Here are some photos of our intrepid Participants. They created Christmas Decorations that adorned our party on 15^th December and were all awarded with certificates to congratulate them on all their hard work. The group enjoyed making the decorations that are now at home with them.

This was the final event for the Engagement Project. We have had fun and learned much about many different subjects over the past 21 months. However, now is a good time to bring it all to a close.

Many thanks to everyone involved and supporting the Engagement Project.

Have a Merry Christmas 2023 and a very Happy and Successful 2024.

On 6^th May 2023, King Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey. To celebrate this event, the Engagement Participants became very excited, talking about the Street Parties they were due to enjoy at the weekend. They enjoyed making pictures of Crowns, Castles and anything else that they wanted, to take home to use as decorations. Here are some examples of some of the excellent work they did.

On Friday 24^th February, the participants with the Engagement project met. At the start of our meeting we talked about “How do I manage in an Emergency”. The whole group had a lot to say about this as some of us had experiences of being somewhere when there was an emergency.

We talked about keeping calm, staying safe and where to get help. We also talked about a form that was new to all of us. It is called the “Keep Safe Form”. It has been created by the Police to make it easier to talk to them if we get nervous or find it difficult to talk.

More information about this can be found on this website:

https://www.south-wales.police.uk/police-forces/south-wales-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/keep-safe-cymru-card-scheme/

After we had talked about this very important subject, Alison, the Co-ordinator of The Friendly Trust, came to see us to give certificates to two of our participants because of their excellent contributions to our meetings.

The Friendly Trust was invited to have a stall at the Cardiff and Vale College at an event for young students with disabilities held in the College Gym.

Students aged 18 and above came to look at the different stalls. Some were advertising jobs in the Armed forces – the Army and on Submarines. The Police were represented as well as organisations such as Vision 21, Scope and others that support people with disabilities and vulnerabilities.

I was joined by one of our Trust Officers, Abi. We met a lot of students who showed interest in The Friendly Trust as well as the free sweeties on offer! Abi and I talked to them about what The Friendly Trust does and the support we offer to those with whom we work.

We also talked to people from other stalls, such as the Cardiff Learning Disability Health Team Nurses as well as others who took our contact details to arrange talks about Money and Finances for people with disabilities.

Poppy from the Police stall told us about KEEP SAFE CARDS that can help people who have difficulty talking to the Police and Ambulance services at a time of need. Poppy has given me the website that tells us more about KEEP SAFE CARDS:

https://www.south-wales.police.uk/police-forces/south-wales-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/keep-safe-cymru-card-scheme/

If you wish to print out the Registration Form yourself, here is a link to that page:

https://www.south-wales.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/south-wales/campaigns/keep-safe-cymru/keep-safe-registration-form-eng.pdf

If you wish to fill in the Registration form yourself online, here is the link to the form:

https://www.south-wales.police.uk/police-forces/south-wales-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/keep-safe-cymru-card-scheme/keep-safe-cymru/

I look forward to arranging the talks with any of the organisations that took our details.

Kevin John

Engagement

The Friendly Trust

The Friendly Trust held a Christmas Event on Friday 2^nd December 2022 from noon to about 2.00pm. We had some lovely nibbles and tea, coffee and squash for all that came along.

We used the large meeting space in Canton House for the event, which was perfect for the number of people that attended.

We were very pleased to see many of our regular clients who were able to attend as guests. We were also very excited to meet some that had not been to The Friendly Trust office before. They were all dressed ready to have a Party!

One of our guests came all the way from Pontypridd, having caught 3 buses successfully on his own. He told me that the trip was worth doing to come to the event and then go into Cardiff to look around some shops and take in the Christmas season atmosphere.

Some of our guests came on their own and some came with carers. They were all very welcome and told me that they thought the food and drinks were lovely.

The event was a chance for the guests to meet each other, as well as meeting the Admin Team that usually answers to the phone when they ring The Friendly Trust. They also met many of the Trust Officers and some of the Trustees that make the decisions about how The Friendly Trust is run.

Each one of the party people was greeted and given a free raffle ticket for the raffle that was drawn at about 1.30 in the afternoon. Most of the people in the room won a prize and that was very exciting.

At the end of the event, there were a few nibbles left over, so these were given to the guests as they left. One guest told me that he thought that this was the best party that he had been to, which was lovely to hear.

To make this event happen, a lot of work had been done.

To start it off, the Engagement Team was set to work to create Christmas decorations. This took many weeks, making paper chains and some inventive items such as a wonderful sled for Santa, with reindeer made from corks and Christmas trees made using pine cones.

 

 

We also had another Christmas scene created by one of our team that looked amazing.

The Christmas Tree also needed to be decorated. By the time it was finished, it looked beautiful.

The Engagement Team also supported The Friendly Trust Admin team by sticking labels on to the reply envelopes that were sent with the invitations with The Friendly Trust Annual Survey. The Team was please to receive certificates that thanked them for all their hard work to make the event such a success.

The invitations and survey were posted out by the Admin Team and we had to hope that the postal strikes did not delay delivery too much.

The week of the event saw the staff of The Friendly Trust and the Engagement Team working together to prepare the room. We moved the tables around and put up the decorations.

The food, drinks, plates and cups were all bought, and the food was delivered nice and fresh on the day.

Of course, after the event was over, everything had to be put back and the decorations taken down.

We were all very happy with the event and enjoyed seeing all the smiling faces.

Well done, Everyone, and we wish you all a Wonderful, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kevin John

Engagement Facilitator