ACE Activities Winter Newsletter – January 2025
Happy New Year from all at ACE Activities!
We hope that you all had a happy and peaceful Christmas.
We had a lovely run up to Christmas!
We started by making our Christmas Video which you can watch on YouTube here.
We made lots of ceramic and paper decorations for our ‘Eco Friendly’ Christmas Tree at St John’s Christmas Tree Festival…
…and held a successful upcycling stall at the Theydon Bois Xmas Fair, manned here by Peter King, Daniel Varley and Josh Russell.
We enjoyed a cinema event, a Christmas Dinner, and finished off the year with a fun packed Christmas Party at Theydon Bois Village Hall!
Ace Activities has had a fabulous year and we been able to offer a full range of exciting activities for our members. However, we remain aware of the challenges facing many small charities and organisations. We will continue to seek funding from a variety of sources and are always open to fundraising initiatives. Thank you to those of you who have either held or supported fund raising events. Look out for event announcements including a celebrity charity football match coming soon!
Sally Panrucker – Co-ordinator for ACE Activities
Ace Volunteers
It is without exaggeration to say that Ace Activities would not be the success it is without our wonderful volunteers. Last year we were fortunate to add another two volunteers to our list of valued team members.
Our volunteers fulfil many different roles and Teresa Brotherston, who works full time, helps out at events. In December she put her artistic talents to good use and made some beautiful, natural crafts for our Christmas tree this year.
” I joined ACE Activities after being introduced to the lovely Sally by Ricky at Riverside Timber Recycling. I was blown away by the kindness and community of people involved with ACE Activities and the lifeline the activities gives its members. I asked if there were any volunteering roles as I wanted to get involved and help where I could. I have met many of the Ace group members and it’s always heart-warming speaking to them at events. “
We were delighted to welcome Teresa Farrar back after 8 years (seen here with Sally). Here’s her story.
” I first met some of the ACE Activities Team back in 2016. I was feeling super stressed by my job in the city, so decided to take a 3-month break. I was searching for local charities and found ACE Activities. I decided to give it a try and volunteered. I had never worked with people with mental or physical disabilities before, but it was an incredibly rewarding experience. After 3 months, I had to go back to work, but I never forgot the kind and lovely people I met, and the important work ACE Activities does for these communities.
Fast forward to 2024, 8 years later, I finally decided to retire early. My first stop for a volunteering opportunity was ACE Activities. I was so glad to see that the charity was still going strong and had expanded to include a variety of different initiatives and a lovely new location in Grange Farm in Chigwell. I tried out a few different activities before deciding to volunteer for the Gardening project. It was an easy choice because many of the volunteers and the mentally disabled people I met back in 2016 are still involved, which is a testament to the longevity of ACE Activities. It was great to catch up with everyone again.
If you’re thinking about volunteering, I highly recommend ACE. They have a variety of different activities, Arts, Sports, Cookery, Gardening, Music, and Upcycling. Try out a few different ones to see which one you like the best. “
Would you consider volunteering for us?
There’s more information and contact details on our Volunteering page.
ACE Arts in the Community
Last year our friends at Chigwell Riding Trust celebrated their 60th Anniversary. We had previously made a tiled ceramic installation for the charity’s 50th Anniversary. Last year we decided to make something a bit different and made 30 giant ceramic flowers for their garden.
Each flower represented two years of the wonderful charity’s work providing riding instruction for people with special needs, a charity close to our hearts as many of our members have benefited from either riding instruction or volunteering at the stables.
It is also the source of the magnificent manure used in the allotment!
New Year Healthy Recipe
The Chinese New Year starts on January 29th and lasts for 7 days. This year it is the year of the snake. According to Chinese astrology, the year of the snake is associated with transformation and renewal. As many people would like to transform themselves after the excesses of Christmas, Andrea, our cookery tutor, has supplied us with a healthy stir fry to start the New Year off with!
Chinese Stir Fry
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
1 large onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Small piece of fresh ginger root, grated
2 carrots,
200g mange tout
1 red pepper, thinly sliced,
175g (6oz) mixed wild mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
100g (4oz) bean sprouts
100g (4oz) pak choi (or Chinese leaves), shredded
A small pack of baby sweetcorn
PLUS: A jar of Chinese stir fry sauce of your choice (plum, sweet & sour, Chow Mein etc.) OR soy sauce
PLUS: Choose one from the following – boneless chicken pieces or other meat, prawns, tofu (or other vegetarian/vegan alternative).
Optional extras:
Green beans, broccoli etc., a small tin of bamboo shoots, a small tin of water chestnuts. Chopped spring onions to garnish, sesame seeds to sprinkle over the top.
Method
1. If you are using:
- TOFU* – dry fry it and set it aside.
- CHICKEN or MEAT – fry in a little drop of oil and set aside.
- PRAWNS – miss out this step completely.
* If you are using any other vegetarian alternative, e.g. quorn, miss out this step and just set it aside
2. Heat the oils in a large wok or pan.
3. Stir fry the onions and ginger for a few minutes. Add the garlic.
4. Add all the remaining vegetables, except for the mushrooms and beansprouts. Fry for a minute or two. Then add the mushrooms and beansprouts. Fry for a minute or two more.
5. Add the meat, tofu or prawns that you have set aside. Continue to stir fry until they are FULLY cooked and heated through.
6. Stir in your jar of Chinese sauce.
Serve with rice or noodles.
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how you got on! Leave a comment below or contact us.
Focus on ACE Gardening
Our Ace Gardeners meet every Thursday at Grange Farm. We initially started out with ground maintenance in the beautiful surrounds of Grange Farm which we still love doing but now have a fantastic community garden to work in. The community garden was built from scratch with the help of a grants and the incredible support of the Grange Farm Trust.
Every year we grow a variety fruit and vegetables. Such is the quality of the produce grown that we have won numerous awards at local horticultural shows.
This time of year it is all about planning and our Ace Gardeners will be fully involved in choosing what to grow and take ownership with personalised growing areas.
Ricky has been with ACE Activities in its various forms since 2007. Ricky attends ACE Gardening, ACE Upcycling, ACE Sports and ACE Hands up to music.
Here Ricky explains why he likes ACE Gardening.
” I like working in the fresh air as it is good for you and keeps you fit. My favourite things to do are cutting the grass, planting seeds of wildflowers and watching the vegetables grow. In the poly tunnel we grow tomatoes, aubergines and chillies. We have to water them so they can grow big. It’s really good to work in a group of friends. “
Upcoming Events
25th January – Friends of Ace Activities ‘Burns night’ thank you afternoon tea
19th May – Chigwell Fair
25th May – Charity Football Match
For details and updates, keep an eye on our Events page.
If you’d like to find out more about our activities and available places why not contact us for more details.
To help us keep these wonderful activities going for our lovely members, you can donate here.
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