A Big 'Thank You!' to
Team Embracing Age
On September 28, we joined forces with two other local charities, Crosslight Advice and Crossway Pregnancy Crisis Centre, to hold a sponsored walk, run, cycle and swim event from Wandsworth Bridge to Hampton Open Air Pool...
Participants could choose to walk, run, cycle or swim 20 miles either individually or as a team. The event ended with a BBQ.
Congratulations and a huge 'Thank You!' to our Choose Your Challenge participants, Karen, Jon, James, Guy, Tim, Kirsty, Matt, Hannah and Lucy. Collectively they clocked up over 120 miles in the brisk autumnal weather, raising over £1,200. You can still support them! Just follow this link and then click on a participant photo.
And let's not forget the volunteers who helped run the day. Thank you Graham, Mike, Tim and Patti!
It was wonderful to join forces for the event with Crosslight and Crossway for a day full of energy and community spirit and to see the event supported by our Mayor, Councillor Nancy Baldwin.
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Intergenerational Gardening Project Update
As many of you will know, we’ve been working with an organisation called Let’s Go Outdoors and Learn CIC (LGOAL) to facilitate an intergenerational gardening project at a care home in Twickenham with residents and children from a local junior school.
This was a 12-month project with 17 gardening activities which were led by LGOAL facilitators.
The project used raised flower beds suitable for use by older people in wheelchairs or seated on chairs, which were placed so that they can be seen from inside to encourage passive engagement with the project. Hand tools were light and easy to hold for people with limited mobility, with long handles that reached across the raised gardening beds.
Embracing Age organised physio assessments at the start and end of the project to measure the physical impact on residents.
When the project concluded in July residents and pupils were asked for feedback. One pupil said, “I would love to go straight back [to the care home] and do that all over again.”
One of the care home residents said that the project kept him healthy by giving an opportunity for physical and mental activity, introduced him to new people and helped him to maintain his independence, and that he enjoyed sharing his skills with the children.
Nearly all the residents had shown physical improvements in at least one area measured by the physio.
We are now looking for further funding to continue the project for another growing season in 2020, and are working with LGOAL to find other opportunities to develop the project model with another residential home.
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Linking Care Homes and Nurseries
We recently helped a local contact of ours who is piloting a new project to link local care homes with nursery schools by delivering some training around care home visiting. We were thrilled to receive the following update from them...
"We are delighted that September has seen our first Intergenerational Project launch in Twickenham, where we have linked Nightingale House care home with St. Margaret’s Montessori. A group of residents and pre-school children come together each week to share in music, craft and other activities.
"The group sessions are designed to support the children’s growth in language, confidence and concentration, and improve the wellbeing of residents."
"We’ve had invaluable support from Tina at Embracing Age, who did fantastic training sessions for the nursery staff involved in the project. Tina’s session about what to expect in the care home has really supported the nursery staff to feel confident in leading the group and helped to get us off to a flying start.
"So far the group has enjoyed plenty of singing, dancing, games and craft activities. They have taken a lot of pleasure in sharing some of their favourite songs with each other – it’s been quite eclectic, ranging from Elvis to Old Macdonald! We’ve really started to see the confidence of the children grow over the weeks and the residents look forward to the visits very much, particularly the opportunity for tea, cake and a chat at the end of the sessions.
"We can’t wait to get started with the next two care homes and nurseries involved in this pilot project."
If you're interested in finding out more about the project, please contact Polly van Marken (polly.vanmarken@gmail.com).
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