Celebrations Winter 2025
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In this news letter Our News
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Ludoquist
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Bexley Speaking Up Group
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Ladies group
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Trip to Broadstairs
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Overnight stay at Cudham
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Members Monthly Meeting – Lewisham Visit
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In this news letter Easy Read Team win an award!
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Getting Older group
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St James’ Park Trip
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Stay up Late at Community
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House - Karaoke
Lads Group Members Monthly Meeting – Cinema trip Peer supporters and volunteers
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In this news letter Positive Voices conference
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Speak Up Sutton
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Bromley Partnership Board news
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Wordsearch
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Dates for your diary
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Contacts
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Our news The lovely Amy got married this summer to her husband Tom. Congratulations Amy and Tom!
Our supporter Susie welcomed two furry kittens into her home. They are called Shadow and Neo
We welcome Josie, our new volunteer, who is helping the ladies group
We also welcome back Cathy, who is helping us with our volunteering
We also welcome Sarah, our new student, who is working with the Bromley and Bexley
groups
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We said goodbye to Tracy. Tracy worked for many years with the self advocacy groups across all the areas. We wish you all the luck for the future, Tracy
Some of members, including Polly, Laura, and Gill, have been taking part in Keep Fit with Mencap
Susie, Isaac, and George attended a cricket match at the Oval in the Summer. The got to watch from the Pavilion!
The Big Plan for Bromley has now been
printed and is being worked on. You can get your copy from the office
Laura is FINALLY getting her home decorated. She is very excited about it
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Our lovely Polly is the face of Bromley Mencap’s fundraising campaign! Look our for Polly on posters around Bromley
David has retired from being co-chair of the Partnership Board. Thank you David for all the work you have put in over the years
We would like to welcome our new co-chair, Gordon! We wish you all the luck in your new role
Ian is now a trustee on Advocacy For All’s
trustee board, representing the groups. Congratulations Ian!
This newsletter is filled with secret “celebrations” chocolates – can you find
them all?
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Ludoquist
On Wednesday 19th November The Bexley group and Bromley group went a
games café in Croydon, called Ludoquist
We all played boardgames and had a drink.
Everyone enjoyed themselves, some of the games were quite complex to set up
There were lots of games to choose
from, which was good.
I played a game called Ticked to Ride, where you had to plan a train journey from one American state to another.
Susie showed me how to play it and I really enjoyed it
I would definitely go back again
By Stephen
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I started working for Bexley Mencap as a community hub assistant, and it went off with a bang
3 people including myself had an
introduction for 2 weeks. The 3rd week I went to the Bexley Mencap allotment. I helped people with learning disabilities do weeding, putting bark on the ground over winter
In December with the group, I will be helping making plans for Christmas party and games
The new hub will be in Sidcup and I
will work only on Thursdays. The other community hub assistant will do other days as we have chosen what days we would like to work By Duncan
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July In ladies night we did a session on: stay safe in the hot weather and staying cool We heard some top tips and facts about keeping cool and played games to help us remember Put 6 – 8 teaspoons of sun cream every 2 hours We met the new volunteer Josie August This session we did self care and relaxation Amy did the self care part, josie did the relaxation with us October We went to the Swan and Mitre for a social
We had nice food and a catch up By Susie B, Polly, and Teresa
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Broadstairs Trip On 20th August, members from Bromley and Bexley, went on a day trip to Broadstairs
We split up in groups and did lots of different activities, such as the beach, walks and shopping Laura’s favourite bit was going to the Dicken’s House museum. “It was very
interesting. I liked seeing the old dollhouse and Dicken’s bed” Gordon’s favourite bit was walking along the beach. “I also enjoyed the
yummy fish and chips”
We all enjoyed the ice creams at Morellis!
By Laura and Gordon
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Cudham Trip On the 4th June we went to Cudham Environmental Activities Centre, run by Tracy Cleveland.
We did some activities and also some of us stayed overnight. Polly and Adam went home and come back the following
day
On the first day, we went for a walk in the woods, relaxed, and had a bonfire with hot chocolate!
On the second day, we did a workshop about campaigning, focusing on benefits. We also did a role play
It was nice to get away to Cudham. We hope to do it again next year
By George and Benny
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Members Monthly Meeting Lewisham Speaking Up come to visit us twice at Members Monthly Meeting
They came to talk to us about some campaigns they are involved in
The first one was about benefits changes and a report they had written about what they had learned
The second time they visited us was
about the We Can’t Wait Campaign getting people with learning disabilities put higher on waiting lists for treatment Polly “I learned about how many people are affected by having to wait a long time for treatment, sometimes even life saving treatment. It made me feel frustrated that people can’t get seen quicker. I think it’s a campaign we should get behind”
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Easy read award! The easy read team travelled to Sheffield to the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List Awards
The team won an award in the
Advocacy, Policy, and Media category
When we won an award, we gave a speech
We remembered members who have been a part of the team over the years and members who are no longer with us
We were very proud of ourselves, and what we have achieved
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Easy read award! “I thought the day was lovely, I enjoyed the music performance in the break” Polly
“I liked the speeches from the presenters especially from the Olympian Beth
Moulam and Claire Bates” George
“It was great to see all the different award
winners and seeing all the things people are doing and celebrating people with Learning Disabilities” Teresa
By Polly, George and Teresa
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Easy read award! While some of the team were at Sheffield, others from the team were celebrating at the office.
We had a party at the office.
Paul set up the laptop to the TV when we arrived at the office before the live stream started.
As the live stream started we watched the easy read team getting the award.
We are proud to get the award for all the hard work the easy read team has been
doing, both recently, and in the past
By Paul and Laura
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Getting Older lunch At the getting older group we have been discussing what issues people
feel are important to them as people with learning disability
We have discussed worrying about getting older, our parents, and carrying responsibilities
We have talked about changes in our own needs and needing our accommodation adapted
People have spoken about wanting to know more about lasting power of attorney
We are going to do some work about planning for a funeral
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Getting Older lunch The group has discussed health changing and the worries of people with a learning disability dying young. We want to get more involved in a health campaign
Housing and benefits are a worry to people
People say they like to meet so they can look forward to the future
Its about knowing about things that can help us
It can help prepare us for things like
parents getting older and important things like writing a will
By Jan
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St James’ Park We went to St James’ park In London. We met Ian, Benny and
Chris from Bexley, and we met Juan and Rachel from Sutton.
We had our photo taken in front of Buckingham palace
We stopped for a coffee and cake at the café
We saw the pelicans, swans, we stopped for some lunch, played a few games, then we went the portrait gallery
By Teresa and George
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Stay Up Late – Karaoke On 6th August, we hosted a
Karaoke Night at Community House, as a Stay Up Late event
We got to sing our favourite songs. Chris from Bexley was our
DJ.
We had lots of friends come join us for the evening
We also had guests from other advocacy groups, including from Greenwich and Lewisham, as well as members from our Bromley, Bexley and Sutton Groups
It was really fun!
By Polly
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July We talked about complaints and how to make them. we also did an icebreaker called 100 Lists August We had a general chat. We also talked about the favourite things we like to do September We went to the Pub to celebrate Adam and Sanjay’s birthdays October We talked about Community and how people treat those with learning disabilities November We went bowling at the Pavilion
By George and Gordon
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On 27th October, as part of our Community topic, members of Members Monthly Meeting went to the Cinema to see the film “I Swear”
It was based on a true story about a man with Tourette's Syndrome.
Some bits of the movie were a bit sad, but the film had a good
ending.
It was nice to get out and do something different
By Polly
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Peer Supporters and Volunteers We wanted to celebrate our peer supporters and volunteers. We asked some of them to tell us something they
are proud of Laura – Volunteer “My favourite memory is when I got my Jack Petchey Leaders award. I got it for working hard. Everyone calls me the walking diary!”
Teresa – Peer Supporter “I am proud of being able to get more ladies to coffee morning. We now have 2 more regular women coming. My goal is to get more!” George – Peer Supporter “I am proud of doing zoom with the lads after my operation. It was important to share my story with the group and help
them learn”
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Peer Supporters and Volunteers Paul – Volunteer
“I love being busy! I like being able to be helpful. I have lots of happy memories from being Yaninka’s PA and keeping her in line”
A big thank you to all of our peer supporters and volunteers, including: • Sarah • Juan • Philip • Josh • Nathan • Amy • Chris
• Sue • Josie • Cathy • And many more!
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Positive Voices A group of members from our Speaking Up groups went to the Positive Voices conference in Birmingham again this year
The conference was about health, and how the NHS has affected people with learning disabilities and autism. There was a panel of professionals and self advocates who were asked questions.
The second half was celebrating what the self advocacy groups have been up to this year.
We shared our Money Money Money part 2 video. Jan’s group, SUSO, won the best
presentation award!
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Positive Voices Ian “I was happy to have the chance to go to Birmingham for the conference. I enjoyed connecting with many groups from all over the country. I felt proud when seeing the strength and determination each group showed in their presentations and in the panel discussion. Together I feel we have a powerful voice. I hope we can stay connected with the groups” Sarah “I had a great experience, as always! I really enjoy hearing what all the other groups are up to and sharing ideas. Bring on next year!” Juan “It was brilliant. It was a fantastic fay. I really enjoyed going, and am glad I went”
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Speak Up Sutton Members of Speak Up Sutton met up for an independent social at
Wetherspoons in Wimbledon
Philip “I enjoyed it”
Anthony “It was nice to see everyone and have lunch with everyone”
Lucy “Had a great time with my friends”
Roger “I have really enjoyed being with you all”
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Bromley Partnership Board The Bromley Partnership Board recently made a huge change. They said a giant thank you to David Barnett who has been the boards co chair for a very long time. He said “I’ve enjoyed being co chair I will miss it, but it’s time for a change.” The members of the board with a learning disability voted for a new co chair. The winner is….. Gordon Ager After winning Gordon said “'Thank you for this opportunity I will work very hard and do my best for you all” Congratulations Gordon.
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Celebration
Festival
Birthdays
Crackers
Parties
Party Poppers
Awards
Christmas
Party Hats
Happy By Susie B
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Dates for your diary 2nd January – groups are open again after Christmas, starting with Bromley Together Coffee Morning
14th February – Stay Up Late event at Sutton United
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Contacts Rachel
07711 590398
Susie
07702 252840
Jan
07730 762924
Yaninka
07706 360405
Isaac
07710 707667
Funmi
07715 068941
Gracie
07395 789110
Bromley Office
0208 315 2508
Swanley office
0345 310 1812 31