The Big Game 2019 was the biggest success yet at Louth’s Meridian Leisure Centre where scores of people enjoyed an afternoon of fun and games, with awards for all.
More than 70 people of all ages – the youngest was just three, and the oldest was 94 – took part in the event, organised by the community team at the Magna Vitae Trust as part of its Still Me project.
Funded by Louth & District Hospice, the project provides a whole host of activities within the East Lindsey community for people with life-limiting illnesses – all of them being dementia friendly. It is run on the hospice’s behalf by Magna Vitae’s community arm, which offers outreach services as part of the not-for-profit-making organisation’s ethos of supporting local people to live a greater life for longer.
This third annual event saw more than 70 people taking part in new aged kurling, welly wanging, egg & spoon and foam javelin. This largest attendance yet included pupils from Year 5 at Lacey Gardens Junior Academy, who joined in with the teams and helped the other participants.
With relatives, friends, other organisations and support workers also welcomed, the afternoon ended with a ceremony when trophies, medals, certificates and prizes were presented.
Magna Vitae’s Community Lifestyle Consultant, Lizzie Atkin, said: “It is just a wonderful afternoon when family, friends, relatives and people engaged within the sector come together and have lots of fun, with a little bit of a competitive edge. We are delighted to offer this for the whole of the East Lindsey community.
“We were all especially thrilled to see the children from Lacey Gardens join in the fun. To see them chatting and joining in with the older participants was fantastic,” she added.
Team results were: First, Green with volunteer Sharon Cooper as captain; Second, Yellow with Bev Pitchell from LDH as captain; Third, Blue with volunteer Carol Watson as captain and runners-up were Red with MV staff member Marko Humphrey as captain.
Firefighters from Louth’s Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue service and representatives from Carers First, the Alzheimer’s Society and T.E.D (Talk, Eat, Drink in East Lindsey) joined the fun, with everyone winning a medal.
Special prizes included the ‘Sue Craig Ray of Sunshine Award’ awarded to Peter Woodhead in memory of Sue Craig a much-loved participant of the Still Me Project. Other awards presented: ‘selective hearing’, the ‘all the gear, no idea award’, the ‘most consistent award’ and ‘best effort’.