dyscover – rediscovering communication

Posted 16th January 2020

On Tuesday 14th January all of Dyscover’s Kingston groups were delighted to receive visits from the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, Councillor Margaret Thompson. The Mayor talked to each group about her background in nursing and paediatric healthcare and found much common ground with afternoon member Deena who had also been a nurse and lecturer. The Mayor also explained about her role and shared some amusing anecdotes about her experiences as Mayor as well as lots fascinating facts about her badge, costume and the Mayor’s maces (the oldest in the country thanks to the ingenuity of the people of Kingston when Oliver Cromwell ordered all maces to be destroyed).
In the morning, the Mayor also took part in a small group session where she chatted to morning members Graham, Lee, Jeremy and Jack about their interests and background. In the afternoon, members Sarah, Deena, Nial and Debbie talked to her about their personal experiences of aphasia and how Dyscover had helped them regain confidence, find support from their peers and, for Sarah and Nial, return to work. She had much praise for Dyscover’s work and said the positivity, humour and determination of the members was very evident.

Posted 10th January 2020
Dyscover’s volunteers come in all ages and includes 15 year old Alex who has been helping Dyscover keep the iPads up to date and working efficiently. Small tasks like these carried out by volunteers who have some spare time and specific skills are of huge value to the team especially at the start of a new busy term.

Posted 19th December 2019
100 guests enjoyed another fabulous Dyscover Christmas lunch. I am thrilled to say that thanks to everyone’s generosity the Hamper raffle raised £805!

We hope that you all have a great Christmas, our office is now shut until 2nd January and our groups do not return until 7th, 8th and 9th January, following our team meeting with Volunteers on 6th.

Posted 19th December 2019
Each of our groups enjoyed Christmas cheer and festive music to end the term. We also said a fond farewell to Speech Therapist Hyacinth and long term volunteer Sue who have brought so much to our Leatherhead Members. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2020.

Posted 19th December 2019
Volunteer Suzie organised and ran a ‘Guess the Baby’ competition for the Wednesday morning Members and social comms group. Everyone was asked to bring in a photo of themselves aged 5 or under and Susie arranged all 25 photos on the display boards. Everyone had to try and put a name to a face, and it was harder than we all expected. A great end of term group activity!