The Monday Meetups group have enjoyed a few exceptional days out recently.
In June we had the honour of attending a special ‘Refugee Tour’ ran by Dan Vo, a volunteer guide at the V&A. Dan provided an unique insight into the creative and cultural legacies of generations of migrants and refugees. It was especially interesting and poignant to see the Yara Said’s Refugee Flag (see image below).
In July the group returned to Oasis Farm Waterloo for a beekeeping workshop facilitated by Ali from Bees & Refugees. Bees & Refugees provides therapeutic beekeeping to people who have experienced PTSD and complex mental health difficulties. Being around the bees creates a calming & therapeutic environment and our experience was magical! During this workshop the service users and engaged & relaxed. It was amazing to see.
In August the group visited the beautiful Garden Museum in Lambeth to peruse their exhibits on the history of gardens and gardening. The museum is housed within the abandoned Church of St Marys and visitors can still scale the 131 steps up a medieval tower to enjoy fantastic panoramic views of Westminster and beyond.
We are grateful to the museum for letting us use their Clore Learning Space to have a picnic lunch and an arts & crafts session in which we built home made Afghan kites from tissue paper and bamboo skewers to mark one year of the Taliban occupation in Afghanistan. The group were taking part in the Fly With Me campaign organised by Good Chance which is encouraging people across the world to fly kites on August 20th August to mark the anniversary of the takeover.
We are all very excited to meet again in the autumn and have LOADS more activities lined up.