Women Who Write BoS

Drop in your letters at Burnham on Sea Library 😀🥰

Lovely surprise yesterday. A local school sent me 4 folders of cards and letters that the children had written for our local homes. They will be very welcome

It not just in Burnham all round the world letters are making a difference. Including Monóvar, Spain.

We know that times are difficult for everyone at the moment but with just a little bit if your time you really could make an impact. Why not write a letter, post card or copy out your favourite poem even draw a pretty picture to send to someone who might be lonely.......

Need inspiration read the following. We know from past experience that when our readers receive cards or paintings from children it makes them think of their own grand children etc (in a positive way). Si maybe something for you to do with the kids over the Christmas holidays day. They say Christmas is about giving. Think of the joy you could bring to others who receive your mail......

A letter from an elderly woman from a nursing home.
I am 82 years old, I have 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren and a room of 12 square meters.
I no longer have a home or expensive things, but I have someone who will clean my room, prepare food and bedding, measure my pressures and weigh me.
I no longer have the laughter of my grandchildren, I don't see them growing, hugging and arguing. Some come to me every 15 days, some every three or four months, and some never.
I no longer work in the winter, I don't bake cakes, I don't dig up the garden. I still have hobbies and I like to read, but my eyes quickly hurt.
I don’t know how much longer, but I have to get used to this loneliness. Here at home, I lead group work and help those who are worse than me as much as I can. Until recently, I read aloud to an immobile woman in the room next to me, we used to sing together, but she died the other day.
They say life is getting longer. Why? When I’m alone, I can look at photos of my family and memories I brought from home. And that's all.
I hope that the next generations will understand that families are born to have a future (with children) and that they do not forget about the family even in old age.

Please don't show this to my children.

Grandma Maria loves you.

we hope you are keeping well and safe. we have received another lovely letter from Margaret which we know you will love reading - enjoy.



Melksham
Wiltshire
27th November 2020
Dear Reader,

You may have seen my last letter when I wrote about all the pets that I have owned including my dog Russell. Sadly at the end of July he was diagnosed with lymphoma and he was put on steroids. It was a tough couple of months as we knew it would only be a matter of time.
In the middle of September he had got so thin and all he did was lie around. He wasn’t the same dog so we had to make the awful decision to have him put to sleep. Although it was the right thing to do it didn’t make the decision any easier. We cried so much. My other half went into the vets with him as they were only allowing one person in. We were lost without him and went out two days in a row so that we were not at home so much. However everywhere we went people had a dog. We were lost.

I said that I wasn’t sure if I could go through losing a dog again as this was the third time. We decided that maybe we would foster a dog but because of the pandemic the rescues that we looked at were not taking any new applications.

I realised that my partner missed him so much as they were very close. So about a week later I was looking on a website called Many Tears Animal Rescue which is based in south west Wales and have fosterers all over the country. They take in a lot of ex breeding dogs which they usually say must go with a dog already in the home. I looked and saw three Labradors that were put on the site that day and one was more confident so they said she could go as an only dog. She was called Fuchsia.

I completed the application form online and thought it would be a day or so before they got back to us. We received a phone call from them two hours later!! They gave us an appointment for the following Friday, this was on a Monday. So we quickly looked online to buy a dog cage which they required us to do to transport them home. Next day we had a call from a home checker and we had to video our house number and then video through our hall to the utility room where she would sleep, she doesn’t now, and then the garden to make sure that was secure.

We received an email on the Thursday to say that we had passed the home check and then we drove all the way to Wales the next day. We had decided that we couldn’t call her Fuchsia, it may have been a name the rescue chose but now she is Molly and a beautiful golden/white coloured Labrador.
She was quite scared at first and we had difficulty getting her through doors and out of the house. At one time we wondered if we had bitten off more than we could chew but she has settled in well. She has bonded so well with my partner that he can’t even go to the bathroom without her being outside the door. I’m sure that she would go in if allowed!

We took her to Brean beach and found that she would run after a ball and bring it back! Our first dog to do that! The rest of the time she is a bit of a coach potato! However, like most Labradors she loves food and not only her own! We recently had a large box delivered full of suet and seed slabs for the wild birds. This was part of my Christmas present. I heard a rustling and found wrappers and suet and seed pieces all on the floor! Yes she had eaten one slab!! Since then she managed to get a suet and seed slab that was hanging from the bird table. Luckily the birds had eaten most of it first!!
So she is keeping us on our toes and we know not to leave any food out! She also snores loudly a lot!

There you are Molly is
here with us. Only fault she really has is her separation anxiety but hopefully that can be overcome. Next step another dog? Well never say never.

Stay well during these times.
Best wishes
Margaret

we are looking forward to when we can get regular drop offs and deliveries going again.

we are still sending cards to some of our wards and homes and some are checking in here too. so if you have written something and want to upload it here that would be great.

we have been sent this very poignant poem from Margaret. our thoughts are with her and her family as they go down this path. many of us will have lost a much beloved pet, know it made us cry when we read it.....

so pleased that our letters and cards help with sundowning at the gents ward we deliver to.

Caregiver Training: Sundowning | UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program The UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Video series provides viewers with practical tools you can use in a variety of settings to create a safe, comfortable ...

we received this lovely poem and photos from Margaret today. seeing the peas fresh from the garden immediately brought back happy childhood memories for me - being made to whistle when I shelled them to make sure I was not eating them all. sure you will enjoy them too. have you been enjoying time outdoors in your gardens?

Home thoughts from lockdown.

No cars in the street
No friends and neighbours to meet and greet
A bird sings in the tree
On a flower taking nectar is a bee
A butterfly close by is flitting
I am just sitting and wishing.

Margaret

know the phrase every cloud has a silver lining........?

well one silver lining of lockdown has been these lovely home made cards. this is a very very small selection about 50 in total.

so to whomever the mystery lady is who spent her time making these - bless you.

we will get them distributed to our writing elves and know without a doubt what pleasure they will bring to their recipients.

if anyone has any letters / cards etc they can still be dropped in at the vicarage.

We love getting mail like this as we get to enjoy the lovely picture and poem before passing it on :)

We have received this lovely thank you card from Elizabeth who has also written this excellent poem (which is laminated which means we can easily disinfect it).

We have also had this feedback from the ward - I wish you could see how much the letters have helped during this lockdown - we are giving the ladies several a day ! Then they swap ! Many conversations have been started !

so a while back Margaret asked if it would be ok to write us a letter about her pets. We know many of our regular readers in the homes and hospitals really enjoy reading about pets and 1 man in particular is missing his dog, so how could we refuse.

Margaret has now finished her letter and emailed it to us. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have. And hope that Margaret had the occasional happy memory while she wrote it.

if anyone else wants to email us or upload their letters here we would love to hear from you.

ps the handsome chap in the photo is Russell

we may be quiet on here during lock down but hope our writers will still find something to write about or maybe use thee time they have to write out a favourite poem.

meanwhile the ladies unit up in Manchester have found a use for some earlier letters.

just to let you know that we have made self isolation boxes for our ladies and have included several of your letters in each box ! X the ladies are getting so much pleasure from reading them ! Just thought In these testing times I would let you know how much we appreciate them ! Keep safe and take care!

thank you to Margaret for sharing this lovely poem with us not only the poem but the plate is very special to her and we can imagine why.......

does anyone here have a special memory of a pet?

what a joy to receive the following from Margaret. know it will raise the spirits of all who read it.

I found this poem in a very old book that I have called Treasures of English Verse first published in 1928 with the latest edition in 1944! It had my paternal grandmothers’ name in the front. I have chosen a poem about Spring.

Spring Quiet

Gone were but the Winter,
Come were but the Spring,
I would go to a covert
Where the birds sing;

Where in the whitethorn
Singeth a thrush,
And a robin sings
In the holly-bush.

Full of fresh scents
Are the budding boughs
Arching high over
A cool green house:

Full of sweet scents,
And whispering air
Which sayeth softly:
“We spread no snare;”

“Here dwell in safety,
Here dwell alone,
With a clear stream
And a mossy stone.”

“Here the sun shineth
Most shadily;
Here is heard an echo
Of the far sea,
Though far off it be.” By Christina Rossetti

From Margaret in Melksham Wiltshire

how is everyone doing?

have you managed to find some time to write a letter, card a poem or draw a picture?

if you wish to brighten up somebodies day by putting them on here until we can deliver them in person we would love to see them. as would some of our homes.

keep safe.

Do not forget we would still love to get your cards, letters and pictures etc

Our homes can log in here to see them while they await for them to be delivered in due course.

If you not sure what to write then why not post your favourite poem or picture here.

Meanwhile thank you to John for these lovely cards which we know will brighten up someone's day.

so our magic fairies will be collecting the correspondence each week.

we will only be posting photos of the stuff from our regulars who are ok with that.

meanwhile if you are sending to us and definitely do not want your cards etc on the internet please make that clear just to be on the safe side.

In order to try and stop the spread of infection we will not be delivering to our recipients for now. However we will welcome cards, letters pictures from young and old. You can either drop in to St Andrew's church or post to us via the vicarage.

But please - publish correspondence on here before you drop it off.

That means the homes and hospital wards can at least come online and have a look at the pictures and read the cards out. And we are sure they will be enjoyed remotely for the time being.

We of course look forward to handing the cards etc over in the fullness of time as nothing means more than the touch and feel of a handwritten letter. And know our recipients love to put them on their bedside and have them close by to re-read.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

with a couple of our regular writers out of action we are especially pleased to welcome David one of our new writers onboard.

know that this lovely colourful card alone would bring some cheer but sure that the recipient will love reading about what David has been up to.

it would be great to have some more writers onboard women or (wo)men. so why not have a go? grab a card, postcard or writing paper & just jot down what you have been up to or maybe copy out a favourite poem. taking a few moments from your day really could make somebody else's whole day when they receive your correspondence.

It may be quiet here on the page but our volunteers continue their wonderful work behind the scenes - writing collecting and delivering the wonderful correspondence that means so much to the recipients.

Thank you one and all.

Lovely welcome as always Kathleen Chambers House, RNIB when we dropped off their correspondence.

And as well as donating some lovely cards for our volunteers to use. We also got a fantastic poem from one of the residents to deliver to another home. Even the envelope they came in had a very nicely written thank you.

.

A sobering read. If you want to help us reach out to others and make a difference we would love to have you on board.

Loneliness is a national crisis. But there is a way to tackle it | Owen Jones From pubs to factories, the spaces where we socially connect are in decline. Thankfully there’s a group bringing local people together, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Bowled over today to get these lovely colourful letters from Amelia. She attends an art class at Create You . At 6 years old she is one of our youngest writers.

We also picked up a lovely designed and colourful card that Kadie has made for us to write.

Lovely feedback from our mens dementia unit in Salford.

We still love our letters from Women Who Write BoS! Especially those from The King Alfred School. They are a secondary school writing to our patients to help combat loneliness! Well done to everyone at the school for reaching out and helping tackle loneliness one letter at a time 🤘. We love them

if any of the generous crafty people who kindly made Christmas presents for our recipients want to try this - how fantastic would it be to receive a hand written note on one of these?

https://www.madeeveryday.com/tutorial-quilted-notecards/

Quilted Notecards – MADE EVERYDAY

why not try one or all of these this month.

or maybe just take a moment to write a short letter, note or card to really make a difference to someones day?

Lovely to receive another letter from Melksham. Know the recipient will enjoy reading it.

We could do with more writers to help us reach out to even more folks that are isolated.

So why not have a go. A shirt letter, card or note. Just start with a simple hello or dear reader and end with your initials or first name. Not forgetting to leave a couple of inches at the bottom fir one of our labels.

No need to date the correspondence.

We love this card from Harry.

He was inspired to do it when he found out that Create You sometimes make and write cards for us to give to those who are socially isolated.

We know exactly where this one will go to - a dementia unit where one of the patients is missing seeing their dog.

Thank you Harry.