Share & Repair: Autumn Update

We’re thrilled with the response to Share & Repair so far. Launched over the summer, the project celebrates the skills and knowledge of over 55s in Bristol, all the while promoting intergenerational connection amongst the talented and generous individuals we have in our city.

The past few months have been busy with lots of exciting workshops taking place and with just a few more workshops left, here’s a roundup of all the fun had so far…

Fanny shared how to create different 3D textile techniques – everyone went home with their own unique and beautifully designed tote bag.

Mary taught us how to make her delightful fresh cream and berry chocolate roulade and treated us to her wealth of gardening knowledge in her semi-ripe cuttings workshop. Everyone left with new plants and very useful tips.

Warwick shared how to make his delicious lasagne and has generously created a home maintenance workshop which is coming soon.

Amanda shared her crochet skills at Wellspring Settlement and we’ve already been sent a photo of a beautiful scarf which has since been made by one of the attendees!

Jane ran a two-part sewing course which enabled everyone make friends with their sewing machine again plus make their own tissue holder and skirt!

As well as skills and good times being shared, lovely connections and friendships have been made along the way. Jane has very kindly donated sewing machines to The Beehive Centre since running her workshop, Fanny will be running her own regular creative sessions after Share & Repair has finished, and a participant of Mary’s gardening session – who had never tried gardening before – is now attending one of our regular community gardening sessions at Wellspring Settlement.

A huge thanks to everyone involved so far, it has been a wonderful summer of learning and connection and it keeps on going. Keep up to date with future workshops here.

It’s Time to Act On Alzheimer’s

While we support those living with dementia and their carers every day, #WorldAlzheimersDay is an opportunity to raise awareness, share stories, and further support those affected by the disease on a global scale.

Our CEO, Isobel Jones, has written a piece to commemorate the campaign:

Dementia, as we know, is on the increase; 1 in 2 of us are affected by it. Dementia is a condition that unfortunately isn’t curable. It is misunderstood, perceived to be an older person’s condition and is often just associated with memory loss.

But dementia is not something we should accept as old age. It is not something that can continue to be ignored and swept under the carpet. The more we talk about it, the more we can support people to live as well as possible. So much is being done to make our society more dementia friendly, but it’s time we make dementia a priority.

At Alive, we are passionate about lighting up later life. We want to bring joy to those who are living with dementia. And we do.

Take Betty, for example. She is a regular at our allotment. She’s been coming since the beginning. She lights up when she opens the gate, and begins to water. It’s her job and her purpose. She is now living in a care home, but she still comes every week. Our sessions are her constant and her joyful moments of the week.

Take John, for example. He is a regular at our Dementia Meeting Centre. He lives alone and felt isolated and lonely. His social circle had dwindled since his diagnosis. But here he finds support, camaraderie and friendship with other men living with dementia. They play skittles, pool, laugh about the things they can’t do and congratulate each other on their achievements. They often joke that it’s like they are down the pub for 5 hours every week. 

They are living well together. But we need to create more opportunities like this.

We need to understand dementia, and break down stigmas and misunderstandings. At a meeting this week with a corporate partner, I was thanked by a member of staff who said we had completely changed the way she saw dementia. “I thought it was just old people who forgot things. Now I understand, I realise it’s so much more than that and I need to change my approach.”

We all need to change our thinking and support those who are living with dementia to lead lives as full as possible. It’s time to act on dementia, it’s time to act on Alzheimer’s.

BRI Gardening Group Turns One!

This week marks one year of our gardening group at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Celebrating with a cake covered in forget-me-nots, the amazing BRI Dementia, Delirium and Falls team also filled the garden with bunting and banners as we commemorated the occasion with party food and flower arranging with blooms grown at our North Bristol Dementia-Friendly Allotment.

Visited by over 30 hospital staff members who came to congratulate us, it was a wonderful way to celebrate what has been such a impactful project supporting patients at the hospital.

Huge congratulations to Abi and her team, plus our incredible group of volunteers. Here’s to our second year at the BRI and new sessions at Weston Hospital soon too!

Bristol Elder Receives Honorary Doctorate

Awarded an honorary doctorate from University of Bristol this month for her contributions towards racial equality and social justice, we’d like to wish Barbara Dettering a huge congratulations.

As a pioneering civil rights campaigner for over six decades, playing a pivotal role in the Bristol Bus Boycott and co-founding St Paul’s Carnival, Barbara is also an attendee and secretary of the Malcolm X Elders group we support.

It’s so brilliant to see her important work recognised.

Read more here.

Raffle: Win 7 days in the South of France

Support Alive and enter our fantastic raffle to be in with a chance of winning a week’s holiday for four in the South of France. Each ticket costs £10 and is a 100% donation to the charity. You have to be in it, to win it! 

The lucky prize winner will enjoy a week’s holiday for four at ‘La bastide de Magdeline’ in Provence, giving you the chance to really explore the French countryside, nearby towns and even the beaches.  

See here for full details and T&Cs.
Draw closes 18th October 2024 at 4pm.

The Hoppiness Project on BBC News

It’s great to see The Hoppiness Project hit the headlines! Giving care home residents the chance to brew their own beer, our Project Manager, Guy, and Dr Karen Gray sat down with BBC News to talk about our collaborative endeavour to empower older people and those living with dementia.

Read the article in full here.

Find out more about the project here.

Bristol City Poet on our Brentry Allotment

Back in August 2023, we welcomed Kat Lyons, the current Bristol City Poet, to our Brentry Allotment. They joined one of our regular Tuesday sessions, meeting some of our wonderful participants and seeing some of the work we do there.

Kat wrote a poem about their experience, which can be read below.

It’s a beautifully evocative poem grounded in people, place and plants, capturing the intersection of memory, ageing, and the joy of gardening.

It’s rich in sensory detail and has a poignancy that is especially moving, spanning the bittersweetness of memory and the moments of tenderness and warmth our sessions are full of.

Recollected Moments in a Brentry Allotment

A wheelchair-friendly path; a shed; a space reclaimed
among dementia’s bindweed.

A bouquet of gardening gloves; each week she chooses
her favourite colour, periwinkle blue.

The smell of her first garden; a yellow tomato
plucked from the tangled growth of years.

Fingers planted in the soil; his hands unsteady now but quick
to part the leaves and find the early raspberries.

A dahlia like a ripe peach; her face lost
in sunset petals; a bright-eyed prayer of thanks.

Mouths folding into smiles; a nonsense song in Welsh, a poem
to wake the words laid sleeping on the tongue.

A great lion of a sunflower; a shaggy head
that nods a greeting, bows beneath the encroaching clouds.

Community Gardening: Summer Update

While the sun has been a bit shy, the forecast for our community gardens is nothing but bright with the busy summer season underway. From events, to new faces and community sessions, catch up on all the news from our various green-fingered projects around the city.

Get Growing Trail 2024

Opening the gates to our North Bristol Dementia-Friendly allotment this June, it was a pleasure to take part in this year’s #GetGrowingTrail organised by Bristol Food Network.

North Bristol Dementia-friendly Allotment

With the cooler weather and the relentless attacks from slugs, everything is a bit behind at our Brentry allotment this season. However, with warmer weather heading our way, we’re looking forward to things picking up soon – and with a hearty harvest of broad beans and chard this year it certainly feels like we’re heading in the right direction!

Wellspring Settlement Community Garden

Since last we wrote, we have started working with a new social prescriber from Wellspring Settlement, which has been lovely. We have also been working hard on our vegetable beds, primping our flower beds, sorting out the roundabout planting and watching tadpoles in our pond. We will soon plant native hedgerows and wildflowers in local green spaces and will be helping the Family Centre with their garden.

BRI Sessions

We’ve had a few sessions outside in the hospital’s courtyard garden as the weather has begun warming up, and we have received the fantastic news that the hospital charity has given us funding for another year of sessions! We have continued beautifying the garden and supporting family and friends in gardening with the patients and nurses. Feedback has been fabulous, with patients and nurses saying it is their favourite part of the week. One heart-warming comment came from someone who said they thought they’d ‘never do gardening again’.

South Bristol Dementia-friendly Allotment

We have had a wonderful first few weeks on our new South Bristol dementia-friendly allotment. The raised beds are now full of vegetables and flowers, we’ve planted hanging baskets and created a wildlife pond, and we’ve been busy getting to know the other friendly allotment holders! We’ve even harvested our first veg – some lettuce – an occasion accompanied by a loud cheer!

Hoppiness Project

We’ve run four sessions as part of The Hoppiness Project and they’ve been going brilliantly. We now have hops in the ground at both care homes and have brought smiles to many people’s faces. Residents were disappointed that we didn’t bring any beer to the last sessions, so we plan to finish every session with beer and a sing-song in future! Participant-led coproduction for the win!

Lawrence Hill Health Centre

Sessions are going well at our Lawrence Hill Health Centre, where we’ve been extending the vegetable beds, creating beautiful mosaic signs, making new raised beds and decorating the garden and waiting room. Our aim is to transform the health practice into a vibrant space for the entire community of service users to enjoy. We want to create an environment that feels brighter and happier, enhancing the well-being of all.

Bristol Elders at the Royal West of England Academy

With all three groups enjoying their busy schedules this summer, let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to…

‘To Still the Saints’ Exhibition at RWA Bristol

In a series of photographs by Olumide Osinoiki, the enduring spirit of the women of Evergreen Club in Easton, Bristol are celebrated and admired. Part of the Windrush era, their portraits hang alongside the Royal Collection touring exhibition, Windrush: Portraits of a Pioneering Generation which is exhibiting at the RWA until 11 August.

Evergreen Elders also contributed to the DIASPORA Festival, creating one of the eight ‘Flag Up Your Identity’ banners which were hung in the forecourt of the RWA this May.

Bristol Elders Summer Update

Alongside their forays into the art world, members have also been enjoying their regular trips, welcoming speakers, and attending events.

Malcolm X Elders hosted a visit from a group from Leicester – celebrating Windrush together they enjoyed a film, played a quiz game and shared lunch. The Golden Agers held a successful Bring and Buy sale with lots of lovely cake, fritters and goodies. Pegasus Opera group came from Brixton and gave a performance at Malcolm X Centre for all three groups, followed by a discussion with members and a delicious lunch.

Find out more about the Bristol Elders Groups here.

Conquering Peaks and Dementia: Fundraiser

This June 2024, an intrepid supporter of ours will be climbing Mount Tetnuldi, fundraising for ourselves and fellow local charity BRACE Dementia Research.

Facing altitude sickness, bitter conditions, and a whopping 4,958m (15,938 ft) ascent to the summit, Voitek, from Bristol’s Audley Redwood retirement village, will be setting out to climb one of Georgia’s highest peaks.

Inspired by his grandmother’s experience living with dementia, Voitek says: “Witnessing her journey opened my eyes to the profound impact of this condition, not only on the individuals it afflicts but also on their families and caregivers. It was this first-hand experience that ignited a fire within me – a determination to make a difference in the lives of those affected by dementia.”

My mission extends beyond simply raising funds. It is rooted in empathy, humility, and gratitude for the invaluable lessons we have learned from our older family members. Through my journey, I aim to raise awareness about dementia and empower others to provide support and care for their loved ones with compassion and understanding.”

We wish Voitek the very best of luck and sincerely thank him for including us in his honourable mission.

If you would like to donate to Voitek’s challenge, please do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/voitek-korus