Knaphill Group
Where we meet: The Vyne, Knaphill |
| When we meet: Thursday morning during term time |
Sessions are held from 10 am until 12 noon every Thursday during School Term Time at The Vyne, Knaphill to help Stroke Recoverers with dysphasia. |
| ‘ANY QUESTIONS’ AT KNAPHILL After summarising the aims of TALK, I handed over to Fiona Potter (Knaphill’s answer to David Dimbleby!) to chair an ‘Any Questions’ session on TALK with a panel of four Recoverers - Jean Raisey, Julia Brown, Trevor Hale and Ken Yard.  Fiona first quizzed the panel members on various aspects of TALK, including their likes and dislikes, benefits in coming to the sessions, views on sitting with the same or different Group members, suggestions for improving the sessions and for new activities, etc. The rest of the Group were also invited to express their opinions and to ask questions.  The discussion was then continued by table groups, after which Fiona relayed their conclusions to the rest of the room. There was a general preference for a wide variety of themes and activities, with a similar spectrum of likes and dislikes. ‘One Recoverer’s meat is another Recoverer’s poison!’ It has to be mentioned that (without recourse to bribery) some very complimentary comments were made about TALK. Finally Fiona thanked everyone for their valuable contributions, particularly the panel members, who are to be congratulated on coping so well. Ben Parker, Knaphill May 2010 |
| SAFETY IN NUMBERS AT KNAPHILL If your stroke has left you feeling worried about meeting people in case you have to say something, then we hope joining a TALK Group would help to overcome that worry. One method we use periodically at the Knaphill Group is ‘choral speaking’ - in other words saying things together so that words can be practised whilst hiding any difficulties behind other people! Although recoverers from strokes vary greatly in their speech problems one of the important keys to regaining and improving speech seems to be constant practice. If this can, at the same time, be made enjoyable, so much the better. Saying together humorous poems such as limericks with a good rhythm and rhyme or singing together well known songs with good tunes backed by recorded or live music, help to reactivate the speech process. However singing is not everyone’s forte so we use it in small doses. The repetition of choruses gives a chance to improve on the first attempt such as in ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley – ’Please don’t worry about a thing, etc’, used in a session last term. Before Christmas we tried ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ with table groups taking on different days. The table groups knew what they were doing even if bringing in the right table at the right time proved too challenging for the conductor! In the New Year we have used the support of a recording by the singer, Ottilie Patterson, of ‘I can’t give you anything but love’ with Chris barber’s jazz band, perhaps reflecting the present economic climate! Whatever approach is adopted to help speech, we urge Recoverers to please keep practising. Chris Risdale-Smith and Ben Parker |
| Who's who ? |
 Ben Parker joined the Knaphill Group as a volunteer when it started in 2000. He also served on the Talk Committee as fund raiser until 2006.He took over as Leader of the Group from Diana Lober in Spring 2007 but regards the running of the Group as a cooperative effort. Ben originates from Chesterfield (church with the crooked spire), Derbyshire. He spent several years in mixed practice before moving to Woking in 1970 to work at the Government Laboratories at New Haw, from which he retired in 1996, though continuing part time for a further 5 years. He is married to Elizabeth and they have 3 children and 6 grandchildren who all live quite near so figure prominently in their lives. His interests include sport and art. He is lefthanded and ‘a bit’ colourblind but these are not regarded as valid excuses for not washing up or weeding the garden! |