January 2015

There was a party atmosphere in Crantock Village Hall on January 5th when friends met for the first Memory Cafe of the year. In fact it was a double celebration for in addition to welcoming in 2015 we raised a glass (well, a cup of tea, actually!) to the first anniversary of the formation of the Memory Cafe.

Games and puzzles on the tables took up the theme of celebrations and the New Year, and when everyone had finally finished ‘catching up’ with the latest news we enjoyed a light-hearted team quiz based on the theme of ‘Firsts’: e.g. who was the first man to run a sub four minute mile? Who were the first two people mentioned in the Bible? Who was the first British monarch to have a televised coronation? Yes, some serious thinking was required but all teams did very well, and in the end prizes were awarded all round!

As tea-time approached we were delighted to welcome a number of visitors who popped in to join our celebrations. These were some of the people who had actively supported us in a variety of ways during 2014. The room was packed as we all enjoyed delicious homemade refreshments washed down with – yes – you've guessed it – another cup of tea!

For the second part of the afternoon we were treated to a light-hearted reading by Margaret which pricked our consciences regarding over-indulging during the festive season, and then we were joined by talented local musicians Lamorna on violin and Elaine on keyboard. Everyone enjoyed singing along to a selection of well-known songs, and just when we thought we were going to sit back and have a rest, percussion instruments were handed around to accompany some lively jigs and reels played by Lamorna on the fiddle! It was all great fun, very noisy and brought back memories of school music lessons with triangle, drums and tambourines – our visitors enjoyed it too!
A brief look back at all the different activities and events which we have enjoyed during the past year brought the celebrations to a close. We now look forward to our next cafe meeting on Monday 2nd February.

Crantock Memory Cafe is open to all those in our local communities who are concerned about memory loss and new members are always welcomed at any time. You are welcome to ring our volunteers, Joan on 01637 831347 or Di on 01637 830544 for further information. We are a non-denominational organisation and the cafe is free, although donations towards our running costs are always welcome.

December 2014

As our December cafe fell on the first of the month we conjured up some early Christmas spirit and spent a happy couple of hours looking back, and forward to celebrating the festive season.

Friends arrived to find the room and tables appropriately dressed to get everyone in the mood, and all were soon busy doing Christmas word games and puzzles, or happily chatting about events during the month since we last met. David drew everyone together to listen to a humorous seasonal poem, and we then enjoyed playing traditional games – ‘Kim’s game’ tested everyone’s memories as seasonal objects were removed from a tray one-by-one, and pass the parcel played to a background of Christmas music was enjoyed by all.

Di then amused us all with a ‘Christmas Alphabet’ – it’s amazing how many words we could all think of associated with this time of year!

Meanwhile, our invaluable kitchen team were busy at work boiling the kettles and loading plates with a delicious selection for our Christmas tea – the ‘cherry on the cake’ – almost literally – was a beautiful Christmas cake which went down well with a cup of tea.

We were then pleased to welcome back Barry, and his accordion, who had provided entertainment at our very first cafe meeting last January. This time he gave us the chance to choose and sing a selection of Christmas songs and carols which he interspersed with amusing jokes and stories –we hope he was impressed with our singing – we certainly did our best!

We then had another unexpected visitor, when Santa made an appearance, and with the help of Joan distributed gifts to all our friends – and we were delighted that he didn’t forget our indispensible ladies in the kitchen.

We were so pleased he managed to fit us into his busy schedule -  perhaps it was lucky that the cafe was right at the beginning of December, although there was something about him which did look very familiar ......!

Altogether it was a lovely afternoon- as usual, the relaxed, friendly atmosphere meant that no-one felt left out or unable to take part, and hopefully it left everyone feeling ‘set up’ for the busy month ahead.

Crantock Memory Cafe hopes that everyone in the local area has a very happy Christmas and we would like to send our best wishes to all for 2015. 

Our next gathering will be on Monday 5th January 2015 – our first anniversary!

November 2014

There was a real ‘buzz’ in the cafe on Monday 3rd November when friends gathered in the Village Hall for an afternoon with a creative theme. We were delighted to welcome local artist Elaine who demonstrated how to create a wonderful coastal picture using collage techniques and then invited everyone to have a go!

After some initial hesitation, we decided ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ with some truly impressive results: paper, card, glue and scissors and all the artistic flair we could muster were put to good use, and within an hour we had an interesting display of our handiwork framed and ready to hang on the wall. Our thanks to Elaine – we hope she’ll come back again!

Whilst we enjoyed our tea we were treated to the work of a second talented artist – our very own Brian, who had brought in several of his wonderful paintings for us to see. Brian’s paintings of trains, fishing boats, planes and cars are works of detailed perfection and we were privileged to be able to look at them at close quarters and hear about Brian’s painting methods.

After tea we were able to relax and chat – with Autumn in mind, there were word and pictorial puzzles to do, and an intriguing box full of Autumn leaves in which to delve and discover conkers, pine cones, pumpkins and other seasonal items.

As the afternoon drew to a close, we had a surprise visitor – Denise arrived with Darcey, her delightful retriever puppy, who charmed us all – hopefully we’ll meet her again as she grows into a beautiful dog.

One final exciting development – as we now have our own webpage you can even email us on info@crantockmemorycafe.org.uk .

Our next gathering will be on Monday 1st December from 2pm – 4pm at Crantock Village Hall.