Cornish hedges and sunshine

We began our first Creative Spaces community workshop, held at the very friendly Rest and Play Cafe in Roche, with our Nature Palettes activity(see 'Palettes, Naturally Brilliant!' posted October 2011), making the most of a rare appearance from the sun!

Off we wandered, along a short walk, collecting leaves of all shapes, sizes and hues of green; petals of blue, pink, yellow and white; a lost feather or two and anything else lying on the ground that we found interesting. We were even presented with Camelias by a gentleman who was pruning them in his garden.  Participants made colourful 'palettes', evocative of Cornish hedgerows and country walks. Naval Pennyworts, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Forget-Me-Nots, Hairy Bittercress, Primroses, Red Campion, Herb Robert,  Laurel leaves, to name a few, all adorned the palettes in colourful displays. 

Activities aid communication and put people at ease

One of our participants & her Nature Palette

Back inside and on to our next activity - bird food hangers.  This is based on the winter bird food garlands, an activity we did last year, showing how you can make outdoor decorations from natural materials that also benefit the wildlife in your garden.  This time, we put a spring 'twist' on it.

Cut some thin garden wire to whatever length you like (it will eventually be hung from a branch rather than draped over it) and thread pieces of fruit onto it, ensuring that the bottom has been looped around first to prevent anything falling off.  Occasionally thread on garden flowers; dandelions are great for this as their stems are large enough and hollow to allow the garden wire to pass through the flower head without breaking it apart.  Every few centimetres wrap the wire around a thin twig to provide a 'feeding perch' for the birds; in this instance we used Box, cut into about 15cms lengths. With it's small dark green leaves it provided a lovely contrast to the fruit and flowers. Hawthorn twigs would also make great perches at this time of year, their small, white flowers would add decoration to the 'hanger'. Make the top of the wire into a hook shape and hang in the garden. Eh Voila!

Added flowers make the 
'hanger' more decorative

Bird food hangers & garlands help
reflect the time of year

 So much time was spent chatting with participants about aspects of dementia and enhancing people's daily lives through creative support that we actually ran out of time to do our other activities, so we packed everyone off home with an Activity Pack and enough materials for them to make their own Nature Scrapbook in their own time.  But our activities are as much about encouraging conversation as they are about promoting creativity.  We often learn more about someone else whilst we are joined in some creative outdoor activity, walking side by side, sharing stories and memories, than just sitting side by side in chairs indoors.  The conversations at our workshops are as important as doing the activity; it helps put people at ease, helps reduce their feelings of isolation and frustration. Everyone had an enjoyable afternoon and before they left, the participants said they had learnt so much and felt much better about supporting and caring for someone with dementia; thankfully, that's what we aimed to achieve!
      
On a different note, we've sadly said cheerio to Ellie, my partner-in-crime (aka Creative Spaces Project Officer) who's been with us for about 13 months, covering maternity leave.  She was a real asset to the project and her love of all things creative and glittery meant that her activities always made a sparkling mess and, more importantly, were thoroughly enjoyed every time by the participants!  She's now working with and mentoring young people with mental health issues and we wish her all the best.




Wendy
Project Manager