We're super excited to launch our first Crowdfunder appeal and we're asking for your support!

The Cost of Living Crisis is affecting us all.

Over the Winter, we'll be opening up Warm Spaces at 2 locations. This will allow anyone who needs extra help and support through the colder months, to pop in, relax and warm up, have a hot soup, refreshments and a chat.

We'd really appreciate any donation, however small. This will allow us to expand our services to the most vulnerable, and potentially offer additional Warm Spaces at more locations.

Please donate whatever you can afford today, and share with all your friends and family.

We enjoyed our last Walk n Talk of the Year in Rochester, with our friends at Stepping Out. It was a crisp morning, so we all wrapped up warm for a wander around the medieval city, taking in the decorated windows of the High Street and the Christmas Market, followed by a tour of the catherdral with hymns, and a wonderful lunch in the Crypt Cafe.

Due to the popularity of this month's walk, even more members got involved, and made their own way to Rochester by train, and enjoyed lunch at Jaspers Community Cafe together.

Our festive celebrations got off to a great start this week, at our Friendly Spaces, funded by Optivo Wellbeing and Kent Community Foundation. Lots of fun and laughter, as our members took part in some festive quizzes and a game of Pass the Pudding, as well as a free Tombola and Raffle. Congratulations to Winifred, Pat and who won the wonderful hampers, generously donated by our member Lisa. Lovely to have the ladies from One You Kent with us, offering health checks and advice and Louise from Volunteering Swale Cvs All members got to take home a chocolate Santa or Reindeer, made possible with funding from a kind donation from our Trustee Bob, who we'd like to thank very much!

This month's Book Club at The Optivo Wellbeing Hub at Rushenden, saw us delving into the lives and loves of the female steel workers at the Vickers Factory in Sheffield, set during WWII. The Steel Girls on the Home Front is by Michelle Rawlins. To inspire some of that Dunkirk Spirit, we had a quiz on rationing, and tasted a fruit cake made with a recipe from WWII, and using minimal ingredients. However we all agreed, it was really tasty!  

We're pleased with the response to our FREE Chair Exercise Classes taking place at the Methodist Church Hall in Sittingbourne on Tuesday afternoons. Georgina is a fantastic tutor, and everyone was able to take part, whatever their ability. We all enjoyed getting moving to some classic tunes, and couldn't believe how quickly the hour went!

We had the chance to get all crafty at our Friendly Spaces in Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Teynham this month. With funding from Optivo Wellbeing and Kent Community Foundation We were able to offer all our members, both within Groups and online, the chance to Take or Make one of our festive craft packs. Wonderful to see so many members popping in to spend the morning getting creative, or just getting together with friends and having cuppa and a chat.

Members of our Pedometer Challenge, who were unable to take part in our cancelled Sittingbourne Small Pod Walk, were offered a place on this month's Walk n Talk with our friends from Stepping Out, to the beautiful town of Hythe, instead. A short walk, for those less mobile, took in all the stunning Autumn colours along the canal, and the towns winding streets. The longer walk took place along the sea front promenade, with a fresh sea breeze, and stunning views.

Nothing like finishing off a lovely morning in the fresh Autumn air, than with a bowl of hot soup, sandwiches and a cuppa!

Thank You Stepping Out,

for once again inviting our members out for a wonderful day of gentle exercise and companionship.

We all had fun at our very busy Sheerness Wellbeing Group, funded by Optivo Wellbeing this week. As part of Black History Month, our Book Club members received their copies of The Color Purple, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning Alice Walker (and adapted into the popular 1985 Steven Spielberg film) Shona from Optivo joined our members, who took part in a Who's Who of inspirational Black leaders, actors and sporting hero's.

We also produced a booklet filled with examples of the rich tradition of poetry writing, from the Black Community, which members took home to read.

To mark the successful completion of our most recent Pedometer Challenge, funded by Kent Sport, we invited the participants to join us at Minster Leas. The walk was for all abilities, with lots of benches and flat hard walking surfaces. Members had the choice of a short stroll, or a longer walk. Followed by a lovely cuppa at the The Abbey Hotel and a free fruit raffle, we all ended the day in great spirits.

Sophie from Kent County Council's Kent Digital project, continues to offer help and support at our Teynham Wellbeing Group, funded by Optivo, on the first Monday each month. The group now also incorporates our second Book Club, by popular demand. The Teynham Pedometer Challengers were also able to pick up their Goodie bags, for successfully completing this round of the challenge, funded by Kent Sport

Our Sheerness book Club Continues to grow from strength to strength. Now meeting on the last Tuesday of each month at the Optivo Wellbeing hub at Manor Road in Rushenden. Each session starts with a cuppa and a catch up, before getting down to the business of discussing the chosen book. A fun multiple choice quiz, allows everyone to refresh their memory on the details. After a lively discussion on each month's read, with comments and feedback, everyone gives their score out of 10. Finally we complete each Book Club with an interactive game based on the books subject or theme, whether that's completing a code breaker to accompany a spy novel or matching some famous writers and their fictional detectives, for a crime novel we've read.

Our August project got off to a great start with our Sheerness and Teynham Wellbeing Groups funded by Optivo enjoying quizzes, thoughts, and ideas on Healthy Eating. With funding from Tesco Community Fund, we have created a Booklet ‘Healthy Eating for the Older Generation’ full of advice on changing appetites, eating well on a budget and meal planning. Our members were offered the choice of free ingredients to make one of two healthy salads at home, and a follow along tutorial on our YouTube channel. The photos posted on our Facebook Group and the feedback has been fantastic!

We were pleased to be asked to organise an event to help bring the community together, at Ebbsfleet Garden City by Clarion Futures. It was a fun and busy day as local artisans and crafters from the area, had their products on sale. Residents and their children were invited to come along and take part in some creative workshops, including glass painting and collage. They also had the chance to decorate some friendship rocks, to hide locally, for others to find. Clarion was keen to hear from their residents first hand, what sort of activities they wanted in their community. We're looking forward to working in partnership with Clarion again, on a regular basis, with the potential to start an Ebbsfleet Wellbeing Group in the near future, to help build community spirit and connect individuals and families, many with young children, who are new to the area.

Our first Memorial Walk n Talk, to Elmley Nature Reserve on the Isle of Sheppey, was a day filled with memories of our dear friends, Ronnie, John and June. Together with Stepping Out, nearly 75 of our own members, those of partner groups and volunteers visited the trees we planted last year. We also had the opportunity to discover the beauty of the wild landscape, and share a wonderful lunch together, and before setting off home, all our members were presented with either free seeds or pots of Forget-Me-Knots to  mark the occasion.

Being able to get online can improve people’s lives, whether through cutting household bills, finding a job or maintaining contact with distant friends and relatives.

However, to make sure the web is truly for everyone, it's more than just about access. Everyone needs to be equipped with the skills, motivation and trust to go online, and be digitally capable to make the most of the internet.

Digital Kent was set up by Kent County Council in 2021 and is part of the Helping Hands scheme. Sophie, from the Digital Kent team is joining us this month, at all our Wellbeing Groups, funded by Optivo to offer help and advice to enable our members to get the most out of their phones and digital devices.

What better way to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee than with friends! This month we've been meeting up at all our Wellbeing Groups funded by Optivo and on our Facebook Group to celebrate with Royal quizzes, games, free raffles and lots of lovely fresh cream teas.

We were pleased to welcome this month's guest speaker, Stevie Pettitt, the Fuel, Water and Home Advisor from Kent County Council, to our Optivo funded Wellbeing Groups In these challenges times, she was able to pass on some invaluable tips to help us around the home, as well as advice about becoming more environmentally aware. All our members went away with a goodie bag, filled with lots items to help swap to LED bulbs, insulate against drafts, reduce their water consumption and lots more! We were also pleased to give all our members our own Friendly Faces of Kent, Money Saving Tips booklet to take home.

We joined our friends from Stepping Out this month, for a lovely Walk n Talk and lunch at the historic home of Vita Sackville West, Sissinghurst Castle Gardens. The sun shone for us, and the gardens were absolutely stunning.

Our thanks to  Community Champion Clare from Asda, who poped into our Sittingbourne Wellbeing Group, funded by Optivo, to drop off a hamper full of goodies, for our members to share over a cuppa.

Members at ourWellbeing Groups at Sittingbourne and Sheerness, funded by Optivo as well as those at Teynham, had great fun taking part in some Easter crafting. They supplied the creativity and we supplied the chocolate bunnies!

Our Caring Sharing, Giving & Gratitude Project got off to a great start this month with a craft activity at the Sheerness, Teynham and Sittingbourne groups. We were so pleased to see so many members joining us again after the extended break due to Covid. Everyone who wishes to, got involved with making cards for loved ones, family and friends. With lots of time left for everyone to catch up over a cuppa and some biscuits. Our Optivo funded Wellbeing Group members at Sheerness were also treated to some yummy cake and free chocolates, which they'd missed out on when their end of year party was sadly cancelled.

We'd like to say a big Thank You, to all of you who took the time to place your Tesco tokens for us in their stores. We're thrilled to announce that we came first! We've been awarded the Tesco Community Grant, that together with funding from Groundwork will allow our 'Let's Talk Lunch Project' to take place later in the year. With healthy eating ideas for the older generation, meal planning and nutritional advice for all our members, including affordable meal options, we're really excited to be able to offer this project for you to take part in. After the huge success of our recent Healthy Cook Along we'll also be supplying ingredients, recipe cards as well as lots of help and advice. Thanks again to Tesco for their support

We're pleased to be featured in the latest edition of The Sittingbourne CommunityAd Magazine.The full colour glossy magazine is distributed to homes throughout the Sittingbourne bi-monthly and keeps its readers up to date with local news, articles of community interest, planning, local events, clubs and groups.

We'd like to wish all our Members, Partners, Funders and Trustees, a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2022