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Keep the weekend of 17th – 18th Sept free because, once again, Alive’s Community Gardens are taking part in this year’s Get Growing Trail, organised by Bristol Food Network, the organisation behind the city’s successful bid to become a Gold Sustainable Food City in 2020.

The Get Growing Trail is an annual celebration of some of Bristol’s vibrant, productive (and often secret) fruit and veg gardens. As part of the trail, the general public is invited to explore a host of green spaces, including community allotments, gardens and orchards, smallholdings and mini-plots, city farms and productive parks.

Alive has been part of the Get Growing Trail for a few years now, but this is the first time two of our green spaces will be opening their doors on the same weekend! These are our dementia-friendly allotment in Brentry and our newest endeavour, our inclusive community garden at the Wellspring Settlement in Barton Hill.

The Wellspring Settlement garden is a coproduction with the Settlement itself and only launched in March this year, so it’ll be our first opportunity to showcase all the hard work that the local community and visitors to the settlement have achieved in a really short space of time. In a relatively short space of time, what was once an urban landscape has been transformed into a colourful abundance of flowers, fruit and veg. There will be an opportunity to meet some of the people who’ve helped effect the change there and find out what the garden means to them. We’ll also be inviting people to make origami seed packets to take home filled with seeds for flowers and veg!

Our award-winning dementia-friendly allotment in Brentry took part in last year’s GGT trail, when we made many new friends on the day. We’re looking forward to welcoming back visitors to show them how much hard work our amazing participants have put into the area over the year, and to challenge stereoptypes as to what people living with dementia are capable off. It’ll also be a unique opportunity to visit a usually private space and hear more about the work the charity does running therapeutic horticulture sessions across the region. We will probably also take the opportunity to bend your ears about our passion for community-growing projects!

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Get Growing Trail is taking place across over 30 locations this year. For more information visit https://www.bristolfoodnetwork.org/blog/get-growing-garden-trail.

“Clevedon Meeting Centre is the highlight of our week”

“It’s worth every penny.”

Members from Clevedon Christ Church Meeting Centre shared that they would like to try food from around the world. So we visited China on the hottest day of the year with food, chopsticks, speaking and singing in mandarin and creating Chinese lanterns. The following week, we visited India – we created mandalas on tables using large buttons that had been donated and Anna dressed herself up in a Sari. We then visited France and one of our lovely volunteer’s Christine, is French (ooh la la!) and she helped organise some French-themed activities. We spoke in French, sang in French, played pétanque and created art inspired by Matisse. Christine also made a delicious tarte au tatin, which tasted fantastique. We continue our Armchair travels.. who knows where we will travel to next!

Portishead Dementia Meeting Centre members and Clevedon Dementia Meeting Centre members welcomed artists Jasmine and Mona earlier this week. Together, they made Mantras which are sayings which we can say to inspire, encourage and bring us joy.

The members took home their individual Mantras but not before they were photographed by Jasmine & Mona. They are going to create a screen print of these pieces of artwork and then the images will go into a book. There will also be a tour throughout North Somerset, so if you live in the area, the artwork will be displayed in a venue near you! Pop along and have a look at the artwork created by younger and older people that have collaborated with artists on this wonderful project.

These photos are of the Portishead Dementia Meeting Centre members with their finished masterpieces.

The sun is shining, and it feels like summer is finally well and truly with us. I hope you are able to enjoy some of this good weather.

At Alive, we are finally able to be out and about so much more, which is so encouraging, and we are loving spending time with so many incredible people face to face. In our Care Homes sessions, it’s wonderful to be able to visit homes again in-person, so if you would like a session, please book us in! Our members have been telling us what a difference attending the Meeting Centres has been making to their lives, which is very humbling and inspiring to see. We are looking forward to opening our third centre in South Gloucestershire soon. Our Tea and Tech sessions with WERN are also supporting a large number of older people to not only get to grips with tech, but to enjoy social engagement too (and lots of cake!).  

I finally caught a train and went to London to speak at the NAPA conference, which was held on June 15th. Being face-to-face with people again and witnessing such creativity and commitment in our sector was just incredible. It was nerve wracking standing in front of an audience and giving a talk rather than being able to hide behind my computer, but so rewarding to hear of the work that has been happening within homes. The Care Sector has worked so hard over the last couple of years, it was encouraging to hear of everyone’s commitment and passion to serve our older people. 

Our team has grown this year and we are just as passionate as ever about delivering high quality engagement and lighting up life. If you would like to join any of our projects, please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!

I hope you all have a joyful summer, full of light and life.

Isobel

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Tea And Tech has been roving around North Somerset this year, setting up in village halls and running drop-in sessions for older people to help them with their tech. Over a cup of tea, people have been able to ask questions about how to use their smart phone, what to do with their tablet and how to open an account with the council.

Staff and local volunteers have provided patient assistance, advice and guidance to help people stay well informed, connected and in control of their lives using modern computer technology. At 11 different locations we have had over 200 visits, enjoyed conversations over tea and cakes, caught up with friends and made new connections and handed out our bespoke “How To” guides, which are also available on our website: Access our resource library – Alive Activities

Working alongside the West Of England Rural Network (WERN), we will be running new sessions in Abbots Leigh and Locking over the summer, as well as the ongoing ones in places such as Portishead, Banwell and Long Ashton. If you want to know about the sessions, please contact Alive on techtoconnect@aliveactivities.org or phone us on  0117 377 4756.

From gardening socials to a new marketing volunteer joining the team, here are our latest volunteering updates

Volunteering with Alive

As part of National Volunteer’s Week, we celebrated our first volunteer social since the beginning of lockdown in 2020! Many of our Social and Therapeutic Horticulture volunteers came together at our dementia-friendly allotment in Brentry to share food, drink and stories and bask in the sun.

The social started off with a Social and Therapeutic Horticulture training session for those interested in learning more about the research behind salutogenic environments, the therapeutic benefits of gardening, and how to best support people living with dementia through nature-based activities. The volunteers had the chance to peruse some books on the topics, from Dr Qing’s groundbreaking work on shirin yoku (forest bathing) to Jamie Lerner’s innovative suggestions in Urban Acupuncture, in which he shows how interventions such as Alive’s dementia-friendly allotment can make cities more liveable. As the afternoon progressed, we were visited by the neighbour’s chicken, who kept everyone entertained.

With the easing of COVID-restrictions, many new volunteers have joined our team and help us make our Social and Therapeutic Horticulture sessions a success. With their skills and energy, they help us in engaging our participants in a meaningful and joyful way and support us in transforming our community gardening spaces. We are very grateful for having such lovely, talented individuals support our mission.

Further, we had our first three volunteers Eve, Steph and Peter join our Dementia Meeting Centre team in Clevedon. It was a great time for them to join as we celebrated the Queen’s jubilee! We are looking forward to many more happy sessions at our three Dementia Meeting Centres in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Lastly, we welcome our new, fantastic marketing volunteer Isabella to the team. With her breadth of knowledge and many years of experience, she has already been such a big help to us.

We thank everyone who is volunteering with us – together, we can make a real difference in older people’s lives. Nadja can be contacted on volunteer@aliveactivities.org for any volunteer-related queries.

The Evergreens group paid homage to Her Majesty with a celebration fit for a Queen

With themed decorations, cakes decorated with pictures of the Queen and a huge smorgasbord of delicious food, the celebrations took place with grand pomp. Some of the members even went the extra mile by dressing in the colours of the flag and a ‘best dressed’ winner was announced.

To honour the Queen, the group’s lead, Joana, gave a speech thanking the Queen and all the members stood up to sing the National Anthem.

We would like to congratulate the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee!

Clevedon Dementia Meeting Centre attendees’ daughter shares heartwarming words of thanks

The daughter of two of our Meeting Centre attendees’ recently sent our North Somerset Meeting Centre Manager, Anne Ellis, some lovely words of thanks for the positive impact the sessions have made on her father John, who has dementia and his wife, who is his primary carer.

Mags, the daughter of Meeting Centre member John, pictured together above, has kindly allowed us to share the email she wrote Anne here:

Hello Anne,
I’ve been meaning to email you for a while. I wanted to say thank you for your dementia group in Clevedon at Christ church. The group has been fantastic for my dad who has a big smile on his face every time I pick him up. I didn’t expect what’s it’s done for my mum. She is dad’s main career. The group is her “golden” moment of the week. She’s able to talk to others in the same boat without the feeling of guilt that can be there when talking to non careers or family. She has the support of your team, who are so kind, supportive and fun. She knows dads happy there and safe, that she can also enjoy others company without having to be thinking of dads needs constantly.

The activities are fantastic. I picked dad up after a chocolate workshop and he informed me of what they’d been doing with his usual smile. But explained that he didn’t like chocolate. His lips hands and nose all had chocolate on them.

If there are ever ways that I can help, please let me know. This group is so important for my dad mum and us as a family.

Thank you so much for making it so special.

Warm wishes Mags, Carl and Molly

To find out more about how to join any of our meeting centres in North Somerset, Bristol or South Gloucestershire, please contact meetingcentres@aliveactivities.org for more information or call the office on 0117 377 4756.

We are so pleased to announce that on the 4th of March 2021, we won two national awards at the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards held at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham. The awards, organised by Care Management Matters and developed in conjunction with the National Care Forum, celebrates the hard work, dedication, innovation and excellence of those working in the not-for-profit sector who are making a positive impact on the lives of those in care. We have shown ourselves as an example of one such organisation going above the fray to make a positive difference.

These milestone recognitions come on the back of the tremendously impactful work we have been doing since 2010 and in particular, over the pandemic. The “Dementia Care Award” celebrates services improving the lives of people living with dementia and their families. For this award, we chose to put forward our dementia-friendly allotment, Bristol’s first and only, set up in the early part of the first lockdown. The allotment has welcomed hundreds of older people, their carers and families, since lockdown restrictions eased, including those living with dementia in the community. This has enabled them to take part in supported gardening activities, meet new people, learn new skills, be active and socialise with others in the community and share gardening knowledge. The allotment has allowed participants to undertake gardening tasks supported by volunteers, and take pride in growing flowers, fruit and vegetables, whilst also having the opportunity to build new friendships and support networks, retain/regain a sense of personal identity and gain a sense of purpose. This is in line with our vision to help build a stronger community for older people with dementia in North Bristol.

Since the pandemic hit, we have worked tirelessly on developing our digital strategy to facilitate easier access for older people and those living with dementia, and their carers. One big move in this direction has been the development of a dementia-friendly video platform called Alive On Demand. The “Technology Award” is in recognition of these efforts, which resulted in the creation of this innovative technology. Alive On Demand is a video-streaming platform with over 200 unique videos and has, since its launch under six months ago, reached close to 1000 older people and carers. The platform was designed with activities staff, care staff, carers and loved ones in mind to help them better engage and spark conversation with older people and learn more about individual and group interests.

The awards were presented by Angela Rippon CBE, who remarked that the judges appreciated the innovative use of technology to engage older people with dementia and were impressed by the breadth of unique content available on Alive On Demand’s platform. On the presentation of the “Dementia Care” award for the allotment, she said that they “loves the way it is person-centred and listens to the opinions and needs of the attendees and that it reaches people of multiple cultures.” She also added that it was very important to celebrate carers and the work that charities do to support the care industry and for those in the industry to know that they aren’t forgotten.

Our CEO Isobel Jones said, “I’m incredibly proud of my team and am grateful for this recognition. The team have gone above and beyond to come up with truly innovative solutions that are responsive to peoples’ needs. As a small, independent charity, winning these two awards is a testament to the hard work and passion we share in improving the lives of older people. This will only empower us to achieve more and continue making a positive difference.”

We are also excited to announce that we have been nominated as a finalist in the Bristol Life Awards “Charity of The Year” category. We have been nominated alongside some fantastic local organisations who are all making an amazing difference in Bristol. Whether we win or not, we already feel like winners to have had this recognition at all. We’re looking forward to getting glammed up for the awards night on 18th May! Good luck to all finalists!

For Dementia Action Week, Alive and Brace are running a webinar on the benefits of community gardening for people living with dementia.

Alive Activities’ community gardening team will be hosting a free webinar from Bristol’s first dementia-friendly allotment on Thursday 19th May. We’ll be sharing ways to connect through nature-based activity and documenting the powerful impact the project has had on the lives of participants and those around them.

Helen Foster-Collins, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Exeter, will also be with us. Helen will be presenting the learning she has made from her engagement with the allotment, which helped inform her research into better understanding the benefits of community gardening projects for people living with dementia.

Alive’s Meeting Centre project lead Louise Spencer will then share an update on their pioneering work. She will also touch on how the team will be incorporating gardening to benefit attendees.

There will be time for a Q&A and signposting to practitioners in the field.

Booking link:

Some fun reasons to get involved with volunteering for us

We recently took part in this year’s Get Growing Trail. Organised by Bristol Food Network, the Get Growing Trail represents a unique opportunity for people to glimpse behind the usually closed doors of 22 of the city’s community gardens, farms and green spaces.

We had an incredible time when our allotment opened to the public as part of Bristol Food Network’s Get Growing Trail. There was a constant stream of visitors and not only did we make some great new connections, but we also reconnected with lots of old friends! On the day we teamed up with Alive’s #OneGoodTurn project and ran a miniature garden workshop for children. We’re looking forward to taking some of the gardens into care homes very soon. Do check out more of the photos from the day here. 

We’d also like to thank all the wonderful new volunteers who’ve recently started supporting our gardening sessions, both at the allotment and our Lawrence Weston Community Garden. They make a huge difference to the lives of our participants, and if this quote from someone who’s just started volunteering with us is anything to go by they, find the experience very positive themselves: 

“I just wanted to say thank you again for such an enjoyable afternoon volunteering with you. I had a lovely time engaging with the residents and the others who attended the session, and it was so rewarding to do some meaningful gardening tasks with them.” 

If you’d like to find out more about volunteering with Alive, please have a look at our volunteering opportunities here.