Friendship Archives - Touchstone

Celebration service for talented PR director and charity champion

Yorkshire’s businesses, charities and public relations organisations are invited to attend a service to remember Carol Rennard (Arthur) - a highly talented and popular communications director who recently passed away following a long illness. A service to celebrate Carol’s life and career will take place at Trinity Church, Tunstall, Tuesday August 27, 2.30pm followed by a gathering at The Kings Head, Richmond. The family is encouraging attendees to wear colourful

2019-08-22T17:02:50+01:0022nd August 2019|Friendship, Leadership, News|

National Biscuits Day!

It seems every day is National Something-or-other Day... but when I saw this day was coming up (just weeks after National Tea Day) I knew I wanted to write about it. One of the things people often say when they start working at Touchstone is that their clothes seem to be fitting quite snugly with the curries and refreshments from training and other get togethers. The IAPT team is no

2019-05-29T11:59:31+01:0029th May 2019|Blog, Food, Friendship|

Wellbeing and Befriending scheme

Steph Lewis from the Community Development Service explains how and why a Winter Wellbeing project has turned into a service that's offered all year round. In January 2017 ELHFA and CDS services jointly started the Winter Wellbeing Project which was based on the very successful Winter Wellbeing Café run during the winter of 2016. The Winter Wellbeing Project recognised that many people living in some of the most disadvantaged areas

2017-06-27T08:00:08+01:0027th June 2017|Blog, Community, Complex Needs, Friendship|

Afternoon tea – supporting a neighbour #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Juana Kwok from Touchstone Support Centre talks about being there for a neighbour who's husband is developing dementia. “I’ve seen you around the garden trimming your beautiful flowers.” “I tried not to disturb you.” “Ooh, please do.” “How are you?” “Yes, I am fine, thank you.” “How’s Joe…” “He’s not so good, he’s getting worse, he tends to be more forgetful, he wore his winter clothes on a warm day,

2020-04-17T10:28:26+01:0019th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Friendship|

Supporting a friend through her journey as a carer – Dementia Awareness Week #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Amina Ditta from the Peer-Led Brokerage Service and Kirklees Advocacy Service talks about sharing knowledge and support when dementia affects a friend's family. After attending an event which delivered the Dementia Awareness session it became very clear to me how this disease carries many misconceptions. I pursued this further by becoming a Dementia Champion. Around the time of this training, my friend Kelly learnt that her mum was presenting “strange

2020-04-17T10:28:24+01:0018th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families, Friendship|

Best Start Peer Support – New Service

Best Start Peer Support Touchstone is delighted to announce that we will be working with parents and carers in South and East Leeds over the next three years to deliver a brand new peer support service. Working in partnership with voluntary sector organisation Women’s Health Matters(WHM) and Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Early Start Service, we will enable pregnant women and parents/carers of babies aged 0-2 to support each other.

2020-04-17T10:25:14+01:0017th January 2017|Families, Friendship, News|

SES on the "orient Express"

Sikh Elders Service manager Chani Batebajwe describes the most recent outing organised for users of the service. SES went out on their annual trip on the 25th June to Whitby via Pickering on a steam train experience. Everyone, all 55 of them, attentively listened to the volunteer guide talking about the history of the railway and the area. At one time I thought I was going to see us riding on

2020-04-17T10:17:29+01:0018th July 2016|Blog, Events, Feedback, Friendship|

International Day of Kindness

On Friday 13th November 2015 it was International Day of Kindness. One of our IAPT colleagues Sally P has written the following piece to highlight the widespread benefits of random acts of kindness: Although on those bad days it can feel like we live in a society where people are uncaring, there has been a recent increase of individuals using social media to share examples of kindness in our society.

2015-11-16T09:16:09+00:0016th November 2015|Blog, Diversity, Friendship, Stress, Volunteering|

Friends for Life: International Friendship Day

Vanysha Sahota from Touchstone's Community Development Service wrote this article to mark International Friendship Day - and to talk about the role of friendship in personal and family life. When I think about the word ‘friend’, images of certain people take over my mind along with memories of good and bad times. Many people who have passed through my life, I have called my friends, from nursery and primary

2020-04-17T10:05:04+01:0031st July 2015|Blog, Friendship, Stress|