Hello from the Blog Group!

Its a very quick post today as we've all been busy - we held coffee mornings across all the day centres today to mark Learning Disability week - full report next week but a preview picture below....

And we got chance to get a quick photo of our decorations too - we're all wishing England good luck and crossing our fingers!

More next week, bye for now The Blog Team

Extra News!

And an extra post for today, guess who's back at the OFS........

Jill Duffy is back full time again after being off long term sick - she's back to fighting fitness - welcome back Jill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 16th June 2010

Another busy week at the OFS!

This week, Patsy took some photos of the bowling group in Frodsham. Sadly the bowling green was already occupied so they couldn't play, but they had a nice wander round Frodsham instead, and a lovely lunch in the cafe there. Patsy said the egg sandwich was very nice and the group also got chance to catch up with some of the Frodsham day service users for a natter.

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We've also got a new member of our Blog Team, Annie Hodkinson, who will be helping us out from now on. Annie likes helping around the house, getting out and about on the bus, and her aquafit classes, which she is very good at!

STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!

We're having a Coffee Morning at the Old Fire Station next week, Wednesday 23rd June, between 10 and 12 - we'd like everyone to come along and meet us, and see what we get upto. We'd love to see you for a coffee or a cup of tea and a chat!

The Coffee morning is for Learning Disability Week which is run by Mencap every year to raise awareness of the issues that are important to people with a laerning disability, and their families and carers.

Other dates for your diary are the Drop In Sessions booked so far:

Thursday 17th June - Frank Hibberd

Thursday 24th June - another Learning Disability Week Coffee Morning!

more dates to come.......

Next week if we're not too busy with the coffee morning, we'll have a report on the Reef Reptiles visit to Wilf's Drop In last Thursday, complete with scary photos! And news on whether the Bowling Group got a good game in next time! Otherwise, catch us the week after as we'll have been too busy socialising!

Bye for now, from the Blog group!

Hello again from the BLOG team!

As promised, this week we have a special report from Barry and Patsy on their Thursday group, which visits a different market town every week. Last week it was Frodsham and the photos above show Annie, Dean, Ricky, Patsy, Barry and Margaret on the bus and in the cafe. Patsy said "I like the clothes shops in Frodsham"; and Barry said "Frodsham is small but I liked the visit as we saw a big lorry delivering flowers." The other photo shows Barry with his favourite truck.

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Our other special report this week is from Jamie on the Tuesday aquafit group that we join in at Moss Farm. Jamie likes it a lot and other comments from the group included "it was hard work!" and "it was good fun" and "I like the music". The music was very good, including Amarillo and Jamie's favourite, Hound Dog. The photo below shows the group, David, Emma, Sue, Susie, Jamie, Pete and Neil.

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Patsy's report on the bowling group will be next week, as will a report on Wilf's Drop In - tomorrow morning Reef Reptiles are bringing some of their snakes and spiders for people to look at and touch - if they're brave enough! Watch this space.................

Old Fire Station News - 2nd June 2010

More Swimming Medals!

Following on from last week’s story about our swimmer Emma Calvert, we can now bring you an exclusive photo of Mr Peter Edwards who also bought in his medals to show us – well done Peter!

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Many of our service users also go out to work - here we have a special report on

'My Day at Work' - By Karen Morrey.

I work for the Facilities Team at Cheshire West and Chester Council, at Wyvern House in Winsford on Monday and Thursday mornings.

At work, I organise mail outs, making sure that customers get letters about the latest events, I also shred confidential waste, collect all the office recycling and help out with anything else that needs doing,. This might be things like labelling posters and flyers for shows – I keep really busy.

I love going to work because I like helping out and the people at the office are now my friends, especially Bernie (who organises everything) and my line manager Phil. And I like pay day too!

The team Karen works with love having her in the office, they say “she keeps us all up to date with the latest goings on in the soaps, and tells us funny jokes.”

In her spare time, Karen loves knitting nancy and latch hooking, writing, going out to restaurants and watching soaps. Below is a lovely picture of a rug that Karen has made, along with a picture of Karen.

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We also have a special report on The Beauty Group this week, by Tracy Radcliffe and Jane Cooke

On Wednesday afternoons the Beauty Group heads off to Hartford College on the bus to visit the beauty salon there. The salon is very nice, with relaxing music, and lovely friendly staff. Last Wedensday, Tracy, Annie and Karen all had a lovely facial.

Tracy said “I lay on a comfy couch, like a bed, and was wrapped up in lovely blankets and towels for my facial. I had lots of nice creams massaged on to my face; it felt soft, and I really enjoyed it.”

Jane, Nicola and Jackie all had a beautiful manicure. Jane chose a lovely red colour on her nails, and said “it was nice, and very relaxing and my nails looked fab!”

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Coming up on the BLOG next week, are special features on Barry’s day trip to Frodsham, and articles from our reporters Jamie on our new aqua fit class, and Patsy about her bowling group – watch this space!

Hi, we’re the OFS Blog Team! From now on we’re going to be updating the Blog once a week to show everyone what we’re upto as there’s lots going on. The Team is:

Tracy (secretary in charge)
Tracy likes going out & about and likes computers and watching tv.

Karen (chief photographer)
Karen likes tai chi, knitting, going out for a drink, and cruise ships.

Patsy (intrepid lady reporter, food and music correspondent)
Patsy likes computers, cooking, shopping and loves listening to Abba and Shirley Bassey.

Jane (intrepid lady reporter, health and beauty and current affairs correspondent)
Jane likes art, going out, ladies magazines and loves to keep up with the news.

Jamie (intrepid reporter, activities and fitness correspondent)
Jamie likes keeping fit at the gym, swimming, dancing and all music.

Barry (intrepid reporter, out and about and transport correspondent)
Barry likes getting out and about on the bus, transport museums, trucks (especially Jack Richards and son) and cooking.

Jackie (tea girl and typist)
Jackie likes being outside, camping, swimming, aquafit and reading and loves working at the Old Fire Station!

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We’re also going to be producing a monthly newsletter to show everybody what we’re doing as well as we’ve all got pretty busy timetables.

For example, today at the OFS, we’ve got an art group, a gym group, a group at Reaseheath college, and a group out and about on the bus, plus our BLOG group.

Aswell as the OFS, the newsletter will cover Frodsham CDS, Firdale, Meadowbank Lodge and Dane Walk so if anyone has any stories for us to feature, please let one of the team know. We’re interested in any news so keep in touch!

As our first special report, today we got chance to interview some star swimmers. The photo below shows swimmers Emma Calvert (with all the medals!), Jamie Walker (on the left), and Peter Edwards (on the right), along with interviewers Patsy Scott and Barry Williams. Other swimmers from the Old Fire Station also won medals so we’re hoping for our photographer Karen Morrey to be able to take some exclusive photos of them soon! Watch this space!

Emma did particularly well at the swimming gala in Cardiff as she got lots of medals but she also almost beat the world record for the 25m breast stroke. The record is 26.89 seconds, and Emma swam it in 26.95 seconds, well done Emma!
Emma said she enjoyed the gala very much, and even though there were lots of people, she wasn’t nervous at all. She also said she liked having all her family and friends there to cheer everyone on, and that she had some nice meals in Cardiff but that it was a long way on the bus!

Bye for now!

Watch this Space!

We're going to be getting up to date again with all the goings on at the Old Fire Station very soon so .... Watch this Space!

Jackie