Friends of Warboys Day Centre

16/09/2026

The weather gods were on par with us today and the sun shone down us as we took on the ‘Blue Diamond’ mini-golf course. There were birdies, bogeys, an eagle and even some rather cheeky little monkeys. It was good to get out in the fresh air and as always there were a lot of laughs to be had.
Of course……we weren't finished there. Back on the mini-bus we went and over to the Hartford Marina who put on a very tasty fish and chips or sausage and mash lunch, followed by birthday cake all around. I think we will all sleep well tonight....

Thank you to all our volunteers and transport for all your support to make these wonderful days work.

11/09/2026

Today, our members were lucky enough to have a lady representing P3 Charity visit us. They are a charity that can help anyone over the age of 65 with any advice; for example advising you on what benefits you could receive or pension advice. With their extensive knowledge, they can support you with mental health, substance abuse or any other information that you think you may need but are struggling to find. Home visits can be arranged, application forms can be either supervised or filled in for you and they can even make referrals to trusted handymen services to fit things such as hand rails or safety support in your house. Most importantly, they are there to assist you with anything you may need or point you in the right direction of someone that can. You can ring them yourselves, it doesn't need to go through your doctors and it is all confidential. They cover the whole of East Cambridgeshire, Fenland or Huntingdonshire and are a short-term support service. Many questions were asked this morning by our members and if any of you need support then they are the ones to ring. We will put pictures of their leaflets on here for you.

09/09/2026

We were lucky enough to have Polly's mum, Penny visit the day centre this morning to tell us the story of Josef Jakobs, a German spy that parachuted in to Ramsey Hollow on 31st January 1941. Josef had been imprisoned in Germany several times and was a bit of a bad lad by all accounts. He was offered the chance to stay out of prison if he would do a spy mission. With no military or parachute training behind him, he was dropped out of a plane over Warboys Fen, breaking his ankle as he exited the plane and crashed to the ground on Dove House Farm. He lay there all night and was discovered in the morning by two local brother-in-laws, Charlie Baldock and Harry Coulson, who were working the land there. Charlie stayed with Josef whilst Harry ran to phone for help at a nearby farm. Harry Godfrey, a member of the Home Guard ,and a policeman arrived and carried Josef on a cart all the way to Ramsey police station. Lugging him up the High St certainly drew the attention of the whole town , especially as it was a Saturday and market day!
There was some consideration by the Secret Service that he may become a double agent but it was felt as his arrest for espionage had been so public, that it would be too risky. Consequently, he was sentenced to death and was the last person to be executed in The Tower of London. Because he had been a military man, he was spared death by hanging but instead was put in front of a firing squad. His ankle never properly mended and so he was placed on a wooden chair that still bears the mark of where the bullets went through him.
It was a fascinating talk by Penny and she has a wonderful knack of making it personable, we are lucky to have her on board.
After a tasty lunch of quiche, new potatoes and salad, with cheesecake for dessert, cooked by our amazing kitchen team, we decide to do a ‘Speed Volunteer’. Each pair of volunteers had fifteen minutes per table to have a group discussion about all manner of things, then they had to move clockwise to the next table. We are often so busy at the centre that we wish we had more time to have these group chats so today, we made time. It was really interesting to hear our members life experiences and I think we all learned something about each other today. We will endeavour to make this a more regular thing as everyone seemed to enjoy it.
We'd like to say a big thanks to Penny and also to the people who gave her a lot of ‘inside knowledge’.

05/09/2026

Hopefully all our families received their emails earlier in the week about visit from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Our plan was to let our members listen to recordings this Wednesday. But one our brilliant volunteers just forwarded me this link and I thought I must share it.

Polly McLellan says the Dalek costume "brought memories flooding back".

04/09/2026

As always we had lots of laughing today

04/09/2026

It might've been a pig of a morning, weather-wise but that isn't what persuaded us to go all out today down at the centre. As you probably already know, nothing is too much of a ‘pig' deal for our crazy volunteers and honestly, their wardrobes must resemble something out of ‘Mr Ben’s favourite costume shop. The members were greeted off the bus by Miss Piggy and her sidekick volunteers and in they trotted to their pig-decorated tables. Piggy placemats, cut out by Keri and Sam, our resident farmer, was there to set up the pig-racing competition.
The members placed their ‘bets' (no money exchanged) and 8 competitors took to the chairs. The real pig race was then shown from the pig-racing dvd and the members got points if their pig came first, second or third. All points were added up at the end and the winner of the ladies prize was presented with... (in very stereo-typical style) ..a pink piggy bank and the winner of the mens was given a blue piggy bank. Whilst all this was going on, our chefs in the kitchen, Kim, Milly and Charley were rustling up a delicious all day breakfast to ‘pig out’ on for lunch. It's not an easy task to present thirty, full English breakfasts but our kitchen staff did us proud and there were clean plates all round. We are incredibly lucky to have them.
We had some very welcome visitors today at the ‘Young at Heart Club’ as two staff members from Florence House in Ramsey came to deliver a donation of two hundred pounds towards our very worthy cause. They hosted a summer fete a couple of months ago and each year they like to donate money that they make to help a local community group. This year, after seeing all the fabulous things that we get up to and seeing the impact we have on the older community, they chose us! Thank you so much for your generosity, it will go a long way to help on one of our many outings or entertainment acts that we have in.
Can we also thank Penny, Polly's mum that knitted us the pigs at very short notice, you are amazing and we are lucky to have you on board too.

04/09/2026

Pig racing day

04/09/2026

🐖The 1st pig race of the day 🐖

03/09/2026

Members who are attending tomorrow if you have any thing pink please wear it, it may help with the antics we have planned

03/09/2026

Don’t forget our radio interview with be on BBC Cambridgeshire from now to 10 am , we led to believe we could have 2 x3 minutes interviews. After 10 am every thing can be seen and heard on bbc sound.