Autumn is here and the nights are drawing in so quickly. The end of September means that our client, Louise, has been busy jotting down her experiences at Headway Plymouth across the last month.
Thank you, as always, Louise for taking the time to keep this wonderful journal of your time with us
Tuesday 1st September 2026 – Quiz Time!
Amy read out the questions and became apparent that the AI – generated questions correct answers were generally the first option of answer (multi – choice answers) to be read out. What really frustrated me was the answer to the question “What’s the world’s largest ocean”? The answer which I got wrong yet again was the Pacific Ocean – argghhh!
Daniel excelled himself at the questions, due to them mainly being the first option of answer – but I’d wanted to think that AI wasn’t such a lemming – how wrong I was!! I got ten questions wrong but could have done better if I’d copied Daniel’s way of thinking. James also did well, he may have even beaten Daniel!
The weather was too warm for me, so, after frying during the quiz and lunch, I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.
I finished my blog for August, in time for Pete to send off to Craig, to then put on both the Headway Plymouth website and Facebook page.
Friday 4th September 2026
Natasha was back with her Storytelling session. The time allotted for this session has been shortened, as it was too long for some clients to cope with. Lots of clients took part in this activity today, and those who didn’t want to join in, did other things instead. I think that a shorter session challenged clients, as they had to think more quickly, which was a positive thing for all concerned.
Tuesday 8th September 2026
Sarah Allan from Age UK paid us a visit today. She spoke to several clients who were over 50 regarding what they’re entitle to from the Government, and will come back to the Centre another time, to speak to additional older clients.
I ended up playing numerous games of Uno with both staff and clients, which kept me on my toes, so I’m all Uno’d out for the time – being.
Friday 11th September 2026 – Pizza with Pete
As Headway had been given a surplus of pizzas by Fareshare the other day, Pete thought that it would be a good idea for clients to put various toppings of their choice on the pizzas for lunch today, partly in order to use the pizzas up and it was also a change from the norm.
The toppings consisted of onion, chicken, mushrooms, oregano, pineapple, chorizo and pineapple bits. I’m not keen on pineapple on pizza, but I put the other toppings on mine, and I thought it was a good activity for us to do.
Tuesday15th September 2026 – Plymouth Neurophysio Pilates with Charlotte
Charlotte led this adaptive Pilates activity and I really enjoyed it. I think that the original amount of time allotted would have been too much for some of the other clients to deal with.
It was good to do a slightly different sort of fitness activity this morning to waken up both mind and body. It was a shame that a few clients had prior appointments, as I think they’d really have enjoyed themselves, as I did. A couple of us did several more exercises with Charlotte after the session had finished – it all depends on how much stamina you have.
I then played several games of Scrabble with Lana and Jonathan, and Jonathan also managed to find a document for me, that had somehow got ‘lost’ on the web.
I’m a bit concerned, as a couple of letters that I sent to my pen pals a while ago haven’t yet been replied to. I know that some tend to go away on long summer holidays, and I just hope that they received the letters that I mailed to them…
Friday 18th September 2026 – Green Spaces
When I got to Headway, a creative activity was already underway, led by Laura from Plymouth Green Community. I didn’t join in with that activity, which was making Hedgehog pictures out of various natural items, such as leaves, but the resulting pictures were impressive. But I did go on an informative walk around Devonport Park with Laura and other clients.
Bracket mushrooms, Lichen, Black fungi and butterflies were all observed in the park, which is apparently the oldest formal park in the Southwest of England. You can start fires with the black fungi, though I wouldn’t encourage it. Lichen on trees indicates clean air, and apparently the Peacock butterfly is quite rare (I wanted to know that for myself, if a question where that’s needed, comes up on the Pointless gameshow). The Speckled Wood butterfly is also quite rare.
I caught up with my blogs and Jonathan made me a lovely pepper and mushroom omelette for lunch. I then managed to have a game of Scrabble with Jonathan at the end.
Tuesday 22nd September 2026 – Movie Day
Today a group of us watched Pixar’s “Inside Out”, which you may well have already seen at home or at the cinema. It was an animation about a person’s emotions and how they control everything.
A lot of us have struggled with our emotions after our head injuries, and this showed how a significant change in life can affect you deeply, and how it can be hard to control. I thought that it was quite an insightful animation.
Friday 25th September 2026 – Megan Fitness
Megan was back to get us all up and moving to the beat this morning. It was good to do some varied exercises, especially as I didn’t go to the gym yesterday, due to my bus getting caught up in a traffic jam.
I had a laugh with others, but had to leave slightly earlier than usual, in order to get on the Torpoint ferry.
Tuesday 29th 2026 – Babcock Garden Volunteer Day
Laura, who works for the National Trust, but who has seconded to Plymouth Green Spaces Team, was back leading the Babcock volunteers on their “Be Kind” day. Apparently, each Babcock employee is allotted one care day each year, to help a charity. Today they made three bug hotels and a couple of hedgehog apartments, in addition to planting alliums, other insect – friendly plants and various herbs. The leaves etc that were collected by Headway clients the last time that Laura paid us a visit, were included in what was put into the bug hotels and hedgehog apartments. I helped a bit with collecting more grass and leaves to create a cosy home for them to flourish in.
A stable hedgehog population indicates a healthy bio-diverse and chemical – free habitat. These are important factors for conservationists, as this helps them to evaluate the overall condition of urban green spaces. Bug hotels provide vital artificial habitats that protect declining insect populations and naturally aid in pollination and pest control.
Apart from that I made some bullet points, that I’d been noting down, into a couple of letters to send to the foreign pen pals. Hopefully, they’ll receive them this time! I then posted the letters at the Post Office.
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