Take a look at these beautiful sketches from SM, a talented artist and Pave the Way volunteer. Thank you S, we need some workshops and greetings cards. Who wouldn’t love to own one of these?
Piercing emotions, beautiful sketches
The Secret Garden in Bute Park
Thanks to the determination of our wonderful Pave the Way volunteers, our OCD group socials ran from March to October this year. Group members have formed lasting friendships, and we have all enjoyed getting together every few weeks to catch up and chat, eat cake and drink cuppas.
2018 has flown by and though we are all sad to see the end of Pave the Way we know that these friendships will continue long into the future.
Most group members have attended a specialist OCD support group that runs from Ty Canna in Canton on a Monday evening. That same group also meets on a Thursday in Cardiff town centre for a get together. Find out more about the Ty Canna group by contacting Ty Canna at:
40, Market Road, Canton CF5 1RZ telephone: 029 2064 1530
Julian shows his skills – he thrashed us
28th march saw the second meeting of our OCD group. It’s a social thing, a small group of people meeting to chat about whatever comes to mind, to eat cake and to have a cuppa.
We had planned to go for a wander around Bute Park but early rain a change of venue to somewhere with a roof and a cafe. We met at the Museum, arriving just as lots of people were leaving for the day. We just sat in the cafe catching up and chewing the fat – well, chewing a delicious piece of cake to be honest…..
Great to meet up again, thanks all. Looking forward to the next one, Cardiff’s our oyster, where will it take us?
Stay well, Jo
Whatever you need to talk about the Samaritans are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Phone free on 116 123 or email [email protected], Cardiff and district info here: https://www.samaritans.org/branches/cardiff-district-samaritans
I started volunteering a couple of months ago. I volunteer a couple of hours a day, 2 days a week. VCS is a relaxed setting and where there is little pressure put on you so I can work at my own pace.
The VCS Radio Cardiff building is a 10 minute walk from the City Centre so it is easily accessible and easy to travel by bus or rail.
My main areas of focus are Administration & Research. With regards to administration:
With regards to research, I carry our research for WellWaves, a community mental health radio show. I put together information to give to the two presenters of the show.
I have also had buddying help role from Raj on how to cope with a reception role. I had about 5 hours help from him.
This beautiful, organic garden project is looking for volunteers. A couple of us were lucky enough to go and visit and have a look around. Ian, who runs the garden believes that there is space for all things so the slugs and snails get to share produce and space with bees, moths, frogs, toads, common lizards even a grass snake or two.
Just a short time after joining Pave the Way, on the 8th June, our inspirational volunteer, Karen spoke live on our Art of Being Well show about her experience of living with bipolar. Karen has an amazing story and her passion for all things wonderful is infectious. You can listen again here: www.mixcloud.com/BeingWell/the-art-of-being-well-8th-june-2017/
Karen on air with Jay and Jen – Cassie and Jo are in the studio listening in
James and the Diffusion team welcomed us to a recruitment session at the Ffotogallery studio at Chapter. We went along with colleagues from Pave the Way in the Vale. The festival ran throughout May 2017 across many venues in Cardiff. The Diffusion team offered lots of different volunteering opportunities. There was something for everyone: public facing; behind the scenes; admin and marketing; construction; social media, all sorts.
The festival exhibited works by photographers from across the globe and attracted visitors from far and wide – its theme was Revolution. You can find out more here: www.diffusionfestival.org/
In April, Pave the Way volunteers joined Guy O’Donnell, the Sherman 5 team and lots of other organisations to Get Creative.
We went behind the scenes and onto the stage which was set up for City Road Stories, and we got to sit in the Studio which was showing Killology. It was very hard to resist touching the props ……
City Road Stories was there, we got to add comments on a huge map of City Road. Needless to say the section around Poets’ Corner / PC’s / Tut & Shive was full of interesting memories …
The amazing Made In Roath Collective was at the event with a poetry booth. Lit bombing? We loved it. We got to choose a subject and the poet in residence at the booth composed express masterpieces. Here are two, one called Freedom and one called The Sherman.
Everyone signed up to join Sherman 5, some PtW volunteers signed up to be Sherman 5 reps.To top off a fantastic morning, refugees in Cardiff, through Cardiff City of Sanctuary, served up a stunning array of traditional dishes from a number of African Nations. This is Jo’s plate with Eritrean, Ugandan, and Congolese food.
Diolch Pawb!
Pave the Way – wellbeing through volunteering
Contact Jo for more information:
If you want to find out more about Sherman 5:
We had sunshine and fun when we hitched onto a Green Days volunteering session at Forest Farm on Friday 30th June. We were pulling balsam and crushing bracken. Forest Farm is beautiful, a real hidden gem. If you haven’t been there, check out this link for more information: http://forestfarm.org.uk/
Rangers explaining what balsam and bracken are – just as well as Jo was clueless
David, Kevin, Jo and the Green Days team who let us join them
David looking cool and working hard
This beautiful wildflower meadow was a patch of scrub land not so long ago. Green Days project volunteers cleared the land earlier in the year and planted it up, it’s near the rangers’ hut for everyone to enjoy
If you want to find out more about volunteering with the Green Days you can via this link: https://www.innovate-trust.org.uk/green-days/department or if you are a Pave the Way volunteer, contact Jo ([email protected])
Last Thursday saw the first of our weekly Pave the Way meet ups where a steady flow of around 30 people dropped in for a cuppa and a chat. It was a lovely couple of hours where new volunteers, existing volunteers and guests from our Art of Being Well show came together to talk more about the project and their experiences. Thank you to everyone who came along, especially to new volunteers who stepped out and came to find out more.
If you would like to find out more about Pave the Way and the ways you can get involved, come along to the Radio Cardiff Studio any Thursday between 1.30pm and 3.00pm and say hello. If you would like a chat beforehand you can email me at [email protected] telephone 029 2132 2627 or 07387 577390.
