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Contact us
Maidstone Carers Project
39-48 Marsham Street,
Maidstone Community Support Centre
Maidstone,
ME14 1HH
01622 685276
Activities
All our carers activity groups are funded by donations to the project or by fundraising activities such as tea making at the Maidstone Mela, sales of handmade cards and sales of our calendar for 2010. Please consider our project if you are in the position of donating or directing some charitable money to a good cause. |
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STOP PRESS - FUNDING NEWS! We were successful in our grant application to the Colyer Furgusson Charitable Trust which will enable us to fund our present carers activity groups over the next two years. This is wonderful news for us as it will enable us to plan activities and groups for the future, secure in the knowledge that we have the funds to continue. Our grateful thanks to the Trustees for their generous contribution. We would also like to thank Waitrose for naming us one of the charities of the month during March and to thank those customers who placed their tokens in our box. We received a cheque for over £400 which will go towards our Carers Week outing this year. Our grateful thanks also to Riverside Rotary Club for their cheque for £300 which will be used to fund an extra card making group in the June/July. This group is so popular that some carers were unable to get a place on the last session. Towards the end of the financial year Mar 2010 we received three donations which brought our activity fund into the black! We had been struggling to continue with our swimming and exercise groups. Many thanks to the Maidstone Kent Active Retirement Group for their very kind donation of £150 from the proceeds of their Christmas Raffle. An ex carer nominated us as the charity of the year at his golf club - he said it wouldn't be a lot of money so we were delighted to receive a cheque for £1,000! We also received a generous donation of £500 from The Joseph Rowntree Foundation which covered our costs for the card making groups. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation also enabled us to update the Trusted Trades Register in 2009, so we thank them for their continued support. Last but not least our Rachel Smith who has been running a series of Marathons in our Maidstone Carers Project T Shirt. Many thanks to all those carers who have sponsored her. All the money raised will go towards the Carers Activities.
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NEW ART GROUP! A new self help art group met for the first time on 12 April.The idea is to bring along your own materials and do your own thing but together as a group so that you set aside a couple of hours each month to be 'creative'. The group will decide between themselves what they want to do and how often they want to meet, perhaps going out on a painting or sketching trip sometimes. Future art groups are on 24 May, 07 June and 05 July. If you would like to come along ring Christine on 01622 685276. |
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MUSIC & EXERCISE + LINE DANCING GROUP Some carers enjoy the aerobic type exercise to music in the first 1/2 hour best and others prefer the dancing! Come along for the half hour exercise or just for the dancing - you may decide to stay for the whole hour and feel fitter too! We hope to see you on Thursday afternoons from 3 - 4pm at the Holy Family Catholic Church Hall in Parkwood Call Christine if you need a lift |
THE SWIMMING GROUP meets on Tuesday mornings from 10.20 at the Living Well Fitness Centre at The Hilton Hotel in Maidstone. Two groups swim or gym on alternate weeks. After a workout or a swim, relax in the steam room, sauna or jacquzzi and finish off with a coffee in the hotel lounge. Thanks to the funding from the Colyer Furgusson Trust we have been able to increase the membership to 8 carers each week plus our wonderful organiser Hilary. Ring Christine if you would like more details 01622 685276 |
Monthly walking group for carers - come rain, come shine! The group meets on the last Monday of the month alternating between an easy walk and a longer country walk to cater for all physical abilities. It is always very sociable, some carers finishing with either a picnic lunch or pub lunch. Let Rachel know if you are interested in coming along and if you need any help with transport or arranging alternative cover
The walks are an excellent way of getting out to meet other carers, exchange views and information at the same time as enjoying some very beneficial fresh air and exercise. 01622 685276 |
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 The Book Club |
”Renee is the concierge of a grand apartment building on the left bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated – an ideal concierge. Beneath this conventional facade she is passionate about culture and the arts and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally deprived lives.”
In the blue corner – it was great fun; the characters were sympathetic and appealing, the short chapters gave it good momentum, the change in ‘voice’ from the older concierge to the teenage tenant made it lively and interesting. It was a charming story. In the red corner – Some of the language was difficult; the author seemed to strive to find particularly long and difficult words, it did not appeal.
We had no meeting of minds!
BCO 13 Jul 2010
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The Book club meet at the Maidstone Community Support Centre, once a month on Tuesdays from 10-11.30. . For details call Christine on 01622 685276 2010 MEETINGS 10 Aug 14 Sep - 12 Oct- 09 Nov - 14 Dec |
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry |
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Reading List The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barberry Small Island - Andrea Levy All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd The Mesmerist - Barbara Ewing The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey The Story of Forgetting - Stephen Merril Block The Mesmerist - Babara Ewing The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey The Story of Forgetting - Stephen Merril Block Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale The Rain Before it Falls - Jonathan Coe Not Forgotton - Neil Oliver A Thousand Spendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh The Suspicions of Mr Whitcher - Kate Sumerscale Tell it to the Skies - Erica James Sea of Poppies - Armitav Gosh The Pirate's Daughter - Mararet Cezair-Thompson
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The Painter of Shanghai - Jennifer Cody-Epstein Disolution - C J SansomResistance - Owen Sheers A Conversation on the Quai Voltair - Lee Langley The Sea Lady - Margaret Drabble The Master Bedroom - Tessa Hadley The Tenderness of Wolves - Steff Penney My Cousin Rachel - Daphne u Maurier The Philosophy of Friendship : Mark Vernon Snow Flower and the Secret Fan : Lisa See Half of a Yellow Sun : Chimammandia Ngosi Adichie House of Orphans : Helen Dunmore Linger Awile : Russel Hoban Tomorrow to be Brave : SusanTravers Long and Winding Road : Andrew Marsh Jane Eyre : Charlotte Bronte The Sign of Four : Arthur Conan Doyce Book seller of Kabul : Asne Seirstad Truckers : Terry Pratchet Digital Fortress : Dan Brown NB: Reviews available on request |