Page 4 - April 2016 Issue 302

4 THE NEW COUNTESTHORPE HERALD
BEAVERS ‘DAM’ DEMENTIA
from front page
We learnt about the difficulties dementia sufferers may face in remembering things, and in looking after themselves, discussing how this might make people feel sad, lonely and not part of our community.
We understood how people often remember emotions, even if not what made them happy/sad.
APRIL 2016
all of our children can feel a great sense of pride and achievement in what they have done.
As well as the individual projects, the youngsters decided on some events that they would do as a whole group. Before Christmas, we went into Cherrytree Residential Home and Brook Court, to sing songs to the residents and wish them a Merry Christmas. The Beavers then returned to Cherrytree, on Tuesday 26th January and Wednesday 3rd February, to play games with the residents, decorate biscuits, and reminisce with them, looking at pictures and artefacts from the resident’s lives and comparing them to their own. This was a great event, enjoyed by both residents and Beavers. It was brilliant to see our youngsters engaging with the residents, having fun, and creating the positive times we had aimed for.
On Tuesday 9th February, both colonies met together to hold a joint Celebration Evening, remembering all of the wonderful things we have achieved during our Million Hands project over the last few months. Special guests included South Leicestershire ADC Beavers Elaine Wakelam, Councillor Sheila Scott from the Blaby District Council, Dee Lehan- Matthews from the Alzheimers Society, and a photographer from the Leicester Mercury! Dee spoke to the children about how the money they had raised could help the chariity. We learnt that two ‘Happy Meals’ can buy a visit to a Memory Cafe for someone with dementia, while all of the money together can help towards the important research of the charity. Then, we were able to present the cheque for the total money raised by all of the fundraising activities. This incredibly came to a grand total of £399.25! After spending time talking to many Beavers about their projects, Cllr Scott told all the Beavers just how brilliant they were. Overwhelmed by what she had seen and heard, she said that she would be writing a report to take to the next Full Council meeting, to let them know about the youngster’s fantastic work, and spread the Million Hands message even further. She then took part in the presentation of certificates and badges to every Beaver. This excellent project has seen our Beavers recognised by the local media.
We decided therefore that we would focus on 3 main areas in our project:
1.Raising awareness of dementia among our family and friends, so that more people could understand and help those with dementia.
2.Fundraising for Alzheimers Society, to help them continue their essential work supporting those living with dementia and improving their quality of life.
3. Creating positive times and emotions in those with dementia by visiting people, and spending time doing fun activities for everybody.
Then, it was time to make those plans happen! Each child needed to do 4 hours of actions supporting our cause, though most of our youngsters have done far more than that! Some of these were done as a whole group as part of our regular meetings, but each child also gave up hours of their own time, to carry out an individual project that they chose themselves. As leaders, we have been completely amazed by the hard work, commitment and desire to make a difference that all of the Beavers have shown throughout. The projects included various cake sales, a sponsored dog walk, reading a poem to their classmates to raise awareness of dementia and explain what sufferers go through, selling handmade ‘Hama bead’ keyrings and badges, and visiting elderly relatives in their own homes or care homes. At the start of the
project, we promised a prize for the most successful and effective project. All of the Beavers did something very special, meaning this was an incredibly hard decision, but the winners were:
• Michael, age 6, was awarded a medal as a Special Commitment Award for his exceptional project. Incredibly, he gave up part of his Christmas Day to help cook Christmas Dinner for a group of elderly and vulnerable people at Thurnby Lodge Church. .
• Tuesday Colony winners: Max and Tolly, 7, not only ran a cake sale, raising £39 for Alzheimers Society, but also took over their after-school club for the afternoon, engaging a large number of children older and younger than them in the cause, explaining why it was important to raise money and running a cake decorating class to raise more money.
• Wednesday Colony winners: Kieran and Luke, 6, who raised £132 for Alzheimers Society through a cake sale to the congregation at St Andrews Church, and showed a lot of hard work and enthusiasm to do this.
What makes all this even more impressive is that these activities were thought of, planned, and carried out by the youngsters themselves. A key part of the Million Hands project, and Scouting generally, is that the youngsters themselves lead their projects and programmes, meaning that
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