Reopening Plans for our Clubs & Groups

After a long and challenging 14 months we have been planning for the much anticipated reopening of our services. Our priority has always been the safety of the people we work support and work with, so our phased reopening has reflected this. While some groups have now been meeting for several months, some will only be returning in September 2021. Below you can find a list of all our groups and their current status, or planned reopening date.

Active Citizens - Currently meeting in person prior to a planned summer break. Returning in September.

Basketball Club - Currently meeting in person, on alternate Saturday mornings. (Upcoming dates 31st July/14th August/28th August/4th September)

Chill Out Club - Will be reopening in September 2021.

Flagship Art Club - Currently meeting in person, outdoors, prior to a planned summer break. Returning in September.

Gardening Club & Grantham Green Growers - Currently meeting in person on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at West End allotments and on alternate Fridays at Grantham Green.

Walking Group - Currently meeting every Friday morning in Eastleigh, at Lakeside Country Park or Fleming Park.

Christmas at Eastleigh

Christmas lights switch on

On November 16, a group from our Volunteering Crew met up in the evening to join the Parade before the Christmas lights were switched on, we were collecting for the Mayor of Eastleigh’s Charities Appeal. We had lights on our buckets and scarves! The crowd gave the parade a great welcome and we really enjoyed the fireworks.

Eastleigh BID is to be congratulated for getting so many people, young and old into the centre of Eastleigh for the event. Our Committee and volunteers ran a fundraising stall during the day time and enjoyed meeting many local people and encouraging children to make rainbow coloured Christmas characters.

Christmas Card Triumph!
The club members were invited to submit designs for the Mayor’s Christmas card last year. Our congratulations go to Abbie and Bill for having their outstanding designs selected for the official card.

These are some of the members of the Flagship Art Club enjoying their coffee break at our Christmas session in 2019. Club members work very hard during their sessions when they focus on the tasks they have been given. It is one of our most quiet clubs, except during coffee break!

Anyone with a serious interest in art and improving their practice who wants to join the Art Club, should call the office to find out how to join.

AGM and Annual Party - November 9, 2019

But it is not all hard work, we know how to party!

We held our AGM and annual party at the Cranbury Centre. The Annual Report and Treasurers Report were presented and anyone who requires a copy has only to request one, these can be sent by email or hard copy.

We had a fish and chip supper, a picture quiz and lots of dancing. We finally shut our DJ down at 10.30pm. No prizes for guessing which song these members are dancing to!

Lantern Procession, 19 October 2019

Members of the Flagship Art Club were joined by some friends to produce the lanterns. Everyone made a small individual lantern. The larger lanterns were a collaborative effort made by groups of members. 

We used wet willow to make the handles and the framework for the larger lanterns and covered them with various colours of tissue paper. Simple but very effective!

We paraded through the streets of Eastleigh with other lantern holding groups. We ended up at the bandstand, at dusk on Saturday evening accompanied by a Samba band. The Mayor of Eastleigh was there to welcome everyone.

Gardening Club barbecue 
Saturday – July 27

Our Gardening Club members and volunteers enjoyed a mid season barbecue, with the food being cooked by guest chefs Jackie and Girish.

Our thanks to them and everyone who was involved in organising the event and making it happen on the day. 

Eastleigh Mela, Sunday 21 July

We ran two stalls at the MELA this year, one for the Mayor’s Appeal with the game: Play Your Cards Right. Thanks to Abbie, Katherine, Matthew, Michael and Terry who helped to run the game. There were a surprising number of winners!

The other stall was our Society stall and we offered rainbow art activities for children and information about our work for anyone interested. Thanks to Elaine, Henry, Nasrin and Beverley who worked hard throughout the day. 

Community Picnic, 16 July 2019

This is an annual free event which the Active Citizens have run for seven years. It is to encourage people to get together over lunch and enjoy being outside. It is always the last session of the Active Citizens year and marks the start of our summer break.

For the second year we held it at Grantham Green. It was well attended with 36 people and 1 dog attending! We were honoured to have the Mayor of Eastleigh as our guest this year.

Day in the Park – June 29

We are grateful to our regular chefs, Tom and Neil for their hard work on the day cooking everything so expertly. It was a baking hot day!

Salads and desserts were prepared in advance by members of our talented committee.

This year we extended the event, running from 11 to 3.30 instead of just over lunchtime and we included a variety of games which people enjoyed.

Leckford Donation

Committee member, Henry Rau accepts a donation cheque from the Waitrose Community Matters Scheme at Leckford.

These donations are a really important part of our funding each year and we are grateful to the companies who accept our nominations and to the public who vote for us.

Thank you to Waitrose, Romsey, and their customers

Eastleigh Borough & Romsey MENCAP was featured as one of the three charities included in Waitrose Romsey’s Community Matters campaign early in 2019.
 
Thanks to everyone who voted for us. We were delighted to receive a cheque for £270 from Debbie, their Community Matters Co-ordinator. 

Spring Coffee Morning

Tuesday April 2, 10.30 -12noon at the Masonic Hall, Eastleigh

This event is being organised by our ACTIVE CITIZENS group. Everyone is invited and welcome to join us.

We will be running the following stalls:

1. Hobbies Stall - books, puzzles, DVDs and CDs
2. Accessories Stall – jewellery, hats, gloves, scarves
3. Drinks Tombola, and
4. Raffle – any new but unwanted gifts would be appreciated.

If you have donations for our stalls, please remember we do not have space to store items so please bring the stock on the day for us to sell. Let us know what you have in advance.We do not have space to store items so please bring the stock on the day for us to sell. Let us know what you have in advance and THANK YOU!

We want the event to be busy, fun and successful in raising funds for the Mayor’s chosen charities.
Call the office or email us if you have any queries or want to help.

NST CITY’s First Birthday Party
   
Members of Eastleigh Borough & Romsey MENCAP were invited to the Nuffield Theatre City‘s first birthday party on February 16.

We were involved in a theatre project with the Nuffield as our partner from 2015 to 2018 and were at the launch of the new theatre last year.  

The theatre put on an amazing array of entertainment, with dance numbers from ZoieLogic, singing by community choirs, party games in which everyone in Guildhall Square was involved and general mayhem.

There were lots of surprises and despite the grey but warm day, we had a great time. We also had jelly and ice cream, Hariboes and delicious cake!  

Ted Baker’s Bench - Grantham Green
The final part of the Grantham Green transformation project was the provision of a bench dedicated to Ted Baker who died in January 2017.

Ted was a volunteer walk leader for Eastleigh Borough & Romsey MENCAP, but had a far greater role as a friend of the people with learning disabilities who attended the Friday Club at the QE2 Centre. He and Helga took scores of people and their carers on holidays to Germany and to other countries over the past 40 years.

 We were pleased to ask Helga, Ted’s wife and daughter, Ellen, to unveil the bench. Fifty five people attended on Monday September 25 and enjoyed tea and coffee in the Grantham Arms afterwards. Many thanks to landlord Jeff for his hospitality.

Our part of the Grantham Green transformation project was funded by a generous grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Outing to Exbury

Our annual Outing for members this year was to Exbury.

It was of course another of this summer’s hot days but Exbury has some fabulous trees to provide shade for our walk.

We all enjoyed the unexpected soaking by the estate’s sprinkler system. We managed to walk around the whole estate and enjoyed a ride on the steam train at the end.

Our thanks to HIWFC Small Grants, Small Items for subsidising this trip and to Exbury Estate staff for their warm welcome.