Care Experienced Week is a week to celebrate the Care Experienced community and provide opportunities for members to reconnect with each other and Who Cares? Scotland. This year we had 3 events over the final weekend; the Time to Shine Festival, our Annual General Meeting and Love Rally Pre-Party, and finally, the Love Rally itself
Time To Shine Festival
On Saturday 28th October we held our annual Time to Shine Festival at the C7 Conference Centre in Glasgow.
Time to Shine is a chance for our members to come along and get together for a full day of fun and celebration with some fancy dress too. The theme for this year’s event was Film Characters and we had loads of great outfits, from Batman to Barbie and beyond. Prizes were given out to two attendees, Jorja and Caiden, for best costumes, congrats to the two winners!
The event was activity-packed with something for everyone to get involved in. We had some inflatables including a bouncy castle where members could have a jump around as well as a bucking bronco for those who wanted to take on the challenge of hanging on for dear life. There was a silent disco tent, with smoke and strobe lights for people who fancied a dance. There was also a nail station, where you could sit down for a manicure before heading a pampering massage. The Chill Out Room had bean bags and decorations for a Hawaiian sensory experience, making it one of the most popular rooms.
Speaking of Hawaii, we were treated to an appearance from Stitch from the film Lilo & Stitch! Alongside our friendly mascot Buddy the Bear, he hung out with attendees, took some fun photos and even got up to bust some moves on the main stage before having a go on the bucking bronco.
On the stage itself we were treated to some fantastic performances from some of you, including singing, gymnastics and more. Either side of these we had a DJ playing some of your favourite songs and a special scavenger hunt where the winner got a huge box of sweets. If the partying and chilling weren’t for you, we had an arts and crafts room for people to get creative as well as a movie room where we watched Toy Story. All in all, there was something to suit everyone.
We hope you all had a great time and maybe even agree with us that this year was the best Time to Shine ever. Can’t wait to see you all next year
Our Annual General Meeting and Love Rally Pre-Party
We kicked Sunday 29th October off with our AGM and Love Rally Pre-Party. The event started with mingling and morning rolls. Our Board’s new Chair, Carmel, spoke to members about the organisation’s last year, with inputs from our Senior Management Team. We also said goodbye to several Board members who resigned and then votes were cast for current members to continue their terms for another year.
After votes were taken and the AGM concluded, we moved on to the Love Rally Pre-Party section of the event where people could chat, listen to music and create banners ahead of the rally.
The Love Rally
Arriving at the Doulton fountain in Glasgow Green, armed with our banners and signs, at around one o’clock on Sunday, over 300 people came together despite the rain, to march through the streets of Glasgow for love and lifelong rights for Care Experienced people.
Led by band Samba Ya Bamba, we marched off towards George Square chanting along the way for our new Lifelong Rights Campaign. Once we arrived at George Square we heard from our five Care Experienced speakers: Carmel Jacob, Beth Anne Logan, Rebecca Munro, Billy McMillan and Pauline Omond. Each spoke on their experiences as a Care Experienced person part of the care movement, and the importance of support being available throughout every Care Experienced person’s care journey for as long as they need it. EUGENE, a Care Experienced rapper from Dundee played a fantastic short set providing some great positive energy before we heard again from Carmel who rounded off an inspirational day.
Find out more about our Lifelong Rights Campaign here.
