Hello again and Happy New Year (it's not too late to say that is it?)
As I was wandering around Hobbycraft last Saturday morning ahead of this month's Happiness Project visit, it dawned on me that it has been a year since our very first visit to Park View Care Home.
When I first made contact with Suzanne from Park View, I didn't know what the Happiness Project would involve. It was really just a chance for Girlguiding members to get involved in our local community; it might have lasted a couple of months, it might have lasted longer, it all really depended on the interest of the girls and the residents and whether they got on... and they definitely got on.
For our visit this month we decorated canvases, painting pictures of things that make us happy. We painted images of beautiful sun sets, summer days, and flowers. The conversations going on between the girls and the residents were brilliant; Hilda talked about how she made her own wedding dress, Nancy talked about her career as a paramedic, the girls listened and asked questions.
When I think about what makes me happy I generally think about sleep, or wine, or chocolate but whilst sitting in the lounge of the care home, looking around, I realised that this made me happy. This 90 minutes, on a Saturday afternoon, chatting to the residents and the girls, drawing pictures and making crafts. And if we're still doing this another year on from now, I will be even more happy as we continue to build links with the community, encourage relationships between the girls and the residents and generally continue to spread a little happiness 😍
This year The Happiness Project is part of the Co-op 1% Community Fund. Members of the Co-op can select us as their cause and when you purchase selected Co-op items, 1% of the spend is donated to us. We have lots of plans for how we could spend the money but at the top of my list is a book bringing together stories from the two generations - how lovely would it be to have a lasting memory of all of the conversations the residents and girls have had? To support our cause, please click on the link below:
https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/31374
K
Welcome to blog number two, thanks for coming back 😊
I had hoped that I would use this blog to share what we got up to on our November visit but unfortunately our contact at Park View wasn't well so we had to cancel the visit. Instead, I thought I would give you an idea of some of the things we've been up to since starting back in January.
January: We launched the Happiness Project with a 'getting to know you' session. Girls and residents chatted and found out more about each other. We also made memory boards which the girls created showing the experiences and interests of the residents. The visit was finished off with tea and cake, and a little sing-a-long to some old classics
February: The month of love and we made pompom hearts, modelled brilliantly by the wonderful Nancy 💗
March: Lots more chatting went on in March with girls talking to residents about their favourite books, and residents sharing some of their lovely memories. Hilda has been a regular guest with the Happiness Project and one of our favourite stories is about how she made her own wedding dress, we've even been lucky to see the photos and it's a beautiful dress
April: We made lovely flower bouquets and cards for Easter during our visit in April
June: More flower arranging took place in June but this time the displays were real thanks to Boo! - K Some of our visits involve the girls developing new skills and for many, this was the first time they had tried arranging flowers but I think the displays looked lovely.
July: This was our final visit before the summer holidays and we made happiness jars and happiness rocks. The jars contained lovely memories and notes from the girls to provide cheer when needed. The rocks were placed around North Tyneside for others to find and share in our happiness.
Although this was the end of the academic year, we were already planning activities for future visits... and I'll tell you all about that next time 😀
K
Welcome to the first blog post for the Happiness Project. I'm Katrina, Leader in Charge at 1st Forest Hall Guides, please bear with me, I'm new to this.
Let me give you a bit of background to the work we're doing...
The Happiness Project is a collaboration between Forest Hall Brownies and Guides and Park View Care Home in Forest Hall, Newcastle. The project was launched in January 2019 after Park View Care Home reached out to the community to see if anybody was interested in visiting the residents in the home. As Leader in Charge of the Guide unit, I thought this was a great opportunity and roped in the Leader in Charge at Brownies, and following a meeting with the activities coordinator at Park View we agreed that we would visit the home every month to meet with the residents, chat and do activities.
The purpose of the Happiness Project is twofold: first and foremost, we want to alleviate the feeling of loneliness in the residents of the care home but in addition to this we also want to encourage our girls to feel a connection with their local community.
We were very lucky at the start and received a grant from the lottery community fund to help us to deliver the activities. From our launch in January 2019 we have spent time chatting to the residents and running fun craft activities. Some of the activities we have delivered have included creating paper flower bouquets, decorating trinket boxes, creating happiness jars and flower arranging.
The girls and the residents get on so well together and the chatter between them is so heart warming, it's great to see the different generations coming together and sharing experiences.
Our little project has recently been selected as one of the Co-op's Community Fund causes and over the next year you will be able to select us as your chosen cause when you shop at Co-op. We will keep you updated on what we're getting up to through this blog and on our other social media pages
I hope you enjoy reading about what we get up to as much as we enjoy taking part in it.
If you want to see what we've been up to so far please visit https://www.facebook.com/HappyForestHall/
See you all soon
K
