In December’s issue ….

Table of Contents

• Welcome Message from Mary

• 🎄 Christmas at the Cathedral 🎄

• ✨A lovely volunteers social!✨

• New Year, New Opportunities: We’re looking for Ses …

• New Volunteers for Together at Home:

• We need YOU!

• Our Dementia Support Co-ordinators

• Our Dementia Support Workers

Welcome Message from Mary

I’m finishing this year just unbelievably grateful for all of you - for the impact that your big hearts have on our members and carers, and for all you bring to our community. You are something to celebrate, and I hope your lives have been made brighter and better for being a part of what we do here.

I truly believe that TDS is really somethings special - and so much of that is you.

But let’s chat Christmas….

Lots of you will be celebrating Christmas in one way or another in the coming week, but it’s not always merry and bright. I know that Christmas isn’t always a time of celebration for everyone - it can be a really tough time of the year for lots of different reasons.

Whether you’re far from home or far from the people you love, whether you’re missing those who aren’t with us anymore, or the festive season brings up painful memories; whether you’re lonely or struggling with your mental health, navigating difficult relationships; or whether you’re conscious that so much of the world isn’t carefree and merry - the truth of the Christmas story is that nothing really looks like it’s supposed to.

It’s a story of love being found in unexpected places, so whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and whatever your celebrations look like, perhaps listen for whispers of hope and joy in an ancient tale of being within the difficult realities of life.

Here’s hoping that we all feel that love, hope and joy this coming year.

From all of us here at TDS, we’re wishing you a peaceful and restful Christmas and an exceptionally joyful start to the new year. We’ll see you in 2025!

Read on to find out what exciting things have been happening this month, and as usual, take care of your precious selves.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07579831790

🎄 Christmas at the Cathedral 🎄

On Sunday 15th December, we had our annual Christmas at the Cathedral event at Manchester Cathedral - an afternoon of celebration, festivities and music! It turned out to be a huge success and was an absolutely lovely occasion.

We were treated to some fantastic musical performances from the Crumpsall Concert Band, the amazing Soprano Nicola Mills, the TDS Gospel Choir, and The Choir That Can - made up of members from our North Manchester Group. We also had a performance from the Button Lane Primary School Choir who stepped in at the last minute, but were wonderful (and very cute)! All of the acts had audiences dancing, clapping and singing alone…the festive vibes were very strong.

It was really special to see our members take centre stage and entertaining hundreds of people so beautifully in such a gorgeous, historic venue. It really shows what people living with dementia can do and achieve with the right support and opportunity, and highlights what we’re really about here at TDS - platforming and raising up the voices of our community.

It was a pretty big event, with lots of spinning plates and moving parts, and we couldn’t have pulled it off without our team of superstar event volunteers.

We had volunteers doing everything from checking tickets, ushering and showing audience members to their seats, serving festive drinks and snacks, manning the merchandise and raffle stalls, to supporting our two choirs.

It was a mega team effort - so a HUGE thank you too all who helped out.

✨A lovely volunteers social!✨

Another lovely festive occasion we’ve had recently was our Volunteer’s Winter Social, at the beginning of December…

A group of 50 volunteers, staff and trustees braved both the stormy winter weather and the chaos of Manchester City Centre to enjoy an all-you-can-eat world buffet at Cosmos. We had volunteers from across all our services, and it was lovely to see so many of you amazing volunteers under one roof and see and hear connections and friendships being made.

Again, thank you to all of you who came along. Taking you all out for dinner is just one small way in which we try and show you how thankful we are for all that you do as volunteers, and the time and energy you share with us.

There will be another big social to look forward to in late spring/early summer, and hopefully some smaller social occasions before then.

New Year, New Opportunities: We’re looking for Sessional Workers!

In the New Year, we will be looking for flexible Sessional Workers for a new project - Together Out and About.

It’s a service where a paid sessional worker (this could be you!) will support and enable one of our members living with dementia to get out and about in their local community - perhaps going out to lunch, or to a gallery or museum, or for a walk and a coffee. These visits will help members to access both old and new activities, helping them to actively maintain their interests and confidence.

These visits will also provide family carers with more breaks and opportunity for respite during the week, as the visits will be around 3 hours long.

Could that be you? Do you know someone who fits the bill?

We're planning a staggered start to the project whilst we advertise to families and social services - however, if you feel this could be an opportunity for you, please email Claire with you expression of interest: [email protected]

New Volunteers for Together at Home:

We need YOU!

What is Together at Home?

TAH is our 1:1 home visiting and befriending service. We match trained volunteers with one of our members living with dementia in their local community. Volunteers then visit every week or every fortnight, to take part in fun, social and creative activities and sometimes exercise. It might be doing an arts and craft activity, some gardening, listening to or playing music or even going for a local walk and visiting a cafe…it all depends on what that member is interested in! We try and match people around shared interests, so hopefully you’ll find the activities engaging as well!

And we’re looking for a fresh new batch of volunteers to join our existing TAH volunteering team…could this be you?

What am I signing up for?

If you’re already volunteering with us, you’ll have picked up loads of beneficial experience, understanding and communication techniques at groups or dementia cafes that you can easily translate into a 1:1 environment. All that’s required is coming along to one of our TAH Volunteer Training Session (these are usually around 3-4 hours long) and we’ll show or teach you everything else you need to know.

SAVE THE DATE! Our next TAH training session is scheduled for:

🗓️ - Wednesday 5th February 2025
📍 - Kath Locke Centre, Moss Lane East, M15 5DD
⏲️ - 1pm to 4:30pm

If you might be interested, or you’d like to have more of a chat about TAH - get in touch with Mary via email or phone:

📧 [email protected]
☎️ 07579831790

Please note: you can do TAH as well as your existing volunteer role, if you’d like to!

Our Dementia Support Co-ordinators

Our Dementia Support Workers