Advisory groups round-up
This is a roundup of what our advisory groups have been talking about in the last few months.
The Wise Owls (East Sussex)
We talked about the upcoming Annual General Meeting and made bunting and banners to decorate the stage with our messages about being Wise Owls. The main theme was about community.
We talked about how nice it was to get together in person after Covid, and how our lives have changed due to the pandemic.
We talked about things we can’t do anymore or things which have still not started back up in East Sussex, and how everyone misses those things.
We talked about what a social should be like and agreed they must all be in fully accessible venues and give everyone a chance to be social and chat so that everyone feels included and welcome.
Sports R Us (Sports Buddies)
We shared what sport, exercise or fun we had been doing since the last meeting.
We heard how the Sports Buddies project has been growing.
This helped explain the change in how Active Socials are now run and why they are mainly for people on the waiting list who don’t have a buddy yet.
The group looked at all the Sports Buddies photos, over the past year, and choose some good ones for us to use that will show all the activities Sports Buddies have been doing since we started.
Storm & Thunder (Brighton & Hove)
We talked about the cost of living crisis and whether people were worried about it. Everyone seems ok at the moment, but we talked about things we can do to keep bills down, think about prices when doing food shopping, and staying warm without the heating on.
Good ideas were wearing warm layers, using hot water bottles, drinking hot drinks, and cooking with lots of chilli!
When staying up late we could look for cheap or free gigs like open mic nights in pubs. We can drink water or cheap drinks like lime and soda.
We thought Possability People can help, and Paul said Learning Disability England have information too.
Learning disability club nights
We talked about a club night in Gloucestershire for people with learning disabilities which started at 5pm and was featured on the BBC website.
Although some nights like this are a good idea, we thought it is not really a night club if it starts at 5pm! And people should have the right to go out late if they want to!
We thought it was better to think about the reasons why people couldn’t go out late and what the barriers are. Not to just run separate events.
Everyone said they feel safe going out with friends, or staff, or their gig buddy.
No one likes going home by themselves so getting a taxi is sometimes a good idea. One person said she feels safe if she knows the staff at a venue.
Events coming up
We talked about our Annual General Meeting & party on Weds 16th Nov.
We are putting on a live gig with Carousel at the Green Door Store on Monday 21st November.
This is part of a bigger tour where Carousel are sending some of their amazing musical acts to do gigs at different Gig Buddies projects around the country!
