grampian child bereavement network · 2018. 4. 3. · registered charity no. sco40712. tel:...

Registered Charity no. SCO40712. Tel: 01224594099. Email [email protected]. Supported by the Archie Foundation and Mental Health Aberdeen.

GRAMPIAN CHILD

BEREAVEMENT

NETWORK

Family Newsletter – Easter 2018. Issue number 15.

Hello and welcome to our Easter Newsletter.

It’s our first newsletter of the year, our fifteenth overall and my first as coordinator.

I started as the charities coordinator last November I am thoroughly enjoying the role. I retired from

Police Scotland last year and this is certainly different from my last job, for a start everyone I speak

to are nice!

I have spoken or exchanged emails with a number of parents and carers since I started. It is clear

from listening to your experiences just how important the service provided by GCBN is to children in

Grampian.

The trustees have made me feel very welcome and I have been very impressed by the dedication of

our small cadre of volunteers.

As will be explained in the newsletter there are exciting times ahead for us with our aim to expand

on our volunteer cadre which will allow us to re-evaluate our services, looking at how we can meet

the needs of children and young people in their own communities and within their age groups.

Looking ahead, I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at our events days and wish

you all a very happy Easter.

Malcolm Stewart - Coordinator

mailto:[email protected]


Activities so far this year………

We have ran two activity days this year. The January event

involved crafts, drama and puppet making and was hailed as a

great success by those who attended. A thanks to St Kanes

Church Centre for hosting the event.

On 24 March we held our Easter event at the Stables, Newhills

Church, Aberdeen. Crafts and memories were the theme with a

decorate your own Easter bonnet competition. It was nice to

see a few new faces as well as welcoming back a few regulars.

Again a thanks to Newhills Church for the use of the facility.

Our memory tree from our Easter event.

Some of the expertly decorated Easter bonnets.

Still to come this year:

Saturday April 14

Dezibel Drummers.

Mastrick Community

Centre, 1400 – 1600 hrs.

Saturday 23 June.

Annual summer picnic.

Bennachie, 1030 – 1430

hrs.

Saturday 1 September

Tubing. Alford Ski Centre.

Times TBC.

Saturday 13 October

Alpaca Day Out.

Mosstowie, by Elgin. 1100

– 1300 hrs.

Saturday 24 November.

Christmas Crafts and

keeping memories safe

event. 1230 – 1530 hrs.

(all timings may be

subject to change)

ACTIVITY DAYS



PLEASE NOTE:

Our previous newsletters and social media pages showed our

October (13th) event to be wall climbing at Spireroxx, Elgin.

Unfortunately the company have closed down but we are delighted

to announce that the October event will still be held in Moray. Carole

and John, who run the Alpaca farm at Mosstowie near Elgin have

very generously offered a two hour visit at no cost to the charity.

The general plan for the day, is to be given a quick “How to meet the Alpacas” briefing before we all go into the field with the alpacas. In October, there will be around 60 female and young alpacas in a single group and we will spend around an hour in the field with them. We will observe the alpacas from a short distance and will follow them as they graze. We will be told

all about alpacas’ origins and history, their care and their fleeces. We’ll also hear stories and

anecdotes about individual alpacas and, as the alpacas all have names, we might even meet an

alpaca that has the same name as one of you ! Carole and John will try to answer all your alpaca

questions so please ask the children (and adults) to get your thinking caps on !

Whether or not we get an up-close encounter during that part of the day will depend on how the

alpacas feel on the day – it will be on their terms. Depending on how the children are reacting to the

alpacas, they will, at the discretion of Carole and John, be given the chance for feeding and handling

the alpacas. This will be a different group of alpacas very accustomed to handling, and they will be in

a pen. Any handling will be under very close supervision.

There is a small Alpaca Farm Shop in which they sell a mix of high-quality alpaca garments, yarns and

other products as well as alpaca souvenirs and novelties.

Unlike some of our other event days this is a full adult participation day so look out the wellies and

rain jackets folks !

Put the date in your diary and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.



TEENAGERS GROUP.

At the end of February our teenagers group went to see Black Panther in the cinema. It

certainly got the thumbs up and we would recommend it.

Future Events:

Saturday 19 May, Tubing, Garthdee Dry Ski Slope, Aberdeen. 1100 hrs.

Saturday 18 August, Codonas Amusement Park. 1100 hrs.

Saturday 27 October, Go Karting, Aberdeen Karting, Bridge of Don. Timings TBC.

This looks like a very exciting series of events and we are sure they will be great fun and

if going by previous go karting days, very very competitive !!!

PROJECT VOLUNTEER

As you may be aware we have a small but dedicated cadre of excellent volunteers. Their home

locations mean that we can provide a responder service throughout the Grampian Region. It is also

very clear to us that, as we engage in training of professionals and establishments such as schools,

we need to grow to meet the demand on our services.

Thanks in no small part to excellent funding grants from Aberdeen Airport Community Fund and

the Robertson Trust we have embarked on a recruitment drive aimed at increasing our cadre of

volunteers and providing better coverage in all communities of the north east of Scotland.

As we grow we will look at the possibility of being more community focused, scoping the need for

groups in various areas to allow local networking and age defined groups. We try to spread our

activity days across the region to share the pain of travel expense and time but by taking a

community based approach we may in the future be able to run events, identified by our service

users in their own communities.

We already have four prospective volunteers through our recruitment process (including PVG) and

we are ready to embark on training with them.

If any of you would be interested in volunteering or know of anyone who might be please get in

touch with our coordinator to discuss. We are especially keen to recruit someone with an accounts

or financial background to come on board as our treasurer.

PROJECT VOLUNTEER



Mairi, Sarah and Matthew giving their presentation to the finals panel. Oscar missed the finals

unfortunately.

MASSIVE THANKS…………….. Since our last newsletter we have been so lucky to receive donations, grants and funding from the

following individuals, companies and funders.

YOUTH AND PHILANTHROPY INITIATIVE

A special to mention to Mairi, Sarah, Matthew and Oscar from Albyn School in Aberdeen

who picked us as their charity for the YPI. They did brilliantly well to reach the finals and

despite a very professional presentation (I particularly liked the animated sequence they

pulled together) they just lost out on the prize.

Aberdeen Airport Community

Fund provided £1000.00 towards

for volunteer recruitment

The staff at Andersons House Furnishings,

Inverurie who picked us as their Christmas

Charity and raised £275.00.



Angela Stott who organised a Gary Barlow Tribute night by Dan Hatfield. The

fundraiser was held on Saturday February 14th at The Altens Hotel, Aberdeen. 65

people attended for the show which included a 2 course meal and disco by DJVIXXI as

well as the main tribute act. Angela kindly donated £200 of the proceeds to us.

Angela, pictured with our Ava who needed a wheel barrow to get all her raffle prizes

home.

The association of Contractors,

Mechanical and Plant Engineers

who chose us as their yearly Charity

and donated £1000.00

The Asda Foundation

(Aberdeen Beach) who

chose us as one of their

green token charities and

donated £200.00

Young Emily Graham, who had 11” cut

off her hair and raised £150.00.

Mrs Sheils

who donated

£50.00

The Robertson Trust who provided a grant

of £3500.00 to assist in our volunteer

recruitment.

Co-op community fund,

Strichen store £442.00.

Mrs Marjory Brew

£100.00

Collieston and

Slains WI £200.00

Friends of Maud

and Savoch Church

£20.00



Some Ideas about Managing Anniversaries

Every bereaved family finds the first anniversary daunting. Whether it is the anniversary of the death

of their loved one, or the first birthday, the last time they spoke, wedding, the list can go on and on.

Often the build up towards the anniversary date can become a fear, just how to get through it and

will it take you back to those first days of shock. Anniversaries will come and go, and you will find a

way of getting through them in what works for you and your family.

So we thought it might be helpful just to add a few suggestions of how to get through those first

anniversaries

Involve the children and young people in the plans of how you are going to spend it

Realise it is one day, and reassure them that it will be day of sadness and memory and its ok

to be sad

Plan the day, for some families visiting the grave or a special place to lay flowers, for others

it might be having a day out to have fun

Light a candle in memory in the house

Add some happy memories to the memory jar or box

Watch a happy DVD something to lighten the mood

Go for a walk somewhere nice which can allow children to talk about the person

Prepare a meal it might be a favourite meal of the person who has died

At the end of the day, mark it together as a day you have all managed to get through

And finally………..

Our next event day is nearly upon us. It’s the hugely popular session with the very talented

musicians from DEZIBEL DRUMMERS which will be taking place on Saturday 14 April at

the Mastrick Community Centre, Aberdeen. We would love any many of you to make it along as

possible, although ear plugs may be required !!!


grampian child bereavement network · 2018. 4. 3. · registered charity no. sco40712. tel:...

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