Community reporter Noelle Williamson continues her look at memory cafes and similar activities in West Leeds.
One Friday I hung around the entrance to Horsforth Hall Park until I decided that two ladies sitting talking on a low wall were also there for Walk and Talk.
That’s how I met Sheila and Dee, and then Maureen and Lyn, Kirpal, Gari – and Nicki and
Katherine from Horsforth MHA – and Roisin on work experience. Later we were joined by 93-year-old Phyllis, newly restored to health and walking faster than I could on a sultry morning – and half a dozen more.
Although we set off together, we soon strung out into chatting pairs and clusters, with Gari and me halfway between the tortoises and the hares.
It was a gorgeous walk along a tree-shaded path with a gentle rise, into the community garden where you could pick whatever was ripe, as long as you left some for someone else, then an easy circuit of the Japanese garden.
Doubling back, some took the shorter, shady route and some the longer one in full sun, then out by the gate we came in by, and across the road to Café Yoga, where we were greeted like old friends and all stayed for ages, talking about jobs and careers we’d left, places we’d been, all sorts.
I had never met any of these people before but it all felt so easy, and I look forward to going back.
More details from MHA Horsforth on 0113 259 1511.
MFA Farsley also do Walk and Talk in Hainsworth Park on a Tuesday morning.
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