It’s Learning Disability Week

This week is Learning Disability Week, a week all about understanding learning disabilities, about giving people with learning disabilities a voice and bringing together everyone in the community to celebrate people and their own personal interests, hobbies and talents, whether they have a learning disability or not.

We’ve got lots of services that support people with learning disabilities to do the things that they enjoy most in life. Making Days South is a day centre in Garston, Liverpool, where adults with learning disabilities can make friends, learn new skills and enjoy their days how they choose. One of the favourite ways people can choose to spend their days is by visiting Dutch Farm, a flourishing little allotment and garden space tucked away in the South Liverpool community.

Daniel’s been coming to Dutch Farm for six years now and he’s becoming a dab-hand at growing bloomin’ marvellous crops, cooking up a storm with the fresh organic produce and also thinking up new ways to make the space even more eco-friendly and fun. When we asked for volunteers to give us a tour of the farm, Daniel was a super keen bean. His enthusiasm is so refreshing. Give it a watch and we’re sure it will brighten up your day as much as it did ours.

Making Days South Photography Exhibition

Keith, who uses our Making Days South service, leads the photography group there. He wanted to celebrate 100 years of PSS with an exhibition of snaps his group has taken around Liverpool to capture the birthplace of PSS. The group clocked up some serious steps, taking a grand tour of the city – from the Pier Head, to LFC, to Speke Hall.

On Wednesday 19th June, the guys welcomed people into the day centre in Garston, Liverpool. They showed off their fantastic pics, talked to people about the inspiration behind their shots and celebrated the amazing piece of work that they’d done together. Everyone was super impressed with their eye for a great photo op.

The people who use the service decided on everything. They selected the destinations, they helped to design their display boards (picking their favourite colours) and also picked out refreshments for the day, recruiting some of their friends at Making Days to look after any visitors.

There’s now talks of picking out twelve of these to create a 2020 charity calendar. Keith and the rest of the crew are eagerly preparing this and can’t wait to start sharing their passion for photography.

A big well done to Keith, George, Terry, Marilyn, Kathryn and Ian for their amazing snaps. Here’s some snaps of the photographers alongside their work.

Woodwork at the farm

Earlier in the week, we met Daniel who gave us a tour of Dutch Farm and talked to us about all the yummy organic vegetables that they grow there.

Dutch Farm is open all week long and welcomes lots of people from the local community who have learning disabilities to muck-in, plant up a storm and also learn some handy skills.

Kevin’s especially enjoyed doing woodwork and has got the chance to make benches and birdhouses. He’s now become really competent at creating stuff independently and has realised talents that he didn’t know he had before. Lots of people who use the service go on to get volunteering opportunities and employment based on the stuff they’ve learnt and also the social skills they gain from meeting new friends and feeling more confident.

Thanks to Kevin for telling us about his experience on the farm. He was really excited to show his dad, who supports him, this video. We hope he’s as proud as we are.