Neil's News

I have been looking forward to coming back to Firdale and seeing all my friends again. I am feeling much better now.
I was glad they sent me the latest news letter so I could read what everyone had been doing.

NICOLA'S BLOG

WE ARE HAVING PEOPLE FROM MEADOW BANK LODGE AND THEY WILL BE TALKING TO US ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN DOINGAND WE WILL BE MAKING TEA COFFEE FOR THEM. I HAVE BEEN MAKING BLUEBERRY MUFFINS THIS MORNING AND THEY TASTE LOVELY. TONIGHT I AM GOING OUT WITH MY MUM TO SEE SOUTH PACIFIC IN MANCHESTER ON A COACH, THIS WILL BE GOOD. ON SUNDAY WE WENT TO THE PUB TO HAVE A MEAL AND I HAD STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING.

Jason's News

I WENT TO SANDBATCH DISCO WHICH IS HELD ON TUESDAY EVENINGS IT COSTS 2.50 TO ENTER. I LOVE LISTENING TO DIFFERENT MUSIC THAT THEY PLAY MY FAVOURITE MUSIC IS ROBSON + JEROME. I ALSO HAVE THEIRE CD AND MANY MORE OF MY FAVOURITE ARTISTS.

True Romance!

Hazel Clarke says: "Trevor and I got engaged on Friday night at the ChesterWay pub - we had a few friends over - Nigel, Richard, Kevin and Anthony, Becky, Carol and my sisters Jean and Ruth and my niece Becca too. We had drinks and Trevor gave me my ring, I gave him a ring as well, and I went bright red as a beetroot! We're going to enjoy being engaged and not worry about planning a wedding just yet! Everyone has admired my ring, which is gold with diamonds - a girl's best friend don't you know!"

News News News from Vale Royal CDS...

Stacey has been on holiday this week to Turkey, we all hope she's having a fab time !!

Kaushik is looking forward to seeing his sister tonight (wed 26th october), She's coming up from London.

The guys from VRCDS are all readyfor the halloween festivities.

Eric and everyone say they have enjoyed the masquerade ball.

And everyone is doing well using the public buses except when they breakdown !!!!

Neils News from the Movies

Neil Dyson would like to recommend going to see Cowboys and Aliens at the cinema soon - its got Harrison Ford (who played Indiana Jones) and Daniel Craig (who played James Bond in Casino Royale). Everyone should go and see it as it's meant to be a good film, I'll be going with Susie hopefully soon.

Emma's News

Emma Calvert won these fantastic medals at the National Games in Cardiff for the Special Olympics. She won a gold and silver for her individual breast stroke events and a silver in the relay. She is pictured here at the Old Fire Station with her friends Peter and Wendy who are very proud of her too.

Susie's News

Susie Blowers had a lovely weekend at her mum's house in Cuddington where she helped out in the garden with the weeding and also helped cook a tasty tea of chilli and rice then fruit salad and cream and she also went to Helen's house for tea too - a very good weekend all in all!

Jamie's News

Jamie Walker has done really well on the Doctor Who section of our quiz this morning. Onoe of the questions was name as many monsters from Doctor Who as you can and Jamie got loads - these are his favourites.

Meadowbank Lodge joining Chatterbox5

Yesterday was a very busy day as we also had a visit from David, Stacey, Kaushik and Martin with Ant from Meadowbank Lodge - they're going to be joining us every week from now on so we'll get them doing some hard work next week blogging - watch this space!

Friends from Chester

Yesterday we had a visit from some people from three centres in Chester - they came and had lunch with our Chatterbox 5 team and had a look at our new IT room and what we get up to.

It was lovely to meet John and Baden from the Coronation Centre, Janet and Dan from Canal Street and Graham and Jo from the Mulbery Centre. We're going to log on and have a look at Janet's Blog when we next meet up, and the others are going to get Blogs going too so we'll all be able to keep in touch. It was lovely to meet you guys, thanks for coming to see us - sorry it was a bit hectic here as usual!

Our friends from Dane Walk

We've had some visits recently from our friends at Dane Walk when they came over to give us all their news and gossip for our Blog. Karen Morrey from our Chatterbox 5 team is pictured with Vanessa Pennington who told us she'd been busy going shopping and enjoying cakes from the baking session, especially chocolate sponge with chocolate sauce! She also likes reading magazines and going out with her companion on Saturdays, and going to see her brother Carl every Sunday.

Michelle Sayle has been enjoying the TacPac tactile session and the dance session on Wednesdays run by Cheshire Dance too.

Mary Cuthell has really enjoyed eating out at the Woodpecker recently and health and beauty sessions at the Mid Cheshire College.

Dennis Hurst has been enjoying the Tuesday sports session at the Lifestyle Centre in Winsford and has just had a new Dr Who book and some colouring books for his birthday. They were playing Tig Rugby at the Lifestyle Centre today and Ellen fell over but was ok! People from Meadowbank Lodge and the Old Fire Station and Firdale go too so its lovely for everyone to catch up with friends.

Joanne Cornwell has been enjoying baking and tasting cakes with Sandra and Karen and has also been making Pumpkin Heads in the art session with Theresa.

Karen Platt enjoyed going to the Masquerade Ball and had a dance with Chatterbox 5's Jason Cross.

All in all everyone from Dane Walk sounds like they're having a busy time of it and they're not letting a second round of broken windows get them down.....

Thanks for coming to see us, and thanks for all your news......

It was lovely to see

Baking a Difference

Gill Hubball and her group have once again been baking fantastic cakes, this time for the Bake a Difference charity and they've made over £20. They made a fantastic victoria sponge, coffee and walnut fairy cakes, chocolate muffins and more - they tasted as good as they smelled. The group is also doing really well with their NVQ too and we're really proud of them as wll as grateful for the lovely cakes.

Masquerade Ball

Our Masquerade Ball last Friday 7th October went really well - everyone enjoyed it and it was a really busy night with people from lots of different day services joining in. Tickets were just £3.50 each and that included nibbles like crisps and popcorn and lots of spot prizes. There were also prizes for best dancers and masks. Chatterbox 5's Ricky Foster won one of the best dancer prizes too, well done Ricky! Lotsa of people had made a big effort with costumes and masks and it was a very colourful night. Jill is pictured above on the left in green with Vera Lastoweckyi and on right are Julie Bland in the black and pink and Karen Morrey in black and silver. Karen won a a prize of a wind up radio for best mask.

Jill Duffy who organised the ball would like to say a big thank you to everyone that donated prizes and money and supported the event with their time - it was a fantastic night and raised over £300 for our comfort funds.

We'd like to say a big thank you to Jill for organising such a brilliant night out for everyone - we're looking forward to the next one!

Many thanks to Karen Morrey who interviewed Jill Duffy.

Neil's TV & Music picks......

Hi

My name is Neil Dyson and I like to watch Dr Who. I like to collect the DVD series and can also recommend Series 3 Volume 1 of Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code and Gridlock, with David Tennant.

And the big music news of the moment - Steps are coming back so watch out for them too!

Bye for now

Our National Days to Celebrate......and make us think

We looked up some of the things being celebrated this month. We don't know who decides what's on the list but these are some of our favourites for this month......

1) Breast Cancer Awareness month - we think this is important because some people suffer with it and we should all check to make sure we don't have any lumps, both men and women. If we check and catch any problems sooner rather than later it is easier to cure and get better.

2) World Blindness Awareness month and also World Sight Day on 13th October - some people are born blind and sometimes it comes later. We think it must be really difficult if you can't see and it is a good thing to try and get people thinking about what problems it can cause. Karen Morrey says: "I wear glasses and have regular eye checks to make sure I don't have any problems. Jean Clarke says "a lot of people can't see as much as they get older." Ricky Foster has had an operation to have a cataract removed and says "it is a bit confusing and scary not to be able to see properly." We all discussed that we're lucky to live in Britain where we can have eye tests and operations when we need them as some people in other countries go blind when they wouldn't if they lived here. It's good to try and raise awareness and money to help with cures.

3) October is also the month for The Big Draw - the campaign is for everyone to join in and have a go at drawing - we thought that it was a great idea - watch this space for some of our drawings when we get our scanner working!

4) World Arthritis Day was the 12 October.

Jean Clarke says "I've got it in my knee, it is awful when I walk on it as it aches. I need time and patience as it takes me time when I am walking. My niece has it in her hands too.

Nicola Daffurn says "My mum has it in her back and legs, I help her out with housework aty home and she can't lift really heavy things."

Charlotte is volunteering with us today and she is only 16. She says: "I have arthritis too and I struggle with long walks and people don;t understand because I'm so young - more people should be aware that it can happen at any age. My hands and legs hurt as the joints swell up and get really sore." That reallay made us think as some of us didn't realise that young people can suffer with arthritis too.

Barry Williams says: "I've got it at the bottom of my legs and it makes me unsteady on my feet. I need a bit of extra support as it makes me anxious."

Karen Morrey says: "My mum and dad both have it - mum has it in her hands and it annoys her as it hurts when she does the gardening."

5) 12th October was also the International Day for Natural Disaster Prevention. It is a day to make people think about reducing the damage disasters can cause by being ready and prepared. We talked about how a lot of disasters are man made, like oil spills and plane crashes but the natural disasters are things like earthquakes and volcanoes. We don;t really get those much in Britain, though we do get floods and snow sometimes. We thought it was good to get people thinking about emergency plans and what we could do to help. We looked it up and our last earthquale was on 21st August this year in Scotland and was only a little one compared to what happens overseas. We thought it must be really scary and horrible to be in a big earthquake. Northwich has had a lot of floods in the past and the sides of the river have been built up a bit so it won't happen so often now.....

6) Sunday 16th October was World Food Day. In this country we pretty much always have enough to eat but we found out on the web that over 800 million people go to bed every night hungry. In the UK there are 62 million people, so thats well over the ten times every one in the whole of Great Britain - that's a lot of people and we thought that we must be careful not to waste any food.

7) And staying with Food - it was National Curry Week from 9th - 15th October. We chatted about what our favourite curries were - Nicky Daffurn likes chicken korma with potatoes at home, Ricky and Barry said curry is a bit too hot for them and Mary Cuthell who popped in from Dane Walk to see us likes fish and salad better. The rest of us are all curry fans though - Vanessa Pennington has takeaway every Wednesday and it its curry likes chicken curry and rice. Karen Platt's takeaway night is Saturday and she likes lamb curry with rice. Karen Morrey likes green thai beef curry or blackbean curry and rice and says the Cheshire Tandoori gets 20/10 when she goes out for meals there with her family. High praise indeed!

Jean Clarke likes chicken korma and rice at home, Tim likes Asda chicken curries with rice, Ashley likes a nice lamb bhuna with half chips and half rice and says the Vamasaki in Lostock do really nice lamb chops. Charlotte, our volunteer likes chicken tikka and rice and also thinks the Vamasaki does fantastic meals. And Jackie likes Lamb Rogan Josh and rice and loves going to the Ganges restaurant in Sandbach as they're always really friendly and the food is delicious.

Right - that's it for now on what we think of National Days, Weeks and Months

Bye from the Blog team, watch this space as we'll keep you posted on what other dates are coming up soon.....

Halloween Spooktacular Fancy Dress!

On Wednesday 26th October Chris Bebbington's Get Out More Disco is going to be a spooooooky Halloween fancy dress competition - there will be prizes for the best costumes - so all you witches, wizrds, ghosts, pumpkins, bats, mummies and skeletons - get ready to party! For more details see Chris Bebbington. Usual entry fee applies.

My News by Sue Jones

I'm going on a cruise after Christmas, around the Carribean. I've got a brochure that gives all the details about the ship I'll be going on, called the Freedom Class. I'm going with Graham, my nephew and I'm really looking forward to it. The brochure says:
These ships include the h20 zone flowrider, our onboard surf simulator. They are perfect for families and people who like to experience different things every day on holiday and who like the liberty and freedom of the seas. They also feature the fantastastic new dream works experience.
I'm looking forward to playing golf and having a splash in the pools and enjoying some sunshine. I'll report on how it was in our newsletter and on the blog when I get back!

The Moscow State Circus by Nicky Daffurn

I went to see The Moscow State Circus at Tatton Park recently with my mum and it was great!

There was a man on a bike and a clown and they were funny and there was a chair up on a hook very high and a man climbed up - he got the chair down, it was very clever. I liked the ladies swinging on the trapeze, they were great, very graceful, like they were flying. Some people were skipping with ropes, they made it look easy. Some people were somersaulting, twisting and turning over - I would recommend it to anyone to go and watch, it was really good.

I also went recently to a Friends of Great Budworth Church quiz evening. The other people in my team were amazed how I could answer all the questions about old tv programmes which none of them could remember, and on Strictly Come Dancing too. Mum said I definetely earned my hot pot supper and a glass of wine!

Enjoying Aquafit!

Yesterday our group from the Old Fire Station really enjoyed our aquafit session at Moss Farm - even though we were worn out by the end of it!
Some of the songs we really liked were - Runaway by Del Shannon, The Twist, The Can Can and Hound Dog by Elvis. Susie Blowers especially liked the three songs with her name in them - Wake Up Little Susie, Run around Sue and If you knew Susie like I know Susie......!
Karen Morrey joined our group for the first time and did really well. She said she thought it was complicated but she enjoyed it and is definetely coming back next week.
We all want to say a big thank you to Jill and Heather for doing fun classes that make us work hard, to Pauline and Sue on reception who are always really friendly and to Gaz and Chris and all the lifeguards who make sure we're safe.



After a well earned lunch we had a think about what would be on our ideal aquafit track and we decided on -

The Leader of the pack by The Shangri Las
Relight My Fire by Take That
Shout by Lulu
Hound Dog by Elvis
Venus by Banarama
Heart of Glass by Blondie
You Raise Me Up by West Life
Dancing Queen by Abba
Dirty Deeds by ACDC
Runaway by Del Shannon
Those were the Days by Mary Hopkin
Doctorin' the Tardis by the Timelords
Heartbeat by Nick Berry
All that Jazz from Chicago
Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly
The Flood by Take That
Ticket to ride by the Beatles
I want to hold your hand by the Beatles
Mamma mia by ABBA
Penny lane by the Beatles

Now if we did exercises to all of them that would be very very hard work!

The Great North Run

The famous half marathon, The Great North Run took place on Sunday 18 of September 2011. Thousands of people were running for a wide range of charities and causes. One of those taking part in the run was our very own Denise Garner. Denise finished her run in a very respectable 2 hours and 15 minutes. Having spoken to Denise the day after the run she told me how it was very tiring and emotional, she was very happy and enjoyed it but also had cried too. Denise also told me that after the run she treated herself to fish and chips. Denise said that she was looking forward to running it next year and going even faster.

By Derek Powell