Branch Communication Day & Fun Days

Tessa Duffy, the speech therapy expert who has an 8-year-old son with Down's syndrome, is already known to many of our branch members. She conducted two sessions of a workshop on main aspects of communication difficulties faced by persons with Down's Syndrome in childhood and later and what can be done to help overcome these difficulties.

The chidren had non-stop fun with various games and activities in a "fun area" outside the workshop room. The parents and relatives joined in the fun and also had informal chats with one another over cups of tea and excellent cakes.
The raffle was quite exciting and well supported by all. Our cordial thanks to the volunteers who donated cakes, cookies, raffle prizes and worked hard to make this such a successful, informative and funfilled event.
Tessa Duffy's main message was that it is never too late to learn speech and language. The window of learning opportunity for children with Down's syndrome is much wider than for the rest of the population. The first session was attended mainly by the parents of children with Down's Syndrome and the second session mainly had grandparents, relatives & family friends interested in helping their young relative with Down's Syndrome.

The main points and messages in Tessa's talk are summarised in a previous document. The discussion of the individual experiences, questions and answers with Tessa during the interactive workshop part after the talk were extremely valuable and highly appreciated by everybody. Tessa can be contacted on (01634) 244000 at her company called Symbol UK Ltd.

On Saturday 10th November 2001 we thoroughly enjoyed our FunDay. About seventy people of all ages, babies, toddlers, teenagers to grandparents came to meet and enjoy themselves in the Maidenbower community centre hall. There were several games to play, art & craft things to do and take home, music to dance to, lucky dips, cake stall and much much more. It was a nice opportunity again to sit and enjoy a cup of tea with delicious cake and chat with old friends as well as make new acquaintances.

We had a chance to watch the enjoyable and informative new video "Going to College" produced by our branch. It was run two or three times by popular demand and was very much appreciated. You can order it. (see further information/ contact)

This year some of the older children with Downs's Syndrome helped their families to run some activity stalls. We hope that next year there will be even more active participation by children and young persons with DS.

We want to thank everybody who helped make it such a nice occasion. Some of the major efforts and contributions were by:
*  Liz and Lance England did so many things such as organising and running the sound system for the impromptu disco dancing and a very popular face-painting stall. Liz's mother ran the kitchen serving tea, coffee, soft drinks and cake slices, assisted by Lance's mother and others. Lance's parents ran the Tombola stall with great enthusiasm.
* Edmonds family organised and ran the games outside in courtyard for the energetic and agile and ran the busy stall inside for decorating the Napkin Rings (with big help from Liz's daughter in preparing the material)
* Almrott family ran the popular badgemaking stall and Maggie (our branch's Hon. librarian) showed the toys and available literature
* Shirley Quemby organised the showing of the video "Going to College", answered questions on related topics and Down's Syndrome Association.
* Mark Anderson's table football game was well enjoyed again.
* Everington family organised the Cakes for sale and the "Guess the Weight of Cake" competition. Rashne's Lucky Dip stall attracted fans (of all ages) of cuddly toys she had displayed for prizes which disappeared fast, all in a good cause.

There were many others also whose valuable help we appreciate very much but may have missed their names here. Thank you very much and we look forward to your active participation again at the next Fun Day.

We had a great time ! On 4th November afternoon we had loads of fun in the Maidenbower community centre.

Thanks to the work of Liz England and many other  supporters the raffle of prizes including Damon Hill memorabilia we raised £458 ! There were about the same number of visitors this year as last year's Fun Day Everybody enjoyed the variety of things to do.

The youngsters joined in with great gusto when the entertainer did the party tricks. (Excited shouts of ".. Oh no it is !" , ".. Behind YOU !" etc. etc.). 

Parents and older children went around boogying to the disco, testing their skill on buzz machine, tasting cakes, making designer badges or  just sitting and chatting.
New friends were made & old friendships revived !
Many thanks to the volunteers who organised the stands, baked the delicious cakes, provided gallons of hot tea & coffee and all the hard work on & behind the scenes. Special thanks to the Everington family who took the lead (and the work) in making the venue at Maidenbower available this year too.

Click on the small photos above to see enlagements  

Well over 100 people came to our S.W. Thames Branch (Down's Syndrome Association) Fun Day held at Maidenbower, close to Crawley in the spacious, welcoming Community Centre at Maidenbower.
This large turnout is all the more significant considering that on this afternoon a large part of the UK population was glued to the television watching the tense England v/s Scotland football match !

The informality of the Fun Day enabled the members, friends,  visitors and their families to meet other families with a baby, child or adult with Down's syndrome in a relaxed atmosphere. For brothers and sisters this was a really good  opportunity to mix with other similar families and have fun. It was a good  time too for parents to meet each other and share experiences. Entertainment and activities were well appreciated by all ages.

Disco & games were popular. Many youngsters made their own souvenirs by using the Button Maker, Family Tree printer and  the "acorn planters" on Claire's Gladstone Gardens stall.

The Raffle was very exciting. Many thanks from the Branch to all the donors of the prizes and to the stall holders who donated generously to the branch.

Last but not least,  Many thanks to all the volunteers (too numerous to mention individuallly) who made this Fun Day a real success.

Please contact Everingtons if you would like to know more or have suggestions for future Fun Days or events.