Cartrefi Summer Recap

Not only has the sun been beaming down on Wales throughout the summer, here at Cartrefi we have been shining too. 

From celebrating our people, to winning awards, participating in exciting activities and contributing to our communities, we have enjoyed a busy few months.

Here’s a recap on just some of the exciting things we have been up to, as we reflect and look forward to what autumn has to bring!

Walk This May

To encourage walking for wellbeing, throughout May we challenged all our colleagues to walk as far as they could, logging their miles on our Cartrefi Strava group. By the time June rolled around, we had collectively walked an astounding 3,648.95 km with our winning walker, Kerriann, clocking up 635 of these singlehandedly!

This challenge really rallied colleagues together and demonstrated the value of walking for our physical and mental health.

Wellbeing Walks

On the topic of wellbeing, all summer long, Sally, our Pembrokeshire activity coordinator has been holding wellbeing walks with the people we support, coming together to enjoy a good ramble and take in the spectacular sights that the Welsh countryside and coastline have to offer.

Bob Cook Games

There’s been plenty more opportunities for getting active this summer, with #TeamCartrefi taking part in a range of sporting pursuits. One of these is the Bob Cook Games, which are held every August and involve people with physical and learning disabilities competing in athletic events, such as relay, javelin, running and discuss. Team Cartrefi came away victorious in several events, winning medals and trophies and a real sense of achievement!

Learning Disability and Autism Awards

Sport is not the only thing we have been winning trophies for… This year we were extremely proud to win the Employer Award (Not for Profit) at the Learning Disability and Autism Awards.

This was a massive achievement, recognising our commitment to creating a caring, empowering workplace where our colleagues can thrive and deliver exceptional support.

We would like to thank everyone in our Cartrefi Community who made winning this award possible!

Events and Activities

Summer is always a time for fun and celebrations, and we’ve had our fair share!

We celebrated Learning Disability Week (16^th – 22^nd of June), hosting activities for everyone at Cartrefi to get involved in and raising awareness for what it means to have a learning disability.

We also attended Viva Fest in Newport this August, which is a festival designed especially for those with learning disabilities, who can often find traditional festivals inaccessible. The day proved to be a hit, with the people of Cartrefi taking part in dancing, singing, crafts and games and even hitting the DJ decks!

Growing Our Own

Our community garden in Llantwit Major has been a hive of activity this summer. After planting the seeds earlier in the year and carefully nurturing them, we reaped the rewards, harvesting onions, potatoes, courgettes, beetroot and more!

These were the turned into some delicious meals including fish and chips and beetroot and feta pasta. Yum!

Thank you to everyone in our Cartrefi community who has made this summer such a great one! We look forward to more #EverydayRemarkable moments and can’t wait to see what’s next.