Gateway Grand Adventures – Pirates, Palaces, and Plastic Ducks

For those who have been paying attention to our website news page, Gateway has had a break, but we are back and itching to bring you up to speed on our goings on!

Whilst some of our members had a week’s break, a few of the members and indeed our hard working staff Sue and Di, not forgetting Fay, went gadding off to the Isle of Wight. Travelling down on a coach to catch the ferry across. That was the first adventure for some of the members. A few braved it out on deck and the others looked comfy inside.

The First day was another adventure with pirates this time but they weren’t brandishing swords, they were brandishing golf clubs! Anyone for a round of crazy golf?

This was followed by a journey back in time and a fascinating tour around Osbourne House. It is a former royal residence in East Cowes and it was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer house and rural retreat. The gardens are lovely too if the picture is anything to go by.

The Needles was the next destination on their tour of the Isle and some of our brave members ventured onto the cable car too.

The week was rounded off with a trip to the donkey sanctuary – I can think of one member in particular who would have enjoyed that day for sure.

Take a look at what else the Isle of Wright has to offer at the Visit the Isle of Wright website.

The evenings were eventful with dancing, singing comedy and mime. All that was left was the ringing out voices saying please can we do this again we had a great time. Let’s face it, that’s what we at Gateway want to hear. We are so proud of our members and our Staff who make these magic moments happen. Not forgetting our wonderful supporters whose donations and grants help us make the magic happen.

Back on the mainland now and another Gateway evening in our ‘home,’ Wilfred House. Rain stopped the planned events but not to be put off it was clearly weather for ducks. Who knew what fun could be had with fishing rods and a plastic duck or two? Look at the concentration on those faces, this is serious fun. A gateway friend has given us a Hook a Duck game which we tried out and it caused great laughter when we actually managed to hook a duck, it took a bit of practice and a steady hand.

Then we made good use of our new Ghetto Blaster (shout out of thanks to Uttoxeter Town Council for the Sundry Grant which enabled us to buy this for our members to use) and played musical statues and musical chairs, well done to Nat and Ben for winning.

We finished the night with some running around trying to match up 2 halves of cut up cards, the most difficult part of the night seemed to be separating them when we had finished !

Our next adventure will be the family evening at Uttoxeter Racecourse ST14 Residence Race Evening. Thank you to Uttoxeter Racecourse and their lovely lady at reception who saved us valuable time by printing our tickets off in advance. Now our members can move swiftly through the turnstiles and get on with the task of having a good time. Looking forward to reporting back as to how their evening went.

Until next time…

The Cinebowl in Uttoxeter has a magnatism of it’s own

The swapped games night was certainly worth the wait

I will certainly never look at marshmallows and pasta in the same light again. It would never have crossed by mind to build a tower with them. Our members were keen to rise to the challenge (no pun intended) and there was the odd Eiffel Tower replica. As for opening a parcel of chocolate with a knife and fork whilst dressing up, you have to admire our members for their determination and great sportsmanship. I can almost feel a song coming on “‘Where did you get that hat!”! What I do know is that at Uttoxeter Gateway Club every evening is worth coming along to and getting involved whether you are a member or one of our valued volunteers. Happiness and sense of satisfaction guaranteed.

Here’s a shout out for donations for the annual Uttoxeter Lions Lark in the Park on 26th August 2023. Gateway will be there with their stall and wheelbarrow raffle. So get digging in the back of the cupboard and dust of that bottle that no one drinks or those delightful but unwanted toiletries gift sets lurking in the bathroom cupboard. If you need your donations collecting give the Club Secretary a call on 07711 916288 and she can try and arrange pick up.

Now don’t forget folks next week is Bowling then Uttoxeter Gateway Club is taking a well earned break for a week (at least some of you are). Back on the 4th July.

Until next time…

Our bingo has a twist!

It would just be so obvious to go with numbers so where would life be without football, a butterfly, or best of all a cup of tea (mines milk and two sugars please!).  Judging by the heads down and concentration, this weeks bingo was being taken very seriously, but then you get to beaming smiles and our normal services is resumed. 

Where would we be without our much valued staff and volunteers pulling these evenings together?  Oh and I bet a tuck break inspired our budding bingo winners too.

Until next time…

Wonderful donation of £3221.50

This week was our Bowling Week which started off with the usual gusto and a fabulous attendance, this activity is clearly a favourite of a lot of our members. There were a few hiccups encountered but nothing our trusty staff weren’t able to resolve 😊

But the best news this week has to be the successful sharing of the NFU Mutual Giving Fund 2023. NFU Mutual posted a Facebook request for nominations for a local worthy cause.

“NFU Mutual has allocated a £1.92m national fund to support local frontline charities, NFU Mutual’s Agency Giving Fund.”

“To ensure that this fund is distributed across the UK, NFU Mutual has invited our agency to nominate a local charity to receive an equal share of this fund, a donation of £3,221.50.

We are very grateful for the wonderful work your charity is undertaking to support our community. So, our agency would like to put forward Uttoxeter Gateway Club to NFU Mutual to receive these funds.”

I was thrilled to read this email and swiftly responded.  I am delighted to say we have safely received this wonderful donation of £3221.50.  So many thanks to NFU Mutual, specifically Rosie at the Uttoxeter Branch of NFU Mutual, who persevered despite a few contacting issues (now ironed out).

But also thanks to you, our Facebook followers out there, who saw the link, shared it and most importantly named Uttoxeter Gateway Club.

We are delighted to have this boost to our funds and we are hoping to utilise the money for our members benefit very soon.

Read more about the NFU Mutual Agency Giving Fund here..

Until next time…

On Tuesday night we divided into teams and with staggered starts all set off on a treasure trail around the town.

We all had the same clues but some went on a clockwise route whilst others went anti-clockwise.

We did really well following the clues to find answers to all the questions which varied from looking at buildings to see the dates they were built or restored, to counting foxes and umbrellas in shop window displays.

We learnt a lot along the route from all about the history of Samuel Johnson to what a defibrillator was and how to use it!

One enterprising team even went for a visit into one of the pubs on route to find help with one of the clues.

Once we had finish the hunt, all returned back to Wilfred House for tuck and, of course, the answers. 

The last team back, although they weren’t the last to leave, we christened ‘Slow Sue’ – so no points for guessing whose team that was!

Until next time…

Well it’s not every day we have a newly crowned King.

So when King Charles III suggests we get involved with the Big Help Out, why would we not seizes this opportunity to do so!

We use Wilfred House as our base and it had been noticed that the courtyard areas were in need of a bit of T.L.C and we at Gateway Club are good at that. Sometimes pulling on a pair of rubber gloves and knuckling down is the order of the day! Armed with trowels, forks, brushes, trugs and of course a trusty snow shovel (after all this is England in spring!) the teams set to work with beaming smiles and the secret weapon, laughter. Knocking the areas into shape was fun way to spend an evening with friends.

The best reward, Di’s red white and blue Coronation Cup Cakes and Sue’s Lemon Drizzle. All washed down with a thirst quenching drink.

Three cheers for his majesty, Hip hip, hurrah. Hip hip hurrah. Hip hip hurrah. Well done Uttoxeter Gateway Club!

Until next time…

Anyone for chocolate?

After the glorious weather on Saturday our Easter weather slowly deteriorated and by Easter Tuesday it was blowing up a storm! Not to be put off our hardy members loyally turned our for the Easter Bingo!

A wonderful selection of goodies awaited them. Our loyal supporters had not disappointed. Huge Thank You to Julia Dixon who passed on the Easter Eggs left over from the Church’s Easter Egg Hunt and to Stramshall ACE too, who kindly donated their spare Eggs from their Easter Trail. It is wonderful to experience the shared support of the local community groups.

Now for serious concentration, eyes down, dibbers at the ready, and we are off! Legs 11, two little ducks 22, Kelly’s eye no 1, unlucky for some 13 but hark the shout goes up and Bingo we have a WINNER! Numbers were called and all too quickly the evening was drawn to a close. But yet again smiles in abundance and lots of chocolatey grins. Who cares what the weather is doing when you have an armful of chocolate, not me that’s for sure!

See you all next week for Curling. 

The task of spreading the word about Uttoxeter Gateway Club continues.

The Club was delighted to accept Burton College’s kindly invitation to a Transitional Event held to support their students in the next stage of their journey in life away from college.

Trustees, Fay and Catherine, went along to share the opportunities that Uttoxeter Gateway Club can offer to them. There was a brief introduction and then Students and their carers or parents were able to approach Fay and Catherine on the Uttoxeter Gateway Club stand. They were able to chat openly about the exciting events and club nights that the Club has both participated of in the past and share what the club has lined up for the members in the upcoming months.

Whilst most of the students are based in and around Burton-upon-Trent, it was encouraging to hear an active interest in what the club can offer them. It was heartening to speak with a couple of students and their mothers who are currently living in Uttoxeter and are hopeful that this morning’s efforts will have provided an insight into Uttoxeter Gateway Club and the club looks forward to welcoming the students for their free taster session soon.

In Other News

This week’s meeting was at Cinebowl and the usual hustle and bustle of the bowling alley that takes place there. It is without doubt one of our members favoured activities if our swelling numbers are anything to go by!