Exeter Gateway Centre

As usual, everyone at the centre has been keeping busy with plenty of activities on offer. We have celebrated four birthdays-Barbara, Amy, Suzanne and Gareth’s. Various designs of cake were baked by Paul, Tracy and other members and quickly devoured soon after the blowing out of the candles!

On the creating front, Emma, Gareth and Angus (among others) have been busy sawing and chiseling under the careful guidance of Jonathan-bird-boxes are the popular choice at present. Peter K has made several calendars on different themes and the Tuesday members are still busy with their clay making.

Inside the centre, we have been cooking, playing scalextric, pool and air-hockey plus the usual bingo sessions, dominoes and word-searches.

As Halloween fell on a centre opening day, we decorated the building during the week, culminating in a party that was attended by 27 members. There were some fantastic costumes, dancing, games, and of course food. Prizes were awarded for the best costumes and dancers, plus everyone was entered into the raffle. A great time was had by all!

The centre continues to be a hub of activity, with a large choice of projects and ventures to undertake.

The past few weeks have been busy as usual, culminating in a three days of ‘European Lunches’. Arts and crafts have featured prominently, with several members sawing and nailing together bird-boxes and a coffee table, plus Tia and Peter finishing their Sci-Fi creations of a Tardis and R2D2 respectively.

On the kitchen front, the bakers have produced cookies and brownies and the chefs three hearty meals. The food theme was mostly Italian, with a spaghetti bolognaise cooked Monday and pizza on Thursday. These were created by the members themselves using a host of fresh ingredients on to plain bases, and as usual, there was no waste!

The Tuesday activities continue with clay making, with some very impressive pot skills on show. The few members that attend were also able to ‘road test’ another new activity…a Scalextric set! This became immediately popular and competitions will soon take place.

As we move towards the end of October, we are looking forward to our annual Halloween Party and then the build up to Christmas, so watch this space!

The past couple of weeks have been crammed full of activities and celebrations. Robbie and Julie R celebrated their birthdays with home-made cakes and cards. Peter and Gareth seem to be in competition to see who can make the most objects (Peter is probably just in the lead!). The list of creations made by them and several others includes calendars, a bird-box and a coffee table.

As well as making birthday cakes, the chefs have been busy assisting with the barbecue lunches, preparing salad and vegetables plus sorting drinks and desserts. Daryl insisted on using the barbecue despite the weather forecast-luckily he avoided any major downpours and everyone enjoyed their dinners!

Numbers for the Tuesday opening are gradually creeping up-those members attending are certainly enjoying the activities. We have had a couple of potential new members come to try the centre and we look forward to hopefully welcoming them as regular ‘Gatewayers’ soon!

This week has seen members keeping themselves very busy as usual-there has been the usual cooking (making muffins from the glut of courgettes!), papier-mache creations, bingo, dominoes and computering to name but a few!

Peter has kept the staff busy with his turn-over of picture frames and Gareth has shown great patience with his police vehicle (he’s now making a fire engine!). As usual, Scott has shown his proficiency on the PCs, copying and printing an array of pictures to go on his many creations.

Tuesday saw more willow weaving, this time making hearts-five members came in this week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

There has been a birthday celebrated as well, but unfortunately Alan’s date wasn’t in the book, so rather than a large sponge cake, he made do with a muffin and one candle!

Thanks to the Exeter Rotary Club, we were able to purchase a new work-bench for woodworking and craft. Under the supervision of Daryl, Amy and Gareth helped to put it together. There were no instructions in the box, so after some discussion, the correct decisions as to where bits and bobs went were made, and we now have a new bench!

This week saw the first Tuesday opening, where a more structured day was on offer. The idea is to run a course of focused workshops and activities for everyone to join in with (as little or much as they want). The first ‘theme’ is using willow to create various objects. Under the careful supervision of Daryl, Debbie and Jonathan, a variety of creations were made, including woven fish and plate stands. The plan is to continue this for a few weeks, giving members the chance to increase their skills and the amount of objects made!

As usual, everyone has been busy in and outside the centre-Peter has made two picture frames as presents and the pool table has seen plenty of use. As the weather was fine on Wednesday, 13 members went to Belmont Bowling Club to enjoy the games on offer. We celebrated Molly’s birthday and she was treated to her own rendition of an Abba song by our resident crooner, Vincent!

The weather held, so Daryl fired up the barbecue three times for over twenty members on each day, offering a selection of burgers, sausages, chicken, turkey and halloumi and vegetable skewers. Supplemented by salad, and finished off with fruit based desserts, everyone certainly enjoyed their lunches!

We have harvested more fruit and veg from the greenhouse and beds, baked cheese scones and will be making yet another cake for the latest birthday coming up.

Outside, Peter and Gareth have been busy making models of an ocean liner and off-road car, with Scott and David starting money boxes. Also, Suzanne and Peter helped to sow some grass seed at the rear of the building and the beds, trough and greenhouse were well watered.

Inside, the computers have been in constant use, bingo is played every afternoon and plenty of drawing, colouring and chatting has been going on. David received another envelope, this time a reply from his favourite football club (Manchester United) with a signed photo of their manager and a Red Devils magazine! If you don’t ask…

Hopefully we will be able to get a few more sessions of bowling at Belmont before the end of the season and a few local trips out. On the 3rd September sees our first opening on a Tuesday, where we will be trying out different activities, starting with ‘willow workshops’ (details and photos to follow!)

The past few weeks have seen members busy with a multitude of different activities, from dominoes to drawing and bingo to baking.

Tracy, Tia, Linda and Daryl (Senior Support Worker) have celebrated birthdays, with the kitchen a busy place with making cakes. We have also started to harvest plenty of fruit and veg from both the greenhouse and raised beds-some of which has been enjoyed at lunchtime and the remainder prepared and frozen for a later date.

Peter and Anita have finished their latest projects and David was most excited to receive a large envelope in the post containing a signed photo and letter from The Shakin’ Stevens fan-club, in reply to his letter sent a few weeks ago!

Jamie, Scott and Vincent have been busy finding and printing pictures for their folders and others, including one of our newest members Chris, have designed posters of their favourite pop and film stars.

The barbecue has been fired up once already in August, and this week sees another round of hearty lunches for those who want them. Hopefully the weather will hold and we can enjoy the outdoor space.