Speakers at Epsom Mental Health and Well-Being Festival 2021.

Saturday 9 October

Caring through COVID: where do we go from here?

With Katie Davey, Action for Carers Surrey.

Unpaid, family and friend carers have been one of the groups most affected by the pandemic. Already isolated and stressed, carers were left to care alone, under huge pressures with virtually no support. However, Surrey charity Action for Carers remained open, supporting carers aged 5-95.

Hear from Katie Davey about the challenges faced and how the charity adapted, and how carers feel now about the future.

Saturday 9 October

10am-11.30am

At St Barnabas Church

Action for Carers Surrey provides events, information, advice and support for carers of all ages, right across Surrey. Support includes benefits help, advocacy, guidance on moving and handling, workshops, information and relaxation events (by Zoom and face to face), support groups, free resources and more.

They also help carers have their say on carer matters in Surrey, and nationally. There’s also specialist support available for young carers, young adult carers (18-24), and carers connected to the armed forces.

Please get in touch by calling on 0303 040 1234; text on 07714 075993; or email CarerSupport@actionforcarers.org.uk.


Terry Finch

Lunch with Terry Finch.

An opportunity to look at the exhibition, talk to one another, and listen to live music from Terry Finch on the guitar.

Saturday 9 October

1.00pm-2.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

I am not from a musical background at all although I do have memories of my Grandad playing the accordion. One day in an art class at secondary school my art teacher Mr Barnard played Pink Floyd’s Echoes on the record player and it just blew me away, like going on a musical journey. I was very bored of the music of the time and started getting into prog bands in my teens at a time when it was very unfashionable, it was some years years later that I bought a guitar, I took lessons with Alan Pinches at the age of 24 and I practised hard. I was a porter in a psychiatric hospital at the time and as the job was mostly hanging around I spent my time practising. I was in an originals band which lasted about 3 years, my tutor encouraged me to join covers bands and start making a living from music.  I took his advice and joined an Elvis tribute band, then a light jazz band, then did some summer seasons on holiday camps, then played in a travelling circus orchestra in Denmark for three seasons, then I was offered a place in the band on a cruise ship, which payed for me to travel the world. I have done just about every type of gig imaginable, in many countries around the world in many styles. Back in the UK now and returned to my main passion which is being creative and writing my own songs. So far I have released an E.P. with four songs and an album with twelve songs, these are available on bandcamp, amazon, iTunes, spotify, apple music, KKbox, deezer and many more, there are also some videos I have made to accompany them on youTube, I hope you like them.  The music is of an eclectic nature like my own musical tastes and I believe this also reflects my own life experiences.  “People and Places” has many different styles ranging from rock to jazz, country and folk.  I want it to feel like a musical journey just like when I heard Echoes by Pink Floyd in the art class all those years ago.   I have a four piece band together at the moment and as well as solo performances from myself at open mic nights we also play at festivals and anywhere we can get a gig hopefully to get a following to play the bars and venues. Anyway I hope you like my music, peace love and happiness to you all. 


Helen Keevil

It’s ok not to be ok: the impact that the pandemic lockdowns have had on young people.

With Helen Keevil, Assistant Head: Pupil Welfare & E-safety Officer, Epsom College.

Helen Keevil is the Assistant Head in charge of Pupil Welfare at Epsom College with a particular focus on e-safety & wellbeing. As a multi-linguist she uses IT in the classroom to deliver interactive lessons in French, German & Spanish whilst promoting independent as well as collaborative styles of learning. She trains senior student cybermentors, peer mentors of various ages and delivers regular INSET to teachers, gap students, parents & matrons on pastoral issues, safeguarding & e-safety updates. She tutors pastoral leaders for the Boarding Schools Association, sitting on their Gender Agenda working party and enjoys raising awareness of positive mental health issues through local charity work.

Saturday 9 October

2.00pm-3.00pm

At St Barnabas Church


Angelo Muscio

Coming back into the community after the pandemic.

With Angie Muscio from WEA

I don’t want to: I am scared. An opportunity to share our fears in a supportive and understanding environment.

Saturday 9 October

3.30pm-5.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

Angela Muscio is a wellbeing practitioner , facilitating groups, workshops and courses for individuals challenged by their mental health issues. The pandemic, has for many, increased isolation and reduced confidence .The return to normal life and freedom can bring some apprehension as well as excitement as we get ready for the return to the new life we create for ourselves – remember not everything before the pandemic was good!

Our values may have changed somewhat over the past year. Take time to evaluate what’s important to you and take steps to create meaningful goals.Join us as we discuss how to take small steps to begin to open up your routine and daily living and create a plan for what you want to start to do and when.


The Metropolitan Police Choir

Songs of Lament: Songs of Thanksgiving

The choir is made up of serving and retired officers and police staff. It performs for many charity, community and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) events throughout the year. By so doing, the choir helps to raise vital funds and shows Londoners a different side of police engagement.

The choir has been performing together as a mixed voice choir since June 2016. It is led by PC Richard Fox, a serving MPS officer. 

One of the most prestigious events the choir has performed was at the unveiling of the Iraq and Afghanistan War Memorial. The choir sang a specially written arrangement of ‘Nearer My God To Thee’. The choir was honoured to perform for those that lost their lives and were injured in the conflicts, as well as singing for Her Majesty The Queen and other prestigious guests.

Saturday 9 October

7.30pm

With the Metropolitan Police Choir

At St Barnabas Church


Sunday 10 October

Sunday Morning Service

10.15am

With Sally Thomas


The Mayor of Epsom & Ewell Councillor Peter O’ Donovan

The Mayor of Epsom & Ewell, Councillor Peter O’ Donovan, will ask what we want the Borough to become after the pandemic.

(A board for ideas is available through the week).

Sunday 10 October

12.10pm-12.25pm

At St Barnabas Church

Peter was first elected as a Borough Councillor in 2015 in Ewell Court Ward. He has served on various committees most notably on Planning since 2015 and spent a year as Chair of the Environment Committee.

His parents came over from Ireland in 1954 and he was born in Putney in 1961 before moving to Streatham, where he met his wife Sarah in 2001, onto Carshalton for a couple of years and finally West Ewell in 2007.

Peter has two children Aoife (14) and Eoin (12) and they attend St Andrews Catholic School in Leatherhead.

He is a keen sportsman although his team Fulham, where he is a season ticket holder with Eoin, has not had such a good year. He helped run Eoin’s football team at AFC Ewell for a few years and also sat on appeal panels for local schools. He still enjoys musical theatre and has been treading the boards since 1980 and been lucky to perform at the Wimbledon Theatre, Fairfield Halls and our own Epsom Playhouse amongst other local theatres. It was whilst playing Alfred P Doolittle in My Fair Lady at the Secombe Centre that he met Sarah who had come along with a mutual friend before getting married in 2003.

Peter has worked in finance since leaving school (The London Oratory) in 1979 when he joined Lloyds Bank and was Manager at Hampton Hill branch before leaving in 1997. Since then his work has continued with finance including comparison website MoneyExtra, UKAR – managing the assets for the old Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock and as a mortgage advisor. He is currently self-employed as an Equity Release Specialist with The Mortgage Advice Bureau.


Dr Max Pemberton

‘Covid’s impact on mental health will last years, royal college warns’. (The Guardian, 28 December 2020, written by Ian Sample, Science Editor).
What can we do to help?

With Dr Max Pemberton.

Sunday 10 October

2.30pm

At St Barnabas Church

Max Pemberton is a doctor, working full time in the NHS in mental health. He is also a journalist and a columnist for the Daily Mail, writing weekly on politics, cultural and social issues, ethics, mental health and the NHS. Prior to moving to the Mail, he was a columnist for the Daily Telegraph for 12 years. He writes a monthly short story for Readers Digest as well as a column for them and is a regular contributor to the Spectator. He has also worked as a reported for the BBC Radio 4 flagship health programme Inside Health. He has written 5 books. His first, Trust Me I’m a Junior Doctor, was serialised as Radio 4 Book of the Week. His latest book is a children’s book called The Marvellous Adventure of Being Human. He also has a drama series currently in development.


Monday 11 October

Jackie Rose from Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust will be available to answer your questions about Well-Being.

Monday 11 October

1.00pm-2.00pm
Lunch.

At St Barnabas Church


Gayle Young

Anxiety, worry and stress.

Emotions that we have all probably experienced in the last months. Are there strategies that may help?

With Gayle Young.

Monday 11 October

2.00pm-3.30pm

At St Barnabas Church

Gayle Young is a highly qualified Master Coach and Accredited Mental Health Trainer who is passionate about supporting people to create lives they love to live. She provides bespoke coaching and/or training packages to support organisations, managers and leaders which are accredited with the Institute of Leadership and Management. Gayle holds several degrees and is also a Fellow of the Institute.

Gayle specialises in supporting the creation of thriving and high-performing teams within the workplace. Her bespoke training courses focus on identifying and alleviating stress, managing conflict in the workplace and supporting mental health. She also provides development training in NLP and mBraining to fellow coaches and, more recently, has designed a series of open courses for the general public, focused on life design, coping with uncertainty and resilience using a combination of mBraining, Neuroscience, positive psychology and NLP.

In addition, Gayle is a Mental Health First Aid Instructor and an Associate Tutor for the National Centre for Suicide Prevention Education and Training. She believes strongly in the importance of giving back to the community and freely donates her time and expertise as a crisis volunteer for mental health charity, SHOUT, and as a Trustee for a local heritage charity.

As part of this year’s Mental Health Week, Gayle will be sharing valuable insights and advice around supporting mechanisms for anxiety, worry and stress at a workshop that is open to all. She will also offer some top tips and strategies to help build resilience at work and at home as we reflect on the lockdowns and uncertainties of the past couple of years.


David Waddell

Adjusting to Life after Lockdown.

How do we treasure what we have, and yet hold it lightly? Please come along and share your views, wisdom and experience.

With David Waddell, a key worker throughout the pandemic.

Monday 11 October

8.15pm-10.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

David is a senior producer with BBC News. He oversees breaking news video material as used on the main news channels, both domestic and international. He is also a Mental Health First Aider, a TRiM (trauma risk) practitioner and a workplace culture champion. He lives in Epsom with his young family, and enjoys sailing (all too occasionally), cycling and running.


Anne Sturton
Jill Walters

Writing Haiku poetry.

With Anne Sturton and Jill Walters

An opportunity to share our creativity. No previous experience needed. We will be able to write our poems throughout the week and share them on a creative wall space, before they are included in a book.

Monday 11 October

7.00pm-8.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

Anne Sturton is a former project manager who works with LMLMM as part of the schools and colleges liaison team. She enjoys literature and arts and crafts as well as her garden and the countryside.

Jill Walters lives in Southport and teaches in adult education within the community. Aside from producing the odd haiku, she loves reading, writing, long walks by the coast and occasional trips to the theatre when she gets the chance.


Tuesday 12 October

Charles Twigg

Wire Sculpture with Artist in residence Charles Twigg.

Making anything, such as rabbits, flowers out of wire: you will surprise your self and enjoy the fun at the same time. We normally laugh a lot doing this. With Artist in residence Charles Twigg.

10.00am-11.15am

Tuesday 12 October

At St Barnabas Church

and

Learning to look, in still life.

Fun painting in water-colour, ink, pencil, etc., etc., learning how we see when looking at ordinary objects, like sea shells, fossils, fruit etc.

11.00am-12noon

Thursday 14 October

At St Barnabas Church


Emma Barrett

Male grooming: hair/hands/shoulder massage/self care/beard trimming.

With Allen Price and Isabel Lobo

Tuesday 12 October

6.00pm-7.00pm

and

The UK has the third highest prison population in Europe and the suicide rate is twice the Europe average. What is happening? What can change?

Thursday 14 October

7.30pm-9.00pm

With Rev Gill Long, prison chaplain, and Emma Barrett, forensic occupational therapist.

At St Barnabas Church


Wednesday 13 October

Stop by and visit our Metro Bank stall to take part in a calming craft activity

Our colleagues’ mental health and wellbeing is a priority for Metro Bank.

Every week on Wellbeing Wednesday we let our colleagues know what events are coming up to support them, provide advice, share tips on wellbeing and colleague’s personal stories.

We have a Health and Wellbeing hub which gives colleagues 24/7 access to support in addition to our employee assistance programme and our healthcare provider Vitality.

Wednesday 13 October

12noon-2.00pm

At The Ashley Centre
91A High St,
Epsom
KT19 8DR


Alcoholics Anonymous

The pain of living with alcoholism – recovering from addiction with Alcoholics Anonymous

With local Alcoholics Anonymous members

Are you drinking too much?  Or is someone you love drinking too much?  Are social events becoming less than sociable?  Having arguments at home about your drinking? Do you have times when you don’t remember what happened after a night out?

If so, you’re not alone.  Overdoing the booze has gone up during the lockdown – and no wonder.

Money and job worries, home schooling, being cooped up at home for months on end – it’s not surprising that many of us have turned to alcohol to cope with the stress.  Becoming addicted can happen quickly – and it can happen to anyone.

But help is at hand!  Members of Alcoholics Anonymous will explain what AA is all about and how they recovered from alcoholism with AA.

Join us for what will be an interesting session!
And one that may help you, or someone close to you.

Wednesday 13 October

4.30 to 5.15pm

At St Barnabas Church


Alan

Alan’s journey of hope, through gambling addiction to a new beginning.

My name is Alan and I’m very happy to be giving a talk at the Festival, to encourage other people who may be suffering with addiction to make the first small steps to recovery.

Wednesday 13 October

5.30pm-6.00pm

At St Barnabas Church


Thursday 14 October

Lunch with Audrey Ardern Jones and Fabricio Mattos.

An opportunity to hear local poet Audrey Ardern Jones read some of her poetry and Fabricio Mattos, an international classical musician, to accompany her on the guitar.

Thursday 14 October

12.45pm-2.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

Audrey Ardern-Jones has published widely in anthologies and journals and been a prize-winner or commended in various competitions. Her first collection ‘Doing the Rounds’ was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2019.  Currently, she is the Artist in Residence at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Hospital and helps run a creative writing course for patients at the Maggie Centre, Sutton.  Audrey is the host of Poet’s Corner, where she reads from her favourite poems on The Hub, a connected community podcast and Epsom Hospital Radio broadcast – www.hubcast.co.uk

Fabricio Mattos was born in Brazil and is a classical guitarist and researcher in music performance. He is the founder of WGC-Worldwide Guitar Connections and so far has travelled to more than 30 countries performing and teaching.  At the Royal Academy of Music Fabricio graduated with Distinction from the Masters programme and is currently a PhD candidate. Fabricio has collaborated with dozens of creative professionals over the last few years, working also as a creative director of numerous projects in music performance, being recently commissioned by institutions such as the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Arts Now.


Adele Whittaker

Come join us for a Cup of Tea, Crochet, Knit & Knatter

With Adele Whittaker

Thursday 14 October

1.30pm-2.30pm

At St Barnabas Church

I grew up in Tolworth with a crafty mother and she taught me how to crochet when I was a teenager as I wanted to make a blanket for my first niece that was due to arrive. I was also going to be doing a childcare project on her at the time.

My niece says she still has that blanket.

I also remember a phase when I started work of us girls knitting & crocheting chunky bright coloured jumpers back in the 80s.
Anyway I guess life gets in the way and for some reason I stopped making things.

Until the Summer of 2012, I remember going into a store and seeing all this lovely wool and thinking I would love to make a blanket for my boys beds.

I was with my sister at the time on holiday in Cornwall and we purchased some wool. We went onto you tube and looked up how to crochet granny squares and that’s what we did through out the summer evenings and we loved it.

I did make 2 x blankets for my boys beds and they are still going strong.

In 2014 I joined a group on Facebook to make a mood blanket in which you created a square every day, I did stick with this and my blanket was enormous ! But so much fun to make.

After this I was pretty much hooked. And started making baby blankets, baby sets for family and friends. I used to buy the Crochet Magazines for inspiration and purchased crochet books to learn more stitches as well as YouTube to help with stitches which I wasn’t to sure on. I would then post up my makes on my personal Facebook page. My friends and relatives started asking me to make items and try to encourage me to sell my bits, but that was a hole other ball game and I wasn’t confident enough to do this.

Sometime in 2019 my sister donated me loads of wool from one of her ladies that was a Mencap member who used to sit and just fiddle with different wool and textures, it would all get put into a large bin liner and I would sit for hours untangling the wool back into balls. I would then use these to make items like fiddle muff for someone with Alzheimer’s or I would crochet baby hats for my local hospital and drop them to the maternity ward if ever I was up at the hospital.

And this is what inspired me to set up my Facebook page Crochet Comforts 4 Charity it launched in October 2019

https://www.facebook.com/CrochetComforts4Charity/

I now make things and instead of taking money, I ask them to donate to charity or moneys received will go to one of the 12 charities set up on a Just Giving Page so that people have a choice of which charity they would like to donate to.

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/CrochetComfort4CharityByAdele

Since we started I have raised £2,716.06 for charity.

It’s not a great deal, but do you know what, every little bit of money helps and the charities are very thankful for the donations.

And for me, yes I do work full time, and I have daily stresses like everyone else, but my crochet just brings a sense of calm, relaxation and achievement in my life, and there is nothing better than receiving a smile or a lovely thank you for something you have taken the time to lovingly make which makes it all worthwhile.


Adrian Haefford

Climate change, faith and mental well-being

With Adrian Haefford

Thursday 14 October

4.30pm-5.30pm

At St Barnabas Church

Adrian is a geologist for IHS Markit who supply data to the oil industry and was responsible for supplying data for carbon sequestration to the UK CO2 Storage Appraisal Project (UKSAP). He started his working life doing Arctic fieldwork and writing reports on Arctic plate tectonics and petroleum prospectivity so has been able to see the effects of man on the Arctic first hand. He then moved to JEBCO to work on Soviet well and seismic data. He is a member of the Epsom Methodist Church Ecochurch committee.


Steve Dyke
Phil Martin

The Epsom Whitby line: the story of our lockdown songbook

With Steve Dyke and Phil Martin

Thursday 14 October

8.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

Steve Dyke lives locally and is a regular here at St Barnabas and works for local learning disability charity Mid Surrey Mencap . He has dabbled in poetry , performance poetry , song and comedy writing over the years . Always able to think of lyrics and tunes in his head, lockdown and furlough gave him a chance to try and master the basics of the guitar to bring his songwriting potential to fruition . He needed someone to help and phoned his friend Phil.

Phil Martin is a composer, performer and teacher now based in Whitby, currently working on his third solo album. He has played in bands from the early eighties on. These included Red Harvest, Defrosting the Fridge, The Long Decline, The Bitter Springs, Vic Godard and The Subway Sect, Kindred Spirit and Steve’s favourite band Doctor Millar and the Cute Hoors. His current band is The Age of Reason.

This performance tells the story of their collaboration over the last 18 months via technology and the burgeoning songbook they have created .The songs you will hear tonight are a mix of poignant, amusing and serious takes on a lot of life situations touching on the history of our town.


Friday 15 October

Dr Sophie Dilley

Bereavement, loss and grief.

Friday 15 October

10.00am-11.00am

At St Barnabas Church

With Dr Sophie Dilley, Senior Counselling Psychologist at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

My name is Sophie Dilley and I am a Senior Counselling Psychologist at the Staff Resilience Hub. I work with individuals, teams, and organisations to support well-being in the workplace, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic which has highlighted how important it is to take care of ourselves and those around us. I was attracted to this work as it involves developing collaborative relationships with people and I’m proud to be part of a service that is adaptive, creative, and focused on staff well-being for all.


Rabbi Danny Rich

Lunch with Rabbi Danny Rich.

12.00pm

At St Barnabas Church

Rabbi Danny Rich is a free-lance Jewish educator, having been the Senior Rabbi and Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism from 2005 to 2020 and, prior to this, serving as rabbi to Kingston Liberal Synagogue for nearly two decades.

He is now serving on a part-time basis the Three Counties Liberal Jewish Community, the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue and the Stevenage Liberal Synagogue.

Rabbi Rich is a Justice of the Peace and prison chaplain.  Most of his chaplaincy is in health settings including to Surrey and Borders NHS Trust.

Rabbi Rich has given both oral and written evidence to the Falconer Commission on Assisted Dying and the parliamentary Public Bill Committee on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill; and is a campaigner for the admission of Syrian refugees into the UK, the Living Wage, Caring for Carers and in the field mental health.

Rabbi Rich was elected as a Labour Party Councillor for the ward of West Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet in May 2018.

He has just had published two sermons on Covid 19 in a collection: Confronting Covid-19: Liberal and reform Rabbis in the United Kingdom Respond to the Global Pandemic (Middleburgh, Charles (ed), Hakodesh Press,2021).


Saturday 16 October

The Old Moat Garden Centre & Cafe

At The Old Moat Garden Centre & Cafe

Saturday 16 October

10.00am-4.00pm

“The Old Moat Garden Centre & Café is not just a garden centre. We help plants and people grow.”

“Part of national mental health charity Richmond Fellowship, we reinvest all our profits into supporting the recovery of local people living with mental ill health. Our goal is to help them gain confidence, skills and qualifications working alongside our staff and invaluable volunteers in a safe, supportive environment that encourages them to overcome challenges and obstacles. Their experience here encourages positive social interaction and helps them achieve their personal goals.”

“Our aim is to enable them to regain control of their lives and move on to paid employment, volunteering or education. Working in a commercial environment allows them to gain a valuable addition to their CVs, helping them to re-engage in mainstream work.”


“At any one time we are helping around 50 people to gain confidence and skills and move back into mainstream community life, but the ripple effect touches thousands more as their families and friends gain peace of mind, waiting lists in doctors’ surgeries and hospitals are reduced, employers gain qualified confident staff, and the community is enriched by the increased participation of the people we support.”



Eleanor Hill

Monologue making and acting workshop

This workshop will be lead by Eleanor Hill

In this workshop you’ll get the chance to work with a professional Actor and Writer, to make your very own monologue.

We will look at how you can use just your phone and your imagination to create art.

We’ll have a chat about social media, thegood , the bad and how we can make sure we’re using it in the healthiest way.

Finally you’ll have the chance to perform your piece and get feedback from the workshop leader.

(YOU DON’T HAVE TO PERFORM OR SHARE YOUR PIECE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO)

Book your place by emailing alexjlorenz76@gmail.com

Saturday 16 October

2.30pm-4.40pm

At St Barnabas Church