Guideposts Olympic Games
The Olympic Games are so inspiring. Both to marvel and cheer on the elite athletes who do awe-inspiring things most people can only dream of, but also to spread a can-do attitude, to get involved and have fun with sport and games ourselves.
With the Olympics on the TV and in the news, Guideposts groups decided to create their very own Olympic games this summer, with three-legged and egg-and-spoon races in dementia friendly CONNECT groups, coin flipping, can rolling and other inventive challenges at our Community Mental Health Hub, and perhaps the most impressive of them all, an unforgettable Olympics day and barbecue at our Outdoor Wellbeing Hub for all 3 day opportunities services in Oxfordshire.
Guideposts Olympic Games at Outdoor Wellbeing Hub
The Dig’n’Grow gardeners at the Outdoor Wellbeing Hub started the preparations for the big Olympics Day weeks beforehand, deciding on games, creating equipment with woodwork, making clay medals, and lots of painting.
When the day came, they were excited to welcome friends old and new from GLADS and The Albion, and to play the games together.
Among the home-made games were Bagatelle, a game to get hoops over bottles, hook-a-boat, and an amazing, brightly painted seaside-style face-in-the-hole board.
Ability and disability within the group paled into insignificance, as everyone had a go, throwing, rolling, hooking, trying their skills at all the different games.
The most popular game?
The most popular game was Darts. The queue for a turn stretched around the field at one point. We found some people with excellent aim, getting close to the famous ‘180’ score, and everyone enjoyed having a go.
The most difficult game?
The most difficult was ‘fishing’ for home-made boats. Due to the high winds on the day, the boats were moving so quickly, it made it very difficult to catch their hooks!
Dancing the games away
After lots of great, friendly competition, the specially chosen play-list came to the fore, and there was dancing in and around the gazebo. We found out who were the ABBA fans, and knew the actions for YMCA, and who did the best Elvis impersonation.
One of the Dig’n’Grow Support Team, James, had his penultimate day with the group as he’s soon to be relocating. He was able to hand the baton on to new support worker, Jess.
Medals All Round!
At the end of the day, everyone was a winner and received a medal, a hand-shake and a round of applause. It was a fantastic day filled with smiles, sunshine and lots of positive energy.
Service member John made a speech thanking Team Leader Vicky for all her hard work in creating the day and providing the BBQ lunch.
He hadn’t realised that, due to the windy day, the BBQ had also proved challenging, but Dawn, Tim and Julie came to the rescue and got cooking in the kitchen too, to make sure there was food for everyone.
Community Opportunities Manager for Oxfordshire, Tim Hooper, said “It’s always brilliant when all our services come together and spend time with each other. It’s such a positive experience and makes such a difference to people’s emotional and social wellbeing and allows new friendships to blossom.”
A BIG thank you to the Dig ‘n’ Grow team for making this happen!
If you would like to be involved, helping to create fun events like this, please see our Opportunities to work or volunteer with us.
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