It's good to talk

This session came about after I had spent some time on another project with the English class participants from Slough Refugee Support. In those sessions I learnt some valuable lessons on the plight of those seeking asylum, aiming to obtain their citizenship and those who generally just wanted to learn English to support them with finding a job.

One area they wanted to get more involved in was volunteering. As the group leader for GoodGym Slough I knew immediately that this was something I could actually help them with.

So today's session was set up as a means of connecting communities, introducing volunteering, getting outdoors to support mental health and to practise conversational English with new people that the class had not met before....the GG volunteers.

With Helen, Pam and Nicola (who came all the way from Reading today to support this task) and Rosanne from Slough CVS, we had 5 of us in total to break off into smaller groups with the 9 attendees from the English class.

Noreen, the class teacher had set them with the remit of asking the 5 W;s and the H:-

• Who;

• What;

• Why;

• When;

• Where;

• plus the How

They were asked to use these in conversations with the GoodGym volunteers.

Although some were very shy at first, they did all really enjoy the task of walking, talking and litter picking. I had explained what we were doing, why we were doing it, where we were doing it and how we were doing it! Then we partnered off into smaller groups and went off in different directions.

In total we collected 8 bags of rubbish whilst chatting away about life, about their journey to the UK, how life was treating them and the challenges they faced. It was a humbling task. Mr E said he was very happy to be able to wear shorts in hot weather as in his home country, shorts were not permitted. Mrs M talked about when she arrived in the UK many years ago and the challenges she had faced and still faces.

What's so lovely about this group was that despite all that life has thrown at them and the challenges they face, they all have smiles on their faces.

At the end, we were treated by Rosanne with some healthy treats. I took the opportunity to let the group know how they could get involved in more GoodGym sessions - we really hope they come along to more sessions.