22nd April 2016


Hi there, sorry we didn't update yesterday, we had a couple of technical issues to sort out.


First of all, we would like to wish one of our Bloggers a very speedy recovery and look forward to him taking his place at the keyboard again very soon!

                              Get Well soon Peter!




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The message below is an email from Keith Hogan regarding Gateshead's Special Olympic teams latest awards. It seems that our athletes are making quite a name for themselves! Well done to everyone, these are amazing achievements. 



"All,

 An email to say thanks to you all for your individual support over the last 2 years in helping us to develop Special Olympics Gateshead into the sporting club it has become today.  Last night at the prestigious North East Disability Sports Awards in Darlington, Special Olympics Gateshead won the ‘Outstanding Club’ Award out of 21 clubs.  After catching our breath from that one, Jemma Robinson (See attachment) was then declared as the ‘Female Sports Personality’ award for her international powerlifting accomplishments.  In the presence of world record holders and Paralympic Gold Medalists, it was an absolute delight to see our athletes being on par with such athletes and feeling such pride in their achievements.

 

Thanks again for all your encouragement and support."

Keith Hogan l Service Manager l Social Care and Independent Living l Care, Wellbeing and Learning I Gateshead Council

                   Special congratulations go to                 Gemma Robinson, Female Sports Personality of the Year. Well done Gemma, we are really impressed with all of your achievements, you are an inspiration!


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Remember that we mentioned a little while ago about supporting a local charity and we came up with Brysons Animal Shelter? Well, we have a flyer now to promote this cause. If you would like to join us please contact us either via the telephone number on the flyer or through the blog email address marquiswayblog@gmail.com 
We are looking forward to getting this started.


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Makaton Sign of the Week.


                                 "Good Morning"

                                                      Step1. Thumbs Up

                                                      

                                                        Step 2: Tap Chest (opposite side to hand)

                                                         Step 3: Tap Chest (same side as hand)

Get practising!

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And that's it for this week, we'll have photo's of the latest Carnival date, which was yesterday, in Washington.

We'll have some Elvis news for you!

Oh, before we go, don't forget that Marquisway will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday, May 2nd 2016.

See you soon

The Bloggers

!4th April 2016


Hi there, as promised, here are the photographs from our Elvis show.

As you can see it was a very popular show! We are hoping that 'Elvis' will be back again soon, we'll keep you posted.


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Remember last week when we told you about our Ten Pin Bowling Teams upcoming trip to Sheffield to take part in a tournament? Well, the results are in!


John Farrimond - 2 Gold Medals! 
Andrew Pagan - ! Gold and 1 Silver Medal!
Anthony Charlton - 2 Silver Medals!
Daniel Boyle - 2 Silver Medals!
David Farrell - 2 Silver Medals!
Jason Fox - 1 Silver and 1 Bronze Medal!
Keith Skelton - 2 Bronze Medals!


Absolutely fantastic achievement by the whole team, well done everyone. Apparently they were grinning like 'Cheshire Cats' on the way home!

   
Here are some photo's of the day...

We'll keep you updated of all our Special Olympic achievements as they happen! Please remember to take lots of photo's for us and email them to us!

Blogged by Norman Stephenson

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NEW! NEW! NEW!       WALKING TO MUSIC

Here at Marquisway we have a new session called "Walking to Music", this will take place on a Friday morning in our Performing Arts room. Why not pop in and check it out? A great way to get fit and have fun at the same time.

We are also introducing an extra session of Wheelchair dance as it is proving very popular, this will on a Monday morning in the performing arts room from 10am - 11.30am 

Blogged by Susan Dalton

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We have had some interesting information about Bill Quay Farm from Mel in Team 3...

Bill Quay Community Farm is a  registered charity​ that  operates the farm on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of the wider community.

Recently the farm has upgraded some footpaths with the help of funding from the Lottery. Now the work is nearing completion the next step is to offer 5 free guided sessions of the farm in order to 'try out' this new access facility, particularly for groups who could not access the difficult paths before the upgrade.

We are looking for a range of groups who will come to try out the paths and enjoy more opportunity to see the animals outside. We also want all who come to discover the farm and what other great features it has to offer. In return we would like feedback and comments, maybe a questionnaire to fill in.

• The sessions will be held on dates during May /June 
• The sessions will be around two hours duration  - e.g. 10.30 - 12.30  or  1pm - 3pm
• There is the cafe facility for those who might like to stay for some lunch after or before the guided session
• The farm cannot offer transport so the groups will have to make their own way there and return journeys
• Groups can contact me direct on the above email and we can book in dates and times to suit.

We would suggest that you speak to your team staff or your carers if you fancy a trip to the farm so that you can get booked in.

Animal pics of Bill Quay Farm...

We especially like the laughing horse!
Blogged by Ms Christine Croudass


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At Marquisway we have introduced a Makaton "Sign of the Week". This weeks sign is ...

                                        "TO WANT"


Each Monday the Sign for the week will be announced. There will be lots of opportunity to practice each sign.
We have regular Makaton sessions throughout the centre and even incorporate signing into some of our other activities. Many people that attend Marquisway have learnt a lot of signs over the years and we have found that it is a brilliant way to help us to communicate with each other. It helps people to express themselves with or without speech.


We will be letting you know, each week, what the current sign is. Make sure that you ask for a demonstration of how to make the sign from team staff, service users or our Makaton Champion - Shona Tong.
Blogged by Elaine Menzies


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And that's it for this week!


Thank you for your time


The Bloggers

 

 

 

 

7th March 2016

Hello there and welcome back to our BLOG.

As we mentioned last week, our BOCCIA team were in action at the weekend. We have a selection of photographs for you to have a look at.

Meet the Team ... 

From the Left Janet Hind, Aaron Younger, Paul Gallagher, Michael Welsh, Christopher Smith, Susan Dalton, John Farrimond, David Horncastle.
Kneeling at the front Kath Iveson (Coach), Stuart Scorer.
At the back Sarah Forster (Support staff).
Taking the photo: Terry Rann.

The Medals ...

Gateshead A team - Bronze

Gateshead B team - 4th Place

                                                    Gateshead C team - Silver

Well done to everyone involved, we're all very proud of you!

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As we told you last week we are going to tell you a little about our Wheelchair dance sessions here at Marquisway.

We have some photographs and we have also tried to upload a short video clip. The clip may not play on council computers due to not having the correct software installed on some of them, sorry! 

Wheelchair dance is a dance course led by Fully Qualified WDSA dance instructors, Nicola and Laura. "We are currently developing routines that are designed to promote Equality and Stimulation for wheelchair users and their partners. These include: Group dances, Samba, Quickstep and Waltz to a variety of music styles."

 

(The video! Fingers Crossed!) 

Any questions about  Wheelchair Dance please contact Laura or Nicola at Marquisway.

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Our Elvis afternoon was a huge success! We are hoping to organise for him to come back for more shows over the coming months, we will keep you updated.

We were hoping to bring you the photographs of Elvis, unfortunately, we haven't received them in time to publish, we will have them next week for you.

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Finally, a little date for diaries.

Marquisway will be closed on the next Bank Holiday which is Monday 2nd May.

And that's it for this week, don't forget that if you want us to promote an event that you can contact us at marquiswayblog@gmail.com

or if you have received an email advertising our BLOG, you can reply via that address too!

See you next time,

The Bloggers

(Christine, Sally-Anne, Norman and Susan)