity-box/

HOW?

Reminiscence and Creative Arts ZOOM sessions

Join a weekly Virtual reminiscence and creative arts session run by the Age Exchange team. These sessions will bring together older people from Carers Centre Tower Hamlets and The Diamond Club (an older people’s support club in Lewisham) to share memories and enjoy art, music and movement, storytelling and having fun. The theme for the weekly sessions is “This Happy Place”, enabling us to share the places we love with one another and to explore them through reminiscence, imagination and creativity. The aim is that through exploring our favourite places and environments together, when lockdown ends, and the vaccine enables us to out again we will be feel prepared and excited about going back out into the communities we love. Bringing elders together from The Diamond Club and Carers Centre Tower Hamlets with Age Exchange brings 3 London Boroughs together and together we will make new friends and hear and enjoy each other’s stories and share in group activities, song, music, movement, and art, keeping us active, and bringing enjoyment to us all.  Participating in the group is FREE.

Sessions will run from 2pm-3.15pm every Wednesday from January 17th for 22 weeks.

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