Come and join us for a Furry Tales session at Stepney City Farm on Monday 11th August, 2:00-3:00pm, where you can enjoy:

• tea and refreshments
• a tour of the Farm (with opportunities to feed and meet the animals)
• an animal handling session where you can meet, stroke and cuddle our therapy rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens

Open to all members of the public aged 60+ and any carers or family members they would like to bring with them.

The session will be delivered by the Furry Tales team of staff and volunteers and is tailored to the needs of older people with plenty of time to take in the farm and a warm indoor space for those who prefer to have the animals brought to them. We are dementia friendly and welcome any and all who wish to join us.

We ask for a suggested donation of £3 to cover our costs. Call 020 7790 8204 or drop us a line to book your place.

We hope to see you there!

‘We cuddled the small furry chicks
The bunnies nuzzled with glee,
I wanted to capture the moments
To take home and enjoy with me.’

(The City Farm – Sally Flood, Magic Me Participant)

Innovative East London community projects Magic Me, Furry Tales and Rootless Garden all exist to combat social isolation and improve quality of life for older people through meaningful intergenerational activities involving nature, animals and the arts. Wednesday 25th June saw us all come together at the Private View of Magic Me’s Go & See exhibition to celebrate the joys of spending time together, young and old, outdoors amongst nature. Guests could enjoy their own DIY tea blend from Rootless Garden, have a cuddle with therapy guinea pigs Jeanie and Baxter, and listen to a beautiful poetry reading from one of the project’s participants, Sally Flood.

The exhibition showed participants’ photographs of Go & See’s outings across London for older people, including a very successful Furry Tales animal-handling session at Stepney City Farm. It also included an atmospheric soundscape of the group’s trips and gave visitors the chance to find out some more about the important work that these three brilliant projects are doing.

You can listen to the soundscape here.

‘The session had a positive impact on members because most of the members have low self-esteem so this is a good way to bring that out and be comfortable around others.’ – Sundial Day Care Centre

Over the last two Mondays we’ve held our first onsite sessions this year at Stepney City Farm – first for Sundial Centre and then Magic Me. We were blessed with good weather for both and had a great time showing participants our heartwarming array of youngsters; piglets, lambs, kids, chicks and bunnies.

We received some hugely encouraging feedback from both sessions, with one participant even writing a poem about her experience of the day (which, along with participants’ photos, will form part of a Magic Me exhibition to be held at the Farm in June – more info to follow soon…).

As a result, we’ve decided to host an open taster session of

Furry Tales at the Farm

on

Monday 9th June, 2:00-4:00pm

This is open to all members of the public aged 60+, and any carers or family members they would like to bring with them. The afternoon will include refreshments and a tea infusion workshop hosted by the lovely Rootless Garden, a tour of the Farm (with opportunities to feed and meet the animals) and a small animal handling session where you can meet, stroke and cuddle our therapy rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens.

The session will be delivered by the Furry Tales team of staff and volunteers and is tailored to the needs of older people with plenty of time to take in the farm and a warm indoor space for those who prefer to have the animals brought to them. We are dementia friendly and welcome any and all who wish to join us. You can book your place here – we ask for a suggested donation of £3 to cover our costs. We hope to see you there!