Tracey cycled to the monthly Monday Mates dementia-friendly café. The tables in our usual room were set up for diners, so she stacked the knives, forks and serviettes away before the gang arrived. Everyone enjoyed tea, biscuits, a quiz, a game of boccia and a sing-along. Then, when everyone had left, the crumbs were brushed away and the tables were restored to their former settings.

Miss L had done a great job assembling the headboard of her new bed, despite mobility issues, and Tracey stepped in with an Allen key and a spanner to finish the task. This was a bed and a half – a beautiful bejewelled headboard and LED mood lighting. I hope it brings sweet dreams.

Tracey and Gwyn met the gang at DCF's Parkinson's Cricket session. We had a pleasant surprise when Paul came with birthday cakes. we had a busy set of ball games before celebrating the big birthday! Special mention for Tracey, who you can see carrying equipment bags bigger than she is!

Tracey popped along to the T20 cricket match of Derbyshire Falcons versus Leicestershire Foxes to help out at the Family Day. She was part of the team looking after the inflatables, and was in charge of what seemed to be the most popular activity – Kick and Stick. People could aim Velcro footballs at a Velcro dartboard to give them a score. Some of the little children preferred throwing to kicking and were absolutely delighted to see the balls stick to the board. The hard part was retrieving the balls ready for the next customer; the dartboard was HUGE, with treble three being at about head height. Luckily there was a pole to help pull the balls down the board to a level where they could be reached. It all went well until someone hit double top, and then she had to call in for assistance from a helpful bystander, as it was just too high!

There were four busy hours, but unfortunately for the queue that had gathered, the afternoon heat turned out to be just too much for the generator keeping the inflatables inflated, and one by one they collapsed. Several attempts to adjust the generator resulted in only partial success, and the activities had to close down slightly early.

The heat put a few people off turning up at Parkinson's Cricket today, but there were four brave and happy souls who were up for everything that Alex from DCF had to offer. They began with a game of Boccia, with its distinctively tinkly balls, and once everyone was warmed up they moved onto batting and bowling.

With only me as a fielder, I had my work cut out, and was lucky enough to manage a few catches with the aid of a net (anything to avoid bending!).

As usual, things ended with tea, biscuits and a good chat.

Tracey helped the lovely Miss S to organise and tidy her shed, making her tools more accessible. In the process, she disturbed many webs, but only a single spider, who must have been extremely busy!