posted on 19 Jul 2016

Entrust Care Partnership Event

I did a similar event for this voluntary organisation last summer and so was delighted to be invited again to meet with a different group of parents. This time the setting was an elegant Masonic Hall in the older part of Leamington Spa. As soon as I walked into the room with its magnificent high ceiling and long windows overlooking the gardens I felt relaxed by the cool calm ambience, made even more welcoming with white clothed tables arranged with flowers and little bowls of fruit and sweets.

‘Who Cares - We Care’ is a small weekly group set up by The Entrust Care Partnership based in Warwickshire to provide such an atmosphere as a welcome rest for parents caring for children with a range of special educational needs and disabilities.  They have a wide range of interesting activities on offer and this time it was a very restful ‘Mindfulness’ session involving some meditation and the close contemplation of flowers and leaves etc. followed by my slightly more active session all about picture books. 

I find that a picture book quiz always focuses the mind and also brings out a lively competitive spirit in any audience. As ever, I was very generous with awarding points for anyone who offered extra relevant information and this time even gave points for mentioning the name of Allan Ahlberg, just because I like him.

We looked at lots of my favourites including So Much by Trish Cooke, Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis; and The Arrival by Shaun Tan. We finished with a reading from the very witty and beautifully illustrated book, The Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey which went down very well as usual. Once again, the majority of books I used were unfamiliar to the audience and we had some interesting discussion about why this might be. Hopefully some of them might now approach their child’s schools with some of my recommendations.

Karen Argent

July 2016