HeartStart

“I attended the Heartstart course facilitated by David and Anne Hirst, together with a group of people from the local Pharmacy and GP practice. No medical skills needed!   It gave me the confidence to deal with a number of life-threatening emergencies.  I would recommend this course to everyone - it could be the most valuable thing you ever learn!” 

Karen Barbour

Feedback on our Art Project – 20th May to 24th May

“Access Art were invited to deliver printmaking workshops in Newton Stewart. We introduced the members to 2 printing techniques with the aim of exploring ideas based around their environment. The workshops were well attended and the work produced was of the highest quality. As a celebration of the group’s achievement we aim to exhibit the artwork at various locations throughout the area. Watch this space for dates and times!”

James Galloway – Arts and Crafts Co-ordinator

Access Art Quotes

20 – 24 May 2013

Well, what a wonderful week!  Everyone discovered different abilities and styles.  It was really fun, and everyone had an input into the paintings.  We hope people enjoy our work. (Daphne)

Wonderful experience – gave me more confidence in my ability (Margaret)

Entirely different way of working for me, a very exciting week and great fun (Doreen)

Something new, and a very sociable experience – what a laugh we’ve had!  (Margaret)

Very enjoyable and instructive – it gave me lots of new ideas.  A fun, sociable experience, all the better as it was free!  (Verity)

Inspirational!  Like-minded people, what a lovely week.  Scratch beneath the surface and there is an artist in us all!  (Jo)

CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS – MAY 17TH

EASTERBROOK HALL, DUMFRIES

“It was an honour just being there”

This was Luke’s response after attending the award ceremony on Friday 17^th May at the Easterbrook Hall, dressed up in his finery.

Luke had been nominated for the Volunteer of the Year and although he did not win this category, he was in the final three. The other finalists were teams of volunteers, therefore, as a single individual, this was a great achievement. Well done Luke!!

“Privilege Time” Port William School

Friday saw the last of 5 sessions of Wii dance and Wii sports delivered at Port William Primary School during their “Privilege Time” on Friday afternoons. 65 Pupils were involved and had a great time exercising and then eating some very healthy fruit kebabs.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to use photos at this time.

Thanks to volunteers Tracy and James for their assistance.

Cooking Night – Kirkinner Youth Club

Last week saw the Chicken Fajita recipe make another outing, this time to Kirkinner. Unfortunately, only 3 young people were present, but that did not stop the enjoyment. The group were introduced to the “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign and enjoyed cooking and sampling something a little different! 

Laptop Heaven

"I popped in to meet some more of our Laptop Heaven members today, where Luke was doing a fantastic job of supporting everyone in their different applications.  It is great to see everyone keen to improve their IT skills, which helps in keeping up contact with friends and family, and also on-line shopping. I was also impressed that one of the group members is learning how to use Windows 8!” 

Karen Barbour

Monday Club 20th May

Penninghame Church Hall welcomed us with warmth and a bright sunny location for our first meeting in our new venue.

Jo Chambers welcomed new members and introduced subjects to go on the notice board, including a picture of the Common Redpoll which had strayed on to Jo’s bird table everyone enjoyed a chat and cup that cheers.

Pam once again joined us for her last session for the time being by encouraging everyone to do gentle exercise accompanied by much laughter.

Meanwhile just up the road at The Community Centre, a week long session of Access Art was underway for our members with the support of Turning Point Scotland.

Member, Daphne Nisbet, reported:
“We had a very enjoyable time at the Access Art Project on Monday 20th May, taking part in the Mono Print activity.  Lots of fun getting paint everywhere!  No pressure, just help and inspiration from Steven and James. Looking forward to the rest of the week!”

Josephine Chambers
Volunteer Worker

Loads of Information and Reports this week

Please scroll down to read thanks 

NEW - Whithorn Primary School Breakfast Club

Can tea & toast really make a difference?

Whithorn Primary School has opened its doors this week to their first ever Breakfast Club. The club is managed by CLD with close partnership support from Building Healthy Communities. The project is financially supported by Kelloggs.

A consultation was completed with pupils and parents which indicated a high percentage of children were not eating breakfast before they left home in the morning and also that over half were eating a chocolate bar or bag of crisps on the way to school.

As adults we know that if we eat breakfast we work faster, make fewer mistakes and perform better. It is not any different for children. Research tells us that if a child is eating a healthy breakfast over a sustained period it will improve their concentration skills and behaviour in class which will lead to higher attainment rates in school.

Teachers tell us that “Breakfast clubs can result in at least 30 minutes more effective teaching time per day with pupils arriving on time, being calmer, more ready to learn with enhanced concentration.”

We have had close consultations with Building Healthy Communities, The Health Improvement Team & Dietetics to advise us on the best nutritional breakfast available for children.

The children are offered a simple menu throughout the week of – wholemeal toast, wholemeal cereal, yoghurts & fruit pots. One day a week there will be a hot option of boiled or scrambled eggs with toast.

Whithorn Breakfast Club is open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am to 9am. It is open for all children who attend Whithorn Primary School from P1 to P7. Breakfast is served between 8am and 8.30am followed by an activity.

Not only is the breakfast club creating an environment for healthy and nutritional eating it will also enrich and extend the curriculum through informal learning. Children will participate in a variety of activities. Some of these include – Pop dance; Wake Up, Shake Up; Arts & Crafts; Jog Scotland; Reading; Tambourelli; Problem-solving activities; ICT. All activities relate to experiences and outcomes in the Health & Wellbeing section of the curriculum for excellence. There is also a ‘Homework corner’ for children. 

These activities aim to improve social skills for children by allowing them to mix with their peer group. We also aim to improve the children’s personal responsibility skills by getting them to help run the club and for the older children to lead some of the activities.

An important element of the breakfast club is to encourage parental participation. We currently have 2 parent volunteers working with us through Building Healthy Communities to support the project and are constantly looking for any parents, grandparents, family members or members of the community who want to get involved.

If you want to register your child or find out more information please contact –

Ann McShane, Family Learning Co-ordinator, Community and Customer Services, Community Centre, York Road, Newton Stewart, DG8 6HL

tel - 01671 403261

E-mail - ann.mcshane@dumgal.gov.uk

If you would like to volunteer in the breakfast club please contact -

Nathalie Guillaume, Community Health Development Worker, Building Healthy Communities, 1 George Street, Whithorn, DG8 8NS

01988 501111

E-mail – nguillaume@nhs.net

Volunteer of the Year - Nomination

Tomorrow sees the Dumfries and Galloway NHS Celebrating Excellence Awards. There are a number of categories for teams and workers and we are proud to announce that Luke Utting, our resident Blogmeister, has been shortlisted in the category “Volunteer of the Year” 

Luke will be attending the award ceremony at Easterbrook Hall on Friday evening and we are all keeping our fingers crossed for him. 

Pics of Luke in his “Black Tie” clothing will be on display next week!!

Cooking Events for Youth Groups

Port William, Garlieston and Isle of Whithorn.

This last week has been busy introducing “Love Food Hate Waste” to 30 young people in the area as well as them all having a go at making their own Chicken Fajitas.

The love food hate waste talk was based on food labeling and not wasting food by using it or by freezing it. Recipe packs were issued for parents and carers.

Garlieston

All young people had a go at cooking and all enjoyed the results.

Port William

Thanks to all the youth workers in these areas for their support.

Isle of Whithorn

For further information on the Isle of Whithorn Youth Group please visit their Facebook page.

Jills of All Trades

The Jills have now started cladding the false ceiling in the workshop. Watch out for all the ceilings in Whithorn to be transformed in the near future!! (Well, perhaps not!)

ACCESS ART PROJECT

Mono Print Art Project:     20^th May – 24 May

We are hosting our first art project, which will be facilitated by Access Art.

The project is based on mono printing, which does not require any particular art expertise, but is very simple and quick to produce and hugely rewarding.

The project will take place in the Art Rooms at the Newton Stewart Community Centre (first floor) each day from 10am to 2 pm on a drop in basis. 

Please get in touch if you would like further information about the project and to confirm if you are interested in taking part. 01988501111

More details to follow prior to the event.

Thanks.

Putting You First

We are very pleased that Putting You First, PYF, are funding our Self Management Programme and have taken an interest in this Blog.

PYF does exactly what its name says. It puts YOU, as an individual, first! Please see picture below

You can visit the Putting You First website at   www.puttingyoufirst.org.uk  you can also view their activities from the link on the side of the blog.

Putting You First

We are very pleased that Putting You First, PYF, are funding our Self Management Programme and have taken an interest in this Blog.

PYF does exactly what its name says. It puts YOU, as an individual, first! Please see picture below

You can visit the Putting You First website at   www.puttingyoufirst.org.uk  you can also view their activities from the link on the side of the blog.

Monday Club

May 6th

We started today with an update by Jo, and a presentation to Jimmy on behalf of the Golf Club by way of  thanks for making their premises available to the group.  John, one of our members, presented Jimmy with a memento he himself had made at his wood working group in Creetown.  Many thanks to the Golf Club for their hospitality over the last four months, we have really enjoyed our time there.

We also showed a short black and white film called ‘Dinner for One’ which brought a bit of light entertainment to an otherwise dull Bank Holiday Monday.  We then split into two groups, with the ever-popular Gentle Exercise with Pam on one side of the room, and other members chatting together on the other.  Pam’s choice of music is inspired, and everyone sang along in the exercise group, with the music bringing back happy memories all round.

Please note that from 20 May the Monday Club is relocating to Penninghame Church Hall in York Road, beside the Library.  We are looking forward to meeting in our new venue, which has great facilities and is central to the town.  Look forward to seeing everyone there.

Monday Club

Latest Updates for the SMP Monday Club (6th May) can be viewed by clicking here.

Healthy Cooking – Sorbie Youth Club

Another taster cooking session was held at Sorbie where young  people were invited to attempt the Chicken Fajita recipe. Many thanks to the group and the workers for an enjoyable evening.

Monday Club Bank Holiday

Quick update for next week.

This weeks update is just to remind everyone that although it is a Bank Holiday Monday, our meeting at the Golf Club, Newton Stewart will go ahead.  For those of you who want light entertainment, we are showing -' Dinner for One' featuring May Warden and Freddie Frinton.  This will be followed by Light Exercises with our trusted friend Pam. Hope to see you there. 

Boys Brigade Cooking Evening

A great evening was held at Whithorn Boys Brigade last night. The young people enjoyed preparing, cooking and eating Chicken Fajitas served with a green salad. All the boys showed great teamwork and worked together in three groups to ensure a good result.

Prior to the cooking, The youngsters were introduced to the ideals of “Love Food Hate Waste” This included ideas about composting vegetable waste as well as introducing exactly what food labels mean.

All the young people took a recipe pack home for their parents/carers and showed great interest in the whole evening.  The recipe packs were provided by "Love Food Hate Waste" Scotland.

Many thanks to Tracey (BHC volunteer), Alex and Billy (Boys Brigade) for their help during the evening. 

Jills of all Trades

Wednesday 24th April and Wednesday 1st May

The Jills of all trades have restarted and the request from the group has been to look at how to overcome the problems of working above head height.

Firstly, we had to create a false ceiling in the workshop, which proved difficult when moving and fixing plasterboard. However, this was achieved. Fake light fittings were installed and the next stage is to clad the ceiling with wood. Should be interesting!!!

All enjoy a working yet social occasion. 

Any enquiries from other interested parties about joining the Jills or perhaps how they can help individuals, please contact the BHC office.