Happy 20th, Trim FRC! The week of July 12th 2021.
As I write this on a (much needed) rainy day, I can’t help but think how lucky we were to have the weather on our side for our week of Birthday celebrations, and the trip to Dublin Zoo (see separate blog post).
It was the first – and, hopefully, only – time for the current team to organise are Birthday celebrations with pandemic restrictions in place.
The sun meant we could do everything that would usually have been in the Bungalow outside on the green.
For me it started with Summer Camps on Tuesday 13th, with a group of young people designing and painting a mural outside the Office. And there were some proper artists in that group.We played a few rounds of What-am-I? as well. All over it was a great few hours.
After clean-up I passed by ‘Afternoon Tea on the Green’ for the older members of our community – some of whom I know from the last four weeks of line dancing classes – and their memories of how the FRC and its various groups started. Some of the women I talked to had done a computer course years ago and enjoyed it very much. Of course, there was tea, coffee and cakes and biscuits – and some nicely laminated photos from the last 20 years – as well.
At the same time there was a Family Open Door at the Bungalow/ Office as well, which I wasn’t directly involved with.
Wednesday started with Summer Camps again, this time it was Mindfulness with the same group as the day before. There were colouring pages, breathing exercises and lots of other stress-busting tips.In the afternoon some past board members and staff participated in ‘Chats from the Past’ which was live streamed from the Bungalow and are still available to watch on our Facebook page.
On Thursday morning we had our last class of Line Dancing on the green, which was fun. I hadn’t realised, when I signed up, that it would be mainly older people doing the classes. It was a bit strange for the first few minutes of the first class, but then learning the steps became more important. And it was good getting to talk to people. I’ll be doing it again when we can go back inside – grass just isn’t made for dancing.
Then in the afternoon the was live music by Justyna (our Boss) & Friends out on the green with people on picnic blankets. I wasn’t there, as I had some things to do at home, but I had the chance to see some lunchtime rehearsals when I was in the office and they were pretty good. So I imagine the music was quite enjoyable that afternoon as well.
On Thursday evening there was our big staff party, for past and present staff and volunteers, in the Bungalow with lots of interesting talks, and finger food. Thanks, Catherine and Maria for spending most of your afternoon in the kitchen cooking it all. There was also the unveiling of Jackie’s beautiful new painting of a tree of life with the representations of the hands of all three of the FRC’s three Coordinators at the base.
On Friday we were meant to go on our Annual Family Trip to Dublin Zoo, but we left the booking too late – so we went a week later instead, so it was a quiet day at the office with most staff taking a day off after the night before.
On Saturday the celebrations ended with our Family Day on the Green with lots of fun activities – there was dancing, arts & crafts, face painting and birthday card designing. The cards are still on display in the Bungalow.- and a lot of them are written in really nice hand-writing, too. Around 1 pm a band of musicians (fiddlers, flautists and concertina players) arrived to regale us with some lovely Irish tunes.
There was a CoViD briefing for the staff before every event, one way systems for all events taking place and an isolation room in case anyone should display symptoms. It all went well but I think we’re all quite happy it probably won’t happen again too soon. Without the good weather most of it wouldn’t have happened, because trying to have a party in a muddy field just isn’t much fun.
Happy Birthday Trim FRC and many Happy Returns.