A big thanks to Sheila who has completed her first exchange

I was having some friends over for dinner and I needed a tablecloth and a set of napkins ironing so I asked Helen if she could put me in touch with someone.

She introduced me to Sheila who lives round the corner from me in Sherwood which was pretty convenient to drop the ironing off!

A few days later, she contacted me to say it was all finished and she had done a really good job. I’m really grateful to Sheila for helping me out – it’s one less thing to do this weekend.

Lovely!

H

The Skills Exchange is still growing at a steady rate, with 280 individual members and 48 Organisations, 328 in total, we are one of the biggest in the country!

This year 47 individuals have joined and 13 Organisations. This obviously increases the number and variety of skills on offer. As of today, 1766 hours have been exchanged since the beginning of January.

Exchanges have included….. Gok Wan style wardrobe organising, massage therapy, pet care, simple plumbing, tarot reading, singing lessons, washing, ironing, English conversation, photography model and language help including, English,Arabic and British Sign Language. There are too many to list.

Organisations have had the following help …… leafleting, kitchen assistant, receptionist, help with social events, mentoring, craft activities for children, mailouts…amongst others

Apart from the exchange of skills, 2011 has seen members involved in the Get Hooked Crochet Project, Friday Breakfast Mornings, regular trips to Nottingham Playhouse via the hotHouse scheme, free trips out to local parks courtesy of the Walk on the Wildside project, card making and socials (we’ve had 3 this year).

Thankyou to everyone who has taken part in the Skills Exchange this year and here’s to an even more active 2012. Warm wishes to everyone for the festive season.

H

1. Freddie Mercury

2. An Italian bread

3. Evangeline Booth

4. Munich

5. Brookside

6. Bournemouth

7. Herring

8. Rome

9. Robert Robinson

10. Queen of Spades

If you enjoyed having a go at that quiz, why not come along to our FESTIVE BREAKFAST, Wednesday 28th December, 10:30 til 11:30 ish, here at Tennyson. Free hot drinks, teacakes and toast. We will be having a game of Bingo and David may be bringing his quiz book along. All welcome ….

H

1. Who after his death had a number 1 hit with “Living on my own”?

2. What is Focaccia?

3. Who was the first woman General of the Salvation Army?

4. Which German City hosted the 1972 Olympic games?

5. Which soap did Lily Savage appear in?

6. Which town has the car index mark AA?

7. What sort of fish is a kipper?

8. In which city is the largest Christian church in the world?

9. Who asked the questions in “Ask the family”?

10. Which playing card is the Black Lady?

We also had a game of Bingo, with chocolate for prizes, and enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again on Wednesday 28th December, 10:30 – 11:30 am. All welcome for free hot drinks and toasted teacakes

H

It seems that 92.7% of those people who replied are either happy or very happy with the Skills Exchange. Some lovely comments to explain this include:

“It’s brilliant. Helpful. Brings out the best in members. It is just a very giving way to behave and that feels inspiring to me”.

“I like meeting new people and supporting others, but have limited time myself some months. The Skills Exchange has enabled me to help when I have time on a day that fits in with my needs and has enabled me also to get some help round the house with jobs like painting”.

96% had met new people and 72.2% had got help that they wouldn’t have been able to pay for.

” I could not have afforded the work that was done for me”.

People generally like the Newsletter and find it usefuland informative .

We also had lots of really interesting suggestions for social events next year, so watch this space for something different!

Smiles all round again methinks.

H

 

1. Katherine of Aragon

2. Rice

3. Svetlana Savitskaya

4. Humber

5. Don McLeaan

6. Fred Quimby.

If you got those all right, go directly to the nearest sweet shop, do not pass Go, and get yourself a giant bar of your favourite chocolate.

H

Questions this week were:

1. Who was Henry 8th’s first wife?

2. What is sake made from?

3.Who was the first woman to walk in space?

4. On which river does Hull lie?

5. Who wrote the song ” For the good times” ?

6. Who first produced the Tom and Jerry cartoons?

Answers will be provided in the next blog. Subscribe and you will get a notifuication when I post again.

Last Breakfast of 2011 will be next Friday, 16th December, 1030 – 11:30. In honour of the occasion we may even do toasted teacakes and we are definately playing Bingo. It’s been a busy year, lots of visitors to Breakfast and around 1,000 slices of toast consumed in total and, I suspect, a similar number of cuppas.

Get cracking on the quiz!

H

What isn’t in the Newsletter is the latest findings from our recent Survey, early yet, but from replies we’ve received so far…………

91% of those who replied are very happy or happy with the Skills Exchange

87% have been involved in an exchange

96% have met new people

71% have received help that they wouldn’t have been able to pay for.

The Newsletter seems to be of value to members and we’ve had some interesting suggestions for future social events.

Top quote so far………

“It’s brilliant. Helpful. Brings out the best in members. It’s just a very giving way to behave and that feels inspiring to me”

We like that!

H

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JTTVFMF 

 There are a couple of new questions this year. We are interested in what members think of our Newsletter and what sort of social events they would like us to organise in the future. Will keep you posted with the results.

H

H