February 2007

This month the Health Apprentices took part in the Keighley Market Consultation event that was held at Keighley Victoria Hall.
The event encouraged people in the community to come and give their thoughts and views on the proposed refurbishment of Keighley Indoor Market and it was aimed at older people and representatives of disability groups.

Most of the Health Apprentices helped and we had to wear a 'horrible' green t-shirt so that the people would know we were the helpers. The event was successful, as many people gave their views on the state of the present market and what they would like in the new market. Each Health Apprentice was sitting at a different table, helping people to look at the different layouts of the proposed new market. We then had to write down their views.
I had some local Asian ladies who came to sit on my table. It was scary for me, as I knew the ladies and I knew that I was going to find it hard to translate from English to their language. So I swapped tables with another Apprentice, who had more confidence to do the interpreting. Before we even started, we were told what to do and if we didn't know what to do, we needed to ask someone who did. There were a few occasions when people were asking me things that I did not know but I just asked someone else. At the end each person, who had attended, took some fruit and vegetables away with them, which was just a way of saying thanking them for attending.

Also this month I have been going to my regularly sessions, one of which was at half term. For the girls group, there was an outing to go ice-skating. All the girls were looking forward to this, as many of them did not know how to ice skate but they were still willing have a try, which they all did. They went onto the ice together and made sure they don't fall and had a good time. I wanted to have a go, as I don't know how to ice skate, but unfortunately I did not wear suitable clothes, so I did not have a go. After the ice-skating we had lunch and from there, we all went to watch a short movie about sharks. The day went really well and everyone enjoyed themselves.