The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Our Crocus Cafe is bloomin’ great!
We’re back with old friends and lots of new members! During the pandemic, Crocus Café – Peterborough’s Rotary Memory Café – had to cease operating.
This caused increased loneliness as our members – those living with dementia and their carers – so look forward to our monthly get togethers.
Happily, we have now met several times. We are more or less back to normal, meeting each month at the Salvation Army Citadel (many thanks to them for sharing their lovely premises with Rotary).
As well as enjoying a cuppa, sausage rolls, cakes and biscuits, there is a chance to chat, with lasting friendships being formed. And then there is the entertainment!
Since we re-started, members have been treated to hearing a very talented singer, experiencing armchair exercises to music and listening to an uplifting performance by the Upwood Ukuleles.
They have crafted a birthday card and decorated Easter eggs to take home and enjoy. They also stimulated memories of times gone by with an illustrated talk on family businesses in Ramsey and Peterborough.
A special treat was a day trip by coach to London. Arriving at the beautiful St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge, we were warmly welcomed and shown to front row seats to enjoy a fantastic Songhaven Concert. Tenor Ben Thapa, baritone Kieran Rayner and pianist Lana
Bode – freely giving their time to support those living with dementia – gave a superb performance with a wide range of music styles.
Featured were favourites from Les Miserables and wellknown numbers where the audience were encouraged to join in by singing the chorus and raising the rafters.
They were served a delicious afternoon tea, plenty of cuppas, sandwiches, savoury snacks and cakes generously provided by the parishioners.
Our coach driver treated them to a short tour of London, giving a chance to see Downing Street and the newly-refurbished Big Ben and Elizabeth Tower resplendent in the late afternoon sunshine.
Of course, we cannot arrange trips like these very often, especially with escalating fuel prices raising coach prices to new heights, so we are especially grateful to those who help us raise funds to support these valuable opportunities.
Jill Thomas organised this wonderful day and her club, Deepings Rotary, contributed £300 towards the cost of the coach. If you, or your company, would like to help, please contact me.
Are you an unpaid carer, or know someone who is? Are you getting the support, advice and financial assistance you are entitled to?
Next week (June 6-12) is Carers Week. Our aim this year is “Making Caring Visible, Valued and Supported”. Two groups out there are ready and willing to help you. Rotary is working in partnership with Carers UK (national) to help spread the word, and then there is Caring Together (local to Cambridgeshire). Membership is entirely free of charge. Why not join both and see what they can offer.
For more details see www. carersuk.org, 020 7378 4999, or www.caringtogether.org