Exeter Gateway Centre

Members have been busy both in and outside the centre over the past few months. We celebrated Chinese New Year with a week of lunches followed by a week of pancake making to cover Shrove Tuesday. As usual, the ‘chefs’ enjoyed helping prepare the ingredients and along with the remainder, eating the finished products! There have been many birthdays celebrated, including Donna, Brian, Chris and Emma’s.

Several members went to Killerton House to take photos for ideas towards a project named ‘Blossom Poetry Bomb’. As you can see, those that went had a great time.

The raised beds and greenhouse have been weeded in preparation for this year’s planting, and inside the usual activities plus others have been taking place. Junk modelling, making robots, proved popular as well as the usual arts and crafts.

We have said a fond farewell to a cohort of students from Exeter College and welcomed several more for the next few months-we hope they enjoy the experience. Also, we said goodbye to Julie, one of our long standing members, who has now moved to Liverpool.

A group of drama students from Exeter University ran three sessions for those members that wished to take part. The hard work by all will culminate in a final ‘performance’ this Monday. Thank you to all the group for making a positive impact on the members-they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Walking football numbers are on the increase-the last session saw eighteen players showing off their silky skills!

As we move towards April, we have a week of making pizzas to look forward to and hopefully a trip to the Donkey Sanctuary.

Happy New Year one and all. The build up to Christmas saw members engrossed in an array of activities. Nearly forty cakes were baked and decorated and over fifty members attended our Christmas Lunch. Many thanks to Age UK for allowing us to use their large room to accommodate our numbers, and also to Exeter City FC, Torquay Utd and all the others that donated prizes for our raffle.

Several members travelled to Killerton House to decorate a tree in their chapel. Those that went thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the tree looked amazing. Thanks to the generosity of the house’s visitors, the centre received nearly £30 in donations.

Walking football is still a popular activity on Wednesdays. Thanks to Dan, from Exeter City Community Trust, for all his hard work in improving everyone’s technique and fitness. The players were excited to receive a medal for all their hard work over the months leading up to Christmas.

Several birthdays have been celebrated both before and after Christmas-the bakers were busy in the kitchen. We have welcomed several new members to the centre so more birthdays to celebrate this year!

Looking forward, we hope to add to our numbers and continue to offer a stimulating and safe environment for all.

Members have kept themselves busy with the usual variety of activities. We have welcomed several new members to the centre and said goodbye to couple too. Arts and crafts has been very popular as well as making and baking in the kitchen. The first batch of Christmas cakes have been made and members are looking forward to decorating them.

We have celebrated a few birthdays and dressed up for Halloween. Walking football still takes place on Wednesdays and the number of players is gradually increasing.

It won’t be long until we dust of the decorations and make the centre a festive place. We are looking forward to our Christmas activities and celebrating with our friends.

So much has happened since the last update, both in and out of the centre. We’ve had make your own pizzas, cooked BBQ lunches, tie dyed a selection of clothing and even had British Sign Language classes, courtesy of Lily and her support worker Rachael. The marquee has been full for every session and it’s great to see our hearing members communicating with those that have a hearing impairment.

Throughout July, August and early September, we have celebrated several birthdays- cakes have been made and devoured and Happy Birthday has been sung in various keys!

We’ve had a film week, watching various films that members voted on-there’s been plenty of popcorn and relative quiet in the makeshift cinema (blackened out conservatory!).

Staff wise, we have bid farewell to Cody, who has taken up a course offer at Manchester University and in her place welcomed Karen to the centre-wish wish them both well.

After a break of five years, the long awaited trip to World of Country Life took place. This time, thanks to some generous donations, we travelled by coach to ensure we arrived and departed on time (unlike previous years on the buses!).

The weather was dry but very windy so unfortunately the birds of prey display was cancelled. We did however, get to see the birds in their compounds as well as getting hands on with goats, calves and donkeys. We managed to eat our lunch outside and also found time to explore the vehicle and equipment displays.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite not seeing the display and we are now coming up with suggestions as to where we are going next!

On Saturday 24th June, nearly 50 members, staff and support travelled by coach to Millfield School in Somerset, for their annual Community Day. It is the first time that the centre has attended since 2019 and everyone was very excited!

The weather was glorious, giving the members access to all manner of activities. Everyone had a great day, swapping stories about their experiences on the coach back, and during the following week.

A huge thank you to the staff and students at Millfield for a great day out-we shall hopefully be there again next year!

The past couple of months has seen the members engaged in all manner of activities. With the great weather, we had a week of barbecues. We have harvested potatoes, onions, strawberries and cucumbers and are looking forward to peppers and runner beans too.

Several birthdays have been celebrated, with the bakers busy in the kitchen. Members have been hard at work making various colourful items during the arts and craft sessions.

A big thank you goes to South West Water for a generous donation of £500, which is being used to cover our walking football expenses-we were visited by Liv, who talked to the members about how much they enjoy the weekly sessions.

On Friday 5th May, over 30 members celebrated King Charles’ III Coronation by attending a tea-party at the centre. The weather was not suitable for an outside event, so the centre was decorated accordingly, using a lot of member-made items plus a few from staff. There was a variety of food, including scones, fudge and brownies that had been made by members. Robbie and Anita won prizes for the best costume, Vincent serenaded us on the Karaoke machine and space was made for a dance floor too!

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and all the hard work in preparing for the event certainly paid off. Thanks to all those members and carers that attended and to all the staff for their efforts in making the party a success.

We welcomed a new member of staff, Cody, to Gateway. She is already settling in and is being kept busy by the members. We’ve also had a few new joiners-welcome to Abi, Christina and Ange.

The centre was busy in the build up to the King’s Coronation. Members made an array of themed items leading up to our tea-party on the 5th May. We also marked several birthdays at the end of April into early May-Jamie, John, Alan and Owen enjoyed freshly baked cake and were sang Happy Birthday!

David and Martin assisted with planting a new rose in memory of Christina, and Martin also worked hard in cleaning our marquee-there is always plenty to do!

The past few weeks has seen the members engrossed in all manner of activities. We seemed to have celebrated several birthdays every week so the bakers have been busy making cakes. The arts and crafts have proved popular, with Levi and Lily making some jewellery and others painting, sticking and creating.

Carolyn and Sharyn took a small group to the Scrapstore to source resources for the centre and Daryl has been continuing Wednesday walking football sessions. We will be making and cooking our own fresh pizzas next week, then having a coronation party on the 5th May. Many activities are linked to the theme of King’s Coronation, so the centre should be a very colourful and patriotic place for the day.

As usual, activities have been in full-swing! Many creations were linked to Valentine’s Day-Gonks proved very popular. We’ve also celebrated several birthdays, had a week of pancakes and generally enjoyed ourselves. Walking football is continuing on Wednesdays, with numbers slowly creeping up and fitness levels definitely improving…

Sweet peas and sunflowers are coming on and it won’t be long until we can harden them off in the greenhouse. The raised beds have been prepared for potatoes and onions and bedding plants will soon be in the planters at the front of the building.