Young@Heart Newsletter - August 2020
Dear Young@Heart Guest
We hope that this newsletter finds you and your family well in the unprecedented times that we are living through.
Since March, when the Government announced lockdown, you will know, that we have been unable to meet as our normal Young@Heart Café and had to follow the guidance regarding self-solation and social distancing.
In order, to keep in touch with everyone, our fantastic volunteers have made weekly ‘comfort calls’ to as many as of our guests that we had accurate contact details for. We know by your comments, how much this has been appreciated and we were delighted to keep up with your news.
Virtually Young@Heart
From May, with the help of Ian our website designer, we were able to offer weekly virtual café with entertainment from some of our entertainers known to you all.
These included Georgi, Neil, Amanda with the addition of The Wilsons who all entertained us for an hour being joined by yourselves, friends and families who signed in from across the world.
One of the highlights was our virtual picnic party on 3 July which was viewed by over 1000 people. That day - all 4 entertainers joined us bringing us an hour of really enjoyable music with the theme of a Mad Hatters Tea Party. Thank you to all of them, for enabling all of us to feel connected during these live events. The performances are still available on the Young@Heart Facebook Page, if you have missed them and wish to view again.
Greetings during lockdown
During this time, one of our lovely volunteers Theresa Gill designed and made by hand, special lockdown cards for all our clients as well some for those who are living in residential care homes. These we were told, brought smiles to many and we thank Theresa for all her hard work.
Going forward we plan to follow Public Health guidance and working with the COVID-19 policy in the Parish – so will be in touch as soon as we are, allowed to, reopen our Café.
Meanwhile, we plan to stay connected with the weekly comfort calls for those who wish to have this contact. If you have not been included in this and would like a weekly chat with one of our volunteers, please call 01582 742275 – Maria’s office - where the details will be recorded from you
Our virtual café musical sessions have ceased now for summer break - we intend to resume them again from September until the Café opens properly.
Active At Home
We all know that being active is good for our physical and mental wellbeing, and we should all keep moving regularly. However, during this time of reduced access to social events and our ability to visit our Café and other places, Public Health England has produced a guide to being active at home during the COVID -19 outbreak. It is available from www.activeluton.co.uk
All our volunteers are eager to return to the Café and getting it up and running again – we are all missing YOUR company, the music and the fun of those Wednesday afternoons. We are thinking of you all and thought these positive words might brighten your day - Keep Safe, Keep Well – Keep Young@Heart!
