When I went to Cwmbran Library on Friday afternoon to do some work I didn’t expect to be rattling a tambourine and singing Walking Back to Happiness.
Jen from Torfaen Council’s Community Connectors team came over and told me that a group called Forget Me Not Friday was meeting up at 1pm and would I like to pop in? It sounded intriguing so my answer was “yes”.
It’s a joint project with Cwmbran Library to give a space for people with dementia or memory loss and a bit of respite for their carers. An hour later I was drinking a coffee sat next to Sheila and tapping away to songs including Quando, Quando, Quando, A Teenager in Love and Swinging On A Star.
Mel from the library and Jen handed out song sheets, tambourines and rattlers to the eight of us around the table and we were off!
For the final song, The Great Pretender, Mel said: “I want you all to sing your hearts out”. Sheila chipped back with: “Right! I will!” and she did :-).
The council describes the connectors as: “Torfaen Connectors support and enable people to find suitable activities, groups and networks that join like minded people who may have similar interests. This helps encourage participation and engagement in the community and builds self-confidence, resilience and well-being.”
At 3pm some of the groups’ carers arrived. A couple of them said how much they appreciate the two hours of time to themselves.
🙏 Support Cwmbran Life and back independent journalism in this area
If you enjoy Cwmbran Life, please consider supporting the site so I can keep writing and sharing the stories you like to read. Every story, photo or video has taken time to produce and share with you. News isn’t free. There are several ways you can help me spend more time out and about in the community:
🤝 Become a Facebook Fan subscriber.
☕️ Buying Me a Coffee – Make a donation or become a subscriber.
💻 Businesses can advertise on the site’s business and organisation directory or take out some sponsored social media posts. Email [email protected] and we can chat.
💸 Send a donation via PayPal.
