dyscover – rediscovering communication

The BAS annual 3-day conference dedicated its first day to Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Rosemary was involved and delivered a presentation called ‘Mixing and Matching – curating effective peer support for people living with PPA’

Five of the couples we support through our PPA services shared what they felt were their key ingredients for effective peer support.

Working collaboratively alongside Jean Rutter, both were surprised and honoured when at the end of the day they received the clinical comet award.

It was wonderfully fitting that Brian chose to challenge himself by walking into his Dyscover session last week – the discussion topic for the session was ‘Greatest Achievements’ and Brian, who is normally in a wheelchair for his Dyscover sessions, demonstrated to his fellow members his determination and fortitude, and was greeted by rapturous applause from the rest of his group!

One of the joys of Zoom is when members are able to share items spontaneously during conversation. Several Tues Zoom members have been sharing stories of their successful crops of fruit and vegetables. Geoff has had 500 tomatoes growing all around the house, so many they’ve had to give lots away! Sam shared some samples from her bountiful harvest of pears while Geoff showed off one of his Cox apples and everyone traded ideas for how to use them!

It was lovely to see everyone back in the Thursday morning group, chatting about their Summer breaks and comparing notes on the sunflowers they’d grown in Dyscover’s Summer term project. John proudly displayed the huge 13in-wide flowerhead of his sunflower which had grown to 7ft 3in! Tony showed the members some beautiful photos he’d taken of his sunflower too. What a wonderful project it has been and members have really enjoyed charting and sharing the progress of their plants from seedlings to fully grown flowers over the term.

We loved hearing about what all our members got up to over the summer break in our sessions last week and were particularly pleased to hear of members (sometimes with volunteers) who’d met up independently of Dyscover for pub lunches, swimming and to watch the cricket. Thurs AM member Nick told his group about a fun outing to the Oval with members Bryan and John and volunteers Jim and Barry. Thanks to Jim’s organisation, the group had a thoroughly enjoyable day watching a 50 overs game of cricket between Surrey and Kent and took afternoon tea in the members restaurant.

Kingston members shared some lovely stories about some of their greatest achievements in our session this morning: Kevin described how he’d built a Durlton kit car, Deena talked about becoming a nurse and Sukhraj shared this beautifully crafted wooden cup which he’d made himself. It was a wonderful positive session and lovely to hear of the determination, bravery and talents of our members.

SLT Lin and Volunteer Dee have been rubbing shoulders with the Mayor of Kingston at a well-attended Volunteer fair last Thursday evening. The team managed to generate a lot of potential volunteer interest and enjoyed this community event, telling the attendees all about us!

At special request from the members, the Thursday Group visited Denbies Vineyard for their last session of term. While the weather was not what we’d hoped for, the drizzle did not dampen spirits and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the train tour through the vineyard, giving some atmospheric views through the mist to Box Hill, accompanied by an amusing and informative commentary on the grapes and history of Denbies. It was a lovely way to end the term. Happy Summer break everyone

Taking a rare tea break in the courtyard, Alice & Liz discovered an exceptionally tall sunflower….rushing to get the tape measure they were amazed to discover it to be 8.5ft tall!

Sadly due to all the rain the owner’s name sticker had been washed away, never-the-less a successful venture within the Thursday morning group we say!

Rhona was delighted to visit Kathy Cann at the Northeast Trust for Aphasia on July 20^th, on the day of their Summer Fair. The huge amount of preparation and activity for their afternoon tea, fundraising stalls and Aphasia Choir meant it was not their “normal group day” but Rhona chatted with members, the Chairman of Trustees and Professor Julie Morris, the Head of the Newcastle School of Education , Communication and Language Sciences .

It was clear that NETA and Dyscover have a huge amount in common in their shared aims of providing long term support for people with Aphasia. We agreed to strengthen our links in the future through our membership of the Aphasia Alliance and by aiming to connect our members more effectively so they can share their experiences of living well with Aphasia.