The last weekend in July saw The UpLift team at Pathfinders running our yearly Weekender event, this time in Liverpool. It was a weekend of socialising, workshops, and exchanging tips and life experience among those with muscle-weakening conditions. Both staff and participants came from all over the UK, by car and train, all converging on a fully-accessible hotel in the city centre, Novotel Paddington Village.
Day One
Introductions, Advocacy Talk, Treasure Hunt, Pizza & Quiz Night
After meeting at the hotel we had a short introduction to what we do at Pathfinders, including a presentation on our fantastic advocacy service by Holly, our Advocacy and Campaigns Officer.
We all then ventured out into Liverpool for a treasure hunt with clues dotted all across the city, enjoying the sunshine, after which we reconvened for a well-earned pizza and a quiz night hosted by our own Connor.
Day Two
Confidence & resilience workshop, Q&A with older adults, film making, dinner and casino night
Day Two began with a session on confidence, resilience, and goal setting run by the incredible Ruth Meredith who works as a mediator and had valuable expertise to impart with everyone. We learned how to remove barriers stopping us from going after our goals, whether they were mental obstacles or organisational ones in our lives. Confidence was built, skills were learned, and we all came away ready to go after those goals!
The afternoon saw a Q and A session with some experienced adults with muscle-weakening conditions. Jack, Liam, and Connor all shared their backgrounds and know-how on topics like education, travel, care, and relationships. We all got a chance to ask questions and then it was time to conduct some interviews and make videos. Splitting up into small film crews, we got to work writing questions, filming, and editing our short interviews for social media. Check those out on our socials!
After a whole day’s worth of activities it was time for a fancy three course meal followed by games and a fun casino night. It was another great chance for people to get to know each other, and thankfully no one went home bankrupt!
Final Day
Design Workshop, personal goal setting and goodbyes
On Sunday the team from NMC Design and Print based out of the Neuromuscular Centre in Cheshire delivered a brilliant logo and slogan design workshop to kick off Pathfinder’s efforts to get more hoists in hotels around the country. Jake and Ross got the creative energy in the room flowing and we all came up with unique and eye-catching designs, with catchy slogans to match. We’ll soon have some polished work from NMC Cheshire who kindly offered to take our designs and work on them further. UpLift will soon have more information about our hoist campaign – it’s ambitious but exciting, and an area that we know we can make a difference.
We rounded out the weekend getting feedback from participants, and everyone setting personal goals for the year ahead sending themselves a postcard which they will receive in a years time reminding them of goals set.
It was a weekend full of excitement, knowledge-sharing, connection, and fun, and The UpLift Team is proud to have run an accessible event that had such a range of workshops. We especially want to thank the participants for coming and taking part, as well as the amazing speakers – it wouldn’t have happened without you!
Here’s to the next Weekender!
Find Out More
If you’re eager to know more about upcoming events, as well as the resources and information available from Pathfinders, you can sign up to be a free member here – https://www.pathfindersalliance.org.uk/membership/
Or contact the UpLift Team here – uplift@pathfindersalliance.org.uk
Links to our advocacy service, https://www.pathfindersalliance.org.uk/advocacy-service/
and check out the amazing work being done at the Neuromuscular Centre in Cheshire – https://www.nmcentre.com