About Brock Gateway

Welcome Back, September 2024

Everyone is always pleased to be back at club and meet up with old friends. We’ve been really happy this year to welcome lots of new members too. In the first few weeks it’s great to try all our favourite activities and have time to chat and catch up on what everyone’s been up to over the summer.

Everyone enjoys flower arranging.
It’s great to catch up for a chat at the snack bar.
A cup of tea and doing some art work is very relaxing!
The new pool table is always popular.
Colouring is always a favourite activity, it’s great to have the chance to chat too.
Lots of concentration needed to complete the jigsaws.
Assistant Club Leader Debbie has had a really busy first few weeks making sure everyone’s details are up to date and the registers are completed. Club member, Tim, is great at giving a hand.

Quiz 2024 7.9.24

On Saturday 7th September 2024, Brockenhurst Gateway Club held a very popular Quiz. This was very kindly hosted by Everton and Lymore Social Club. It was a great night with nine teams competing and trying to answer as many questions as possible. There was also a raffle for a Luxury Hamper and many other prizes too. A massive thank you to Vanessa and everyone at Everton and Lymore Social Club for supporting this event. A huge thank you too, to Julie C for all the organisation that went into the evening. With the quiz and raffle combined we raised an amazing total of £508.50!

Another huge thank goes to you to Assistant Club Leader, Ryan for preparing the questions and taking on the role of Quiz Master on the evening. Also to Assistant Club Leader, Debbie for keeping the scores and making sure all the answers were collected in.

There were so many great raffle prizes.
It was great to see club members, staff, volunteers, friends and family taking part.
Thank you everyone for taking part.
Massive congratulations to the winners!
Working on the anagrams!
Team work is dream work….can we solve the link word questions?
Just time for a picture before the next round of questions.
Smiles all round when family and a club member teamed up to try to solve the questions.
Lots of concentration needed to answer this question.

Mudeford Quay Walk 4.7.24

Mudeford was a beautiful setting for our final trip out of the summer. Everyone met at the Quay and enjoyed a short walk before having time to eat a meal overlooking the sea, chat, have fun with friends and take in the lovely views over to The Isle of Wight.

Taking in the views on our walk.
Some volunteers brought along their dogs and members greatly enjoyed the opportunity to dog walk.
Taking in all the sights along the way.
Some members ordered food.
Volunteers do many jobs at club. This week volunteer Victoria acted as a ‘bird scarer’ to protect the chips!!
We were lucky it stayed dry but it was definitely a night for wrapping up warm!
What’s that up there?
Keeping warm together!
These fish and chips look great.
Catching up with friends.

Open Evening 27.6.24

Everyone enjoyed our open evening. A huge thank you to members, parents, staff and volunteers who prepared stalls and the raffle and helped with the organisation of the evening. Also a huge thank you to all our visitors who came and joined in with our event. Many commented that it was great to see a club night in action and it was lovely to be able to thank, in person, people who are so generous in donating to our club. Guess the number of sweets in the jar was very popular and won by club member Jess!

Everyone arrived early to set up stalls and activities.
Just putting the finishing touches to my stall.
Volunteers and staff baked home made cakes which were expertly displayed and sold very well!
All the photographs and pictures were carefully displayed.
Snack bar ready to open!
Making sure all the club night activities are ready for members.
Preparations continue and flower arranging is all ready.
Club member Kelly made beautiful origami flowers to sell.
Club member Steve’s stall ready for business.
Visitors enjoyed a cup of tea, cake and browsing the stalls. Many also asked lots of questions about the club.
Club members helped out selling items on the stalls.
Many club members enjoyed their favourite club activities.
Flower arranging is always popular.
Decorating cookies.
Visitors made lovely flower arrangements to take home.
It was lovely to have time to chat.
Browsing the stalls.

Games on The Forest 20.6.24

We were so lucky with the weather for our annual Games on The Forest event at Balmer Lawn. A huge thank you to long time volunteer Jane Forrest for her support with this activity.

Plenty of room for a game of football.
Everyone was pleased with the chip butties that were served by volunteers.
This tastes good.
Thumbs up to great food.
It’s good to have some time to relax and enjoy the views and great company.
Catching up with friends.
The bubbles looked great in the sunshine.
How far can I throw the rocket?
Let’s talk badminton tactics!
It was a lovely evening.

Shetland Pony Visit 13.6.24

Everyone had a great time when Sarah, Club Leader, brought her Shetland Ponies to club. They were extremely friendly and well behaved! Thank you to Sarah for organising this event and also to volunteer Lisa for her support in helping with the visit.

Everyone was taught how to approach the ponies carefully.
Thank you to volunteer Lisa for showing everyone how to look after the ponies.
Gently does it!
Look at the camera please!
Feeding time.

Pedall Inclusive Cycling 6.6.24

A massive thank you to the team from Pedall Inclusive Cycling who came to club and ran an event for us. Everyone loved all the different bikes and had an absolutely amazing evening.

Look….no hands!
How fast can I go?
We had a very carefully organised one way system!
Cycling is great exercise.
I need to think about steering this round the corners!
Team work is dream work.
This is a great bike.
Jacob overtook club leader Sarah and member Kelly!
And finally it was a huge thumbs up from Claire!

D Day Commemoration Event 1.6.24

We held a stall at Brockenhurst Football Club for the D Day Commemoration event. This was a chance for us to join in with a very important village event, fundraise and also to talk to people about Gateway Club. A huge thank you to parents, members, staff and volunteers who helped to organise our stall and also came along on the day. Also a big thank you to everyone who donated items to sell, we talked to lots of people about Gateway and raised nearly £200.

The tombola and lucky dip were very popular.
We had hand turned wooden items, books and pre loved items for sale.
Club member, Steve Cooper kindly sold his beautiful cards and pictures and gave a donation to Gateway.
Club member Matthew enjoyed having a go on the tombola.
Club member Matthew and leader Sarah even enjoyed a dance to the war time music that was playing.

Sign Language Evening 16.5.24

We had one of our highest attendances of the year for our sign language evening, it was great to see parents and carers taking part in this event too. The activities gave everyone the opportunity to learn some signs and also to take away sheets as prompts to continue practising. You can see from the concentration and smiles on peoples faces everyone enjoyed the challenge! We are looking forward to continuing practising and learning together.

Everyone concentrated as we were carefully taught the different signs. A huge thank you to our excellent teachers.
Each member’s name had been prepared in sign language and lots of people took on the challenge of finding their name and then learning to sign it.
Matthew
We also learnt to ask for different things including tea….
….and ice cream
It was a fantastic evening that finished with a group of members singing and signing a song in Makaton, which they had learnt previously, from The Greatest Showman.

Keyhaven Yacht Club 14.5.24

We had a wonderful night at Keyhaven Yacht Club. We were a little worried about the rain staying away but we were lucky with a warm, dry evening! A huge thank you to everyone at Keyhaven Yacht Club who makes this event possible and for making us all feel so welcome. It is one of our highlights of the year and it was fantastic to see so many members attending and having great fun. Everyone, of course, also enjoyed the beautiful views out to sea and also the Isle of Wight.

Getting ready for our boat trip.
Off we go!
It was lovely to gather inside, chat to friends and watch the boats.
I needed to listen very carefully and concentrate to steer the boat.
What a fantastic place to watch the world go by.
It was such a lovely peaceful evening watching everyone having such a great time.
Time for the next group to go out.
It’s lovely sitting and watching the beautiful views.
My turn to steer now!
I had a fantastic time out on the boat, now back to the clubhouse for a rest!
We even had blue skies….right at the end of the evening!
A huge thank you to Andy, Heather and Matt for a fantastic time.