Crantock Memory Cafe visits Hall for Cornwall

On the last day of March a happy group of 27 members and volunteers from the Memory Cafe spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the theatre in Truro.  Travelling by car and minibus, we were met by a friendly theatre steward and took our seats for an entertaining performance of ‘Peter Pan’ by the ‘Russian Ice Stars’. For some it was their first visit to the Hall for Cornwall and certainly for a number of us it was the first opportunity to see a show in a long while. The ‘Ice Stars’ definitely lived up to expectations with a fantastic display of skill and artistry, and to see the entire stage turned into an ice rink was an experience in itself!

Many thanks to all those who helped to make the event such a success, and especially to the Hall for Cornwall’s Community Club which made the visit possible. 

March 2016 extra

On Monday 21st March we were delighted to welcome Peter Hicks and Len Sheppard to the cafe. Peter and Len are members of Newquay Old Cornwall Society and they brought along a fascinating selection of slides showing views of old Newquay, Crantock, Cubert, Holywell and the surrounding area. Many memories were stirred by the photographs from past decades, although some, dating back as far as the 1860s, were a bit before our time!

Much discussion and chatter continued through teatime and our visitors were able to enlighten us all about local families, ferries on the Gannel, gigs and many aspects of the history of the area. Answers were given to a ‘Local History Quiz’ and an Easter word-search and the afternoon came to a happy conclusion when guests were presented with a small Easter gift. Many thanks were given to our visitors and we hope they’ll join us at the Memory Cafe in the future – they obviously have much more to share with us!  

March 2016

Whilst we all know that we are fortunate to live in this lovely part of North Cornwall, it can be easy to take things for granted and sometimes it takes a special event to remind us how lucky we are!

The March Memory Cafe was one of those occasions: we were joined by members of Crantock W.I. who came along to tell us about the ‘Hedge Project’ which they had been involved with over the past twelve months.  Doesn’t sound very interesting? – well, you’re wrong!  The project group has been exploring two contrasting sections of Cornish hedge month by month, one on the exposed cliffs of West Pentire and the other a part of a field boundary near Penpol Creek.  The range of flora and fauna which they discovered was extraordinary and the way in which they presented their findings showed the range of talented people we have living in the village.

We were all fascinated to hear about their work which was displayed through maps, photographs, paintings, botanical illustrations, embroidery and poetry, all beautifully presented as an entry for a W.I. competition in which they came second in the County – we couldn’t believe they didn’t come first!

The cafe volunteers complemented the presentation with floral table decorations, nature-inspired puzzles, a ‘Nature Table’ of numerous artefacts and items linked with the coast and countryside and plenty of books to browse through, all of which stimulated thoughts and memories of our beautiful surroundings.

After a lovely tea, there were ‘memory board’ quizzes on wildflowers, birds, insects and amphibians which challenged everyone’s memories (including our W.I. visitors!) and the afternoon ended with a sing-along of some hits from the 1950s.

With thanks given to our visitors, everyone was reminded of the next Memory Cafe meetings, which will take place on Monday 4^th April and Monday 18^th April in Crantock Village Hall from 2pm. New members are always welcome and we are open to anyone concerned about memory loss, with their carers. For more information ring Di on 01637 830544 or Joan on 01637 831347.