July 2018 Extra

Our mid-month café took place on 16^th July – a memorable date for anyone interested in space travel, for this was the 49^th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, which was followed four days later by man’s first steps on the moon! In honour of this momentous event, our word-search had a ‘Moon Landing’ theme which together with the latest ‘Sparkle’ magazine kept our visitors occupied and entertained as they arrived.

Richard then introduced our two visitors for the afternoon, Celine and Christine, from the Royal Cornwall museum in Truro. The ladies brought with them four very special ‘memory boxes’ containing artefacts from the museum’s extensive collections to stimulate our interests and personal memories. Two boxes were based on a theme of ‘School Days’ and contained a wide range of artefacts, books and photographs, many stimulating memories of our own schooldays, whilst others went back to Victorian times. Ink bottles and pen nibs, wooden rulers, school bells, satchels and milk bottles, even the ‘nit nurse’s comb’ were amongst the selection of objects which were distributed around the tables, raising much chatter and amusement which was encouraged by our visitors and other memory café helpers.

             

The second pair of boxes contained photos of earlier working days in Cornwall – mining and fishing, wartime factories, cheese and butter makers and many more. There were florins, threepenny bits and other pre-decimal currency, a bowler hat, a police officer’s badge, a nurse’s watch, slide rules and even a plumb line. Once again, there was the chance to handle everything on show, and to exchange memories of first jobs and pay packets, working conditions and opportunities, journeys to work and work colleagues from years gone by.

As tea-time approached we heard the familiar rattle of the tea trolley and were soon enjoying the usual selection of delicious savouries and cakes before settling down again to explore Celine and Christine’s alternative topics to which ever we had looked at earlier.

As usual time flew by and Richard thanked our visitors for providing us with the ingredients of a lively and stimulating afternoon.

We made our way home with plenty to think and talk about before our next café at Crantock Village Hall on Monday 6^th August from 2pm. Crantock Memory Cafe is run by trained volunteers and is for the benefit of residents of Crantock and the surrounding areas who have a degree of memory loss. New members (with their carers) are always welcome, and should you require further information please contact Di on 01637 830544, David on 01637 830617 or visit our website at www.crantockmemorycafe.org.uk.

July 2018

Another action-packed café took place on July 2^nd, and with summer well and truly upon us a theme of ‘Holidays and Outings’ was most appropriate!

Our guests were greeted with a brain-teasing word search based on ‘Outings’ and an A –Z suitcase packing quiz.  We then welcomed back our local celebrity speaker, David Eyles’ who engaged and amused us in equal measure with an illustrated presentation entitled ‘Holidays – home and abroad’. David began by entertaining us with memories from family holidays and some experiences from the ‘other side’ of the holiday fence, as hotelier at the Crantock Bay Hotel. We were then enthralled by a selection of photographs showing some of the wonderful holidays he and Brenda had taken over the years in such far-flung places as China, South America and the Galapagos Islands.

 
All too soon it was refreshment time, and there was an opportunity to peruse our holiday-based displays, which included photos, books and postcards, as well as a vintage picnic hamper, a much-travelled suitcase and a classic wooden surfboard and much more. There were also souvenirs and photos brought in by our guests which helped to bring back happy memories of holidays gone by. We even compiled a list of familiar comments made by adults and children travelling on a journey such as ‘Are we there yet?’ to ‘I feel sick!’

There was a lot to look at and talk about, as well as the usual selection of delicious cakes to sample.  We were delighted that David and Brenda were able to join us for tea, as were the group of ladies who were to entertain us for the remainder of the afternoon.

As cups and plates were cleared away we welcomed members of Newquay U3A’s ‘Singing for Fun’ group who led us in a selection of well-known songs, giving us a chance to accompany them with our percussion instruments – it certainly was fun!  We began with some appropriate holiday themed tunes before moving on to familiar songs from the first and second world wars.  Although word sheets had been handed around they really weren’t needed, giving everyone a chance to provide a noisy but very enjoyable accompaniment.

As usual the afternoon flew by and it was soon time to pull down the shutters on the café for another week.

Many thanks were given to all our visitors before everyone left for home with plenty to think and talk about before our next café at Crantock Village Hall on Monday 16^th July. New members who have a degree of memory loss are always welcome, and should you require further information please contact Di on 01637 830544, David on 01637 830617 or visit our website at crantockmemorycafe.org.uk.