25th September 2018

FUN DAY at Focus Care Agency / Trust Care Management

Focus Care Agency Ltd and Trust Care Management Ltd brought their Service Users together from all over the UK to spend a day having fun and games at Nene Park in Peterborough.

Focus Care Agency provides supported living care for people living with learning disabilities / autism / challenging behaviours and mental ill health, whilst Trust Care Management Ltd provide nursing and residential services for elderly frail people and those living with dementia / learning disabilities / mental ill health / autistic spectrum disorders and behaviours of concern.

The idea behind the event was to invite as many of the elderly residential Service Users as possible to spend time with the younger Service Users to enjoy each other’s company, and to help alleviate any sense of loneliness which could potentially affect any of our more elderly Service Users in their latter years.

The event began at 12 noon, with guests arriving from as far afield as Eastbourne, Hastings, Southend and Ipswich. Marquess were positioned within the park, a large bouncy castle was fully inflated ready for all to enjoy, and many sporting events were arranged nearby and ready for all the guests to compete against each other. We were absolutely delighted by the turn out, with 80 guests in attendance.

The arrival of the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Peterborough was highly exciting for many of the Staff and Service Users. The HR Manager Steven Sparrow and Project Development Manager Pauline Brown formally greeted the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress, but it wasn’t long before some of the Service Users were edging their way forward to speak to the dignitaries themselves. The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress appeared to be enjoying the conversations with Service Users, which was wonderful to see.

Outside caterers (The Fenland Roaster) were invited to attend the Fun Day and to serve an amazing BBQ. A fabulous spread was offered to all attendees, including burgers, hotdogs, Salad, Fish and Chips, alongside some beautiful homemade cakes for dessert made by staff members.

The interaction between Service Users (young and old) was incredible. Geographically, it is difficult for our Service Users to meet, so this was the first time that so many of our Service Users were able to congregate together.

Some of our Service Users have done remarkably well and progressed a long way since being in our care, none more than a Service User who informed the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress how far he’d come since Trust Care Management took him out of a secure hospital environment. The Service User explained ‘I’m so happy, my confidence has grown and my general well-being is unrecognisable from the time since I’ve been out of the secured hospital. The staff treat with me with respect and dignity, and I really feel part of a large family’. He further informed the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of his achievements, one of the greatest of which was his newly found independence which is the impact of working closely with his support team on a daily basis.

The fun and games soon commenced after all the attendees had finished their lunch. Events such as ‘Welly Wanging’ (…or Welly Throwing), Egg and Spoon races, a Basket Ball competition, and a tug of war.

One of the Service Users took great pleasure in organising and announcing the Tug of War competition, and it was declared it’d be the ladies verses the gentlemen (slightly unfair you may say). The announcer gladly invited all participants old and young to position themselves in their rightful positions ready for battle to commence. The Deputy Mayoress volunteered her services to be the umpire of this epic event, whilst the Deputy Mayor joined the men’s team. Round 1 went to the gentlemen, after a bit of an early struggle. The ladies (even at this stage) had a massive numerical advantage over the gentlemen.

To make things slightly fairer for round 2, many more Service Users and staff saw what great fun the Tug of War competition was, and decided to join their respective teams. Once again the ladies seem to outnumber the gentlemen, this time by at least 2-1. The Deputy Mayoress gave the orders to take the strain, and soon after both sides were giving their all. Rather embarrassingly for the Gentlemen’s team, the Ladies won round 2.

By the time it came to round 3, there was no spare rope to be seen on the Ladies’ team (hence no photograph was available). The Gentlemen needed some back-up, but there were no other men to join the team. Needless to say, round 3 was also won by the ladies, so (for some unexplainable reason) the Gentlemen seem to keep a low profile for some time after this.

Various egg and spoon races took place involving Service Users and Staff alike, but many competitors were disqualified due to clear and blatant cheating (including the Managing Director and CEO).

Fun was being had throughout the day on the adult bouncy castle. For many Service Users, this was their first experience of being on a bouncy castle, so it was great for the staff to encourage as many people as possible to try out this new exciting experience.

All in all, the day proved to be a great success with the objective for the day being achieved. The idea is to make this an annual event, growing in size year on year. Plans are already under way to house an ‘Olympic’ type event next summer, to which Focus Care Agency and Trust Care Management will invite other local Social Care providers to come and join in with the games for the day.

A special word of thanks must be given to Nene Park for allowing us the use of their beautiful park, to the Deputy Mayor (John Fox) and Mayoress (Judy Fox) for attending, and the delightful BBQ supplied to us from The Fenland Roaster.