It was all treats, with no tricks

AHalloween with a difference- all treats and no tricks! Staff and students at Nene Park Academy welcomed 28 members of Crocus Cafe (Peterborough’s Rotary Memory Cafe) to a ‘spooktacular’ afternoon tea at their school. What a wonderful opportunity for different generations to interact, and for young people to develop a greater understanding of dementia.

Students had prepared a delicious array of sandwiches (crust free of course!) cakes and scones and served tea and coffee to our members. Whilst tucking into the delights on the table our members and carers were entertained by the Year 7 choir enthusiastically accompanied by their music teacher (they did not have teachers like this in my day!).

We were all invited to join in one of the numbers, but there was little doubt that this talented choir were much more musically proficient than their audience.

If this was not enough of a treat, young ladies from the health and beauty section circulated to provide relaxing hand massages. The afternoon concluded with pumpkin and ginger cakes baked earlier in the day and colourfully decorated by the students to celebrate Halloween – delicious!

Happy, stimulated and ready to face the world our members left before the hectic end of school day and heavy traffic. Rotary cannot thank this school enough for their kindness and the work put in by all the students and staff, with a special mention for chef Phil Sammons who coordinated the day.

Reserved parking meant those not too steady on their pins did not have far to walk, and the room looked really pretty and welcoming on arrival. Well done Nene Park Academy – we love you.

A few weeks ago Crocus Cafe members enjoyed a coach trip to Sandringham. Thanks to a generous donation by the Martin family (senior Rotarian Tony had been a member himself ) and the negotiating skills of Rotarian Deena Brooks, each person only paid a token £5 for the coach, entry to the house, church, gardens and museum. Of course the sun shone all day when, divided into smaller groups, we enjoyed all that was on offer. Perhaps the most amazing coincidence was the beautiful, purple autumn crocus (our own flower emblem) blooming in the park to celebrate our visit. Thanks to Deena for coordinating yet another amazing outing, everything ran like clockwork. Rotary in action yet again in our community.