To celebrate Learning Disability Week 2020 which runs from 15th-21st June, Residents at The Beeches have joined in by completing lots of fun activities from the TILII (Telling It Like It Is group) resource booklet. The TILII Group are advocacy groups for people with a learning disability.

First we tuned into the Open Arts Dance class via Zoom, a contemporary dance programme that provides dance training for people with a disability. Robina, Nicola, Sharon, Karen joined in and learnt some new groovy dance moves. It was great fun and lovely to meet some of the TILII members along with their friend Timothy. Since Lockdown the guys haven’t been able to visit Timothy as he has been shielding so it was a lovely surprise to see him and join in the dance class with him.

Some of the residents enjoyed completing numerous activities from their booklets, such as the fun TILII quizzes, the colouring-in pages and the sing along songs. Our favourite song was ‘Simply the Best’ by Tina Turner, the residents had great fun singing their hearts out.

We talked about how important it was for our well being to keep in touch with our friends and family during Lockdown. We chatted about the numerous friendships that we have and how lucky we are to have such great support networks within The Beeches. The residents had great fun planting Sunflower seeds, we discussed how sunflower seeds can be a representation of friendship, how they start off small and with some love, support and dedication can grow and blossom into a lifetime of friendship. Just like the sunflower seeds, our friends need some support especially in the difficult and challenging times we find ourselves in now. We continue to encourage our residents to stay connected with friends and family, by sending letters or via video calls.

To finish off our friendship week of activities, the residents enjoyed some hand printing,our artwork will be framed and displayed to remind us all that even in these challenging and difficult times when we cannot see friends and family but that we have each other.