It is that time of the year again and the Christmas festivities are upon us once again.
It has been a very difficult nine months for all our community and especially those who receive support from the organisation. Leeds Irish Health and Homes have seen an increase in referrals and found people feeling lonelier and more isolated due to the covid–19 pandemic.
Through these challenging times we have tried to ensure we reach our community just to let them know there is always someone there and give them the reassurance there is always a listening ear at LIHH. Due to the restrictions we have been unable to deliver our regular luncheon clubs and social groups in person, but we have not let that stop us. It has inspired us to ensure we keep our service users connected and the only way to do this was to couple people virtually.
We managed to secure some funding from the National Lottery and were able to recruit a Digital Inclusion worker. (Read more about this HERE) Our older people were a little hesitant to begin with, but we have seen them blossom and have found it extremely heartening to see their confidence grow and friendships have flourished.
We now have a weekly activity timetable with a variety of activities such as Digital Inclusion classes, Irish authors book club, sing along via Zoom, pilates and chair–based exercise, zingo, zooming lovely and many more. We have also incorporated some mindfulness activities into the timetable, such as art therapy and woodland walks, so there is something for everyone.
Craic–er packs
Through our successful partnership work with Leeds Irish Initiatives we are coming together again to deliver a Christmas Craic–er pack to our community. We are hoping to reach 500 people. The partnership includes Comhaltas, Hugh O’Neill’s, St Benedict’s Harp group, JFK GAA, Joyce O’Donnell school of Irish dancing, Watson McCleave Academy of Irish dancing, The Leeds St Patrick’s Parade, The Leeds Irish Golf Society, The Leeds Irish Ladies Golf Society, Leeds Mayo Association, Irish Arts foundation, The Leeds Irish Centre and Leeds Irish Health and Homes.
We were extremely grateful by the amount of people from our community who came forward to volunteer and help deliver the packs. These packs are made up of Irish food products, LIC mugs with chocolates, shamrock face masks, hand sanitizer, public health information, newsletters, and artwork from local schoolchildren that we have received. We have delivered three craic packs previously, and they were warmly received, which has helped drive this initiative forward.
Our intergenerational work has been a huge success and we have engaged with several schools across Leeds which have helped with this initiative. In each pack there will also be a surprise Christmas gift, and we ask that on Christmas Day at 11am we celebrate together via a live broadcast.
Christmas Day plans
We will also have the option for people who are not digitally connected to be able to call into the celebrations via telephone. We ask that everyone open their Christmas gift together. There will be some Carol singing, lots of Christmas messages and some entertainment from a few celebrities, we are a community that looks after each other. There will be more information to follow on this on the LIHH website and social media. In each ‘Craic Pack’ there will be guidance as to how to connect to the broadcast on Christmas day, and anyone can be nominated for one of these packs.
Leeds Irish Health and Homes have also been very busy with the Leeds Irish in Lockdown, which is a creative writing competition for people to share their experiences of the pandemic. The idea came from the success that led from the Trojan Donkey anthology and ‘Fado, Fado’, with Teresa O’Driscoll Irish Community support worker working in partnership with poet Ian Duhig. This will be released in March 2021 and will be entitled ‘Corona Ceoil’.
We had a number of submissions from both adults and children and hoped to announce the winners at a presentation in person, but are unable to do this, so instead will be announcing the results on the 22 December via Zoom and forwarding prizes to the winners. Both Teresa and Ian have been truly inspired by the talent and endeavour of the people who entered the competition.
On behalf of LIHH I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Peaceful Christmas.