February 2021
We moved to Leatherhead in 2015 after 20 years in Guildford. Knowing no-one in the town, I was so glad to discover the Fairfield Centre with its café and lounge. Christina (the Fairfield Centre Manager), staff and volunteers were all so welcoming, it was easy to enjoy the company and make friends.
The Monday class of mostly seated exercise to music kept me mobile despite my arthritis.
I enjoyed trying out my very rusty French in the Conversation Group. I dabbled in Art, but found concentration quite tiring, though I’d like to try again.
For a while we had Medau exercise – something I used to enjoy in Guildford. I loved the Tai Chi, but my arthritis and a bad fall at home made that too difficult. If only I’d found the class much sooner!
And then there were the regular quizzes and puzzling over Crosswords (and the like) together in the lounge. These were after one of the really good lunches.
I also enjoyed the frequent Special celebratory lunches – often with a glass of wine – and varied entertainment where we could sing or mumble songs we remembered from the 60s and the like – (some members would even dance)! I never felt like joining the actual singing classes.
This is all in the past tense. It’s hard to think when we might do it once more – for now it’s just a memory. For the present, I appreciate the fortnightly call from Julie (one of the Fairfield Centre team) – a very welcome glimpse of the different world of her life and family and a chance to voice my own feelings and frustrations for the present time.
I’m grateful I can still see Alex Cliff, the podiatrist at the Fairfield. I much appreciate the occasional newsletters Christina sends out and I look forward to better times sometime but who knows when.
As to the Zoom 6os meeting….. just seeing and hearing people again felt amazing – even sharing our failure to remember the titles of many songs – just being there with Christina cheerfully keeping the show on the road was wonderful. So a very big thank you for reviving a happy glimpse of all we used to be able to enjoy. I look forward to further monthly sessions to see us through till we can meet again.
At home my main occupation is TV or watching the birds in the garden devouring all the food we put out for them. We really do need more variety and a few surprises to keep us feeling alive.