Issue 31

10 Year Celelbration Edition

Guest Editorial by Andy

This year Caswell Clinic celebrates ten years since the opening of its new building. It was in July 2001 that the Caswell Chat was formed; the idea came from an Occupational Therapist, notably Paul G. He said that he had got this idea to produce a newsletter but it would never get off the ground! I said that we should give it a go and thus the Caswell Chat was formed!

The first edition was very small with only two A3 sheets folded over! It was decided that we should have a catchy title for the leaflet and I came up with the name 'Caswell Chat'. I tried to get punchy articles that could develop into themes and I went around different people to contribute like 'Nature Watch', 'Recipes for Success', 'Compost Corner' (gardening), User Friendly Group (UFG), Caswell Crossword and managed to sell the idea of a new newsletter. Luckily we had enough articles to produce the first Caswell Chat. We thought that the first edition would be the last but we found certain clients and staff who were prepared to write regularly for future editions. Soon the Caswell Chat became a magazine with over 30 pages!

As well as regular items, clients and staff contributed articles when events occurred in the Clinic these include African Drumming with Aaron, the Women's Ward, Caswell Stoneware, Dale's Variety Shows and too many events to highlight in this article.

I need to say a big thank you to all who have contributed to the Caswell Chat and who made it such a success over the years (you know who you are!). The circulation increased through members of staff and ward to interested parties outside the clinic such as Mind, Cardiff and Hafal (who also enjoyed receiving 'The Chat').

People who contributed to the Caswell Chat received their own copy as a 'thank you' for their efforts. I would like to give one special thank you for the support from Rob C who ran the User Friendly Group from the first edition of Caswell Chat throughout many more. Rob has been instrumental in bringing difficult issues to the fore in the Clinic. On a sad but important note we also used the Caswell Chat to acknowledge clients and staff who contributed to life in the Caswell community but who have unfortunately passed away. One such person who has been sadly missed was Graham G and his family wrote to thank me for our kind words about him.

The Caswell Chat has also won numerous prizes over the years notably from the Koestler Awards. One touching moment was when the ward manager on Cardigan Ward presented me with a certificate for all the efforts that I had put in with the magazine. Well, it's time now to bow out, and I hope that you enjoy this and future editions of the Caswell Chat.

Andy