Beno Shahbazian

Dear Beno passed away suddenly just after Christmas on 28th December 2019.

We loved it when Beno came to join us at Guitar Group....He was skilled at playing classical guitar....we were amazed when he played one of his compositions for us....he was very talented.

However it didn't stop there.... he also came along to the Ukulele Group at TOG.

He was such a natural.... don't know if he'd ever played a Ukulele before but he just picked up one of our spare Uke's and played along with the rest of the group as though he had been playing with us for years...

He was a lovely gentle man. Wished he had come along to our groups more times than he did.... he added another layer of colour to our music...

We found a picture of Beno playing with the Ukulele group at TOG a while ago.....He's the one with the hat in case you are wondering!!!

John ( Beno's father ) has issued an invite to all and donations to Harrow Rethink Support Group instead of flowers.....Funeral arrangements....Friday 31st January at 3pm...East Chapel, Breakspear Crematorium....then to The Woodman nearby.

Patricia x

Info

Late 2019

Hi Everyone,

Craft Table

A few ex TOG members and Bridge members got together to help Wisewoks decorate 'Harrow New Years Day Float'....The folks at Wiseworks did a wonderful job putting the whole thing together......Peter Williams painted great artwork on the body of the float.....By all accounts it was a big success and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely on the day....Harrow won £5000 so congratulations to everyone who took part.

We were asked to make Hearts and Flowers to display on the float...so in the spirit of TOG we worked our socks off and came up with the goods.....Take a look!!!!

We made 35 huge colourful flowers and 25 big hearts.

Making ‘The Flowers’

Making ‘The Hearts’

The Guitar / Ukulele Group

16 of us got together just before Christmas for a meal at ' The Moon and Sixpence '.....

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Love Patricia x

Info

May to August 2019

Hi all you ' Toggers.....as everyone must know by now TOG finished for good the last week in July......It really was a sad time for us as we really enjoyed the last nine years working with you folks.

We painted hundreds of pictures..... Made a ton of jewellery.... Learnt many crafts.... Kept ourselves fit with Tai Chi and the Walking Group.... Spent many hours reading and writing poetry with the Poetry Group and went on various outings...It was also the place that the Ukulele Group found a home to practice their new found musical skills....We displayed our Arts & Crafts at various functions and the Ukulele Group also played their way through a good few of those too.....Phew!! It really has been a load of fun!!.....We hope to have a Reunion Party at Christmas and will keep everyone informed.

Thanks to all you good people who have volunteered time and energy to make the group such a success.

Let's now take a look at the last few months....

The Art Group with Jennifer

Marilyn’s Jewellery Group

The Craft Table

I have to apologise for the number of pictures taken in this section..

I found these twig shaped hearts in a local charity shop....I just knew as soon as I saw them that we could decorate them somehow....I put on my thinking cap ..…

I got a few more bits and bobs together......yes I am sorry guys, but I tore all the pages out of that book....it got rid of my anxiety for a while!!!! .....we made lots of paper roses from the pages as you will see....

Next stage was making some leaves....

AND.....the finished product.....I think they did a grand job!!

Cement Toadstools

The sun was out and the sky was blue.....I wanted to do an outdoor craft...something easy but hopefully effective.....lets see what happens!!!!

We have some sand, cement, disposable cups, masks (health & safety) water and something to mix with....let's go!!!

The bottom of the toadstools were prepared first and left to dry.

They were taken out of the disposable cups the next day...and left to dry out...They were given a coat of primer for protection.

Next stage was to line some small flowerpots with cling film and then fill them too with a sand and cement mixture.

Then....the bottoms were shoved in and left to dry....

All out of their shells ready for the next stage....

Let's get painting....This is fun!!!....everyone has their own idea of how they want their toadstools to look.

We hope to keep this website running in another format.....we will keep you informed!!

Bye for now from ' THE TOG TEAM '.....and a very, very big thank-you to Miguel Leith who is responsible for setting up and maintaining this wonderful website. Hope to see you all at the TOG Reunion in December.....Patricia xx

Info

January to April 2019

Hi Everyone,

Thought it was about time I brought the TOG website up to date.....We have taken lots of photos since Christmas..So lets get to it !!!!!... and remind all of you what we have achieved during these last few months.

Jennifer’s Art Table

Marilyn’s Jewellery Table

Craft Table

The Crafters did an excellent job with this next project.

Faux Pattern Tiles

Poundland had their New Years Sale so I was there early to pick up the frames for a quarter of their original price.....25p each.....I picked up a dozen and got back home with this project in mind.

We had some plain old white tiles in the corner of our shed.....out they came with a tile cutter. My whole day was spent cutting out more than 400 little mosaics ready to use in the project.

First job everyone had was to pick up enough tiles and place them into the frames to see if they would fit.

We used some beautiful papers from a design book to cover up the boring white tiles and bring them to life.

It was great fun right from the beginning....The results were outstanding!!

GROUTING TIME !!!!!

Hooray !!!! Everyone finished .....take a good look at these !!!

Painting and Decoupaging Old Tins

As usual I was on the lookout for something we could upcycle at TOG, when ' lo and behold ' I came across a lady at a boot sale getting rid of a box full of old rusty metal tins.....I brought them home to see if they could be saved.......Unfortunately in all the excitement of preparing them to be painted I forgot to take a picture of them in a poor state......But let's just go from there!

First things first.....Before actually painting the tins everyone had to make their very own ' White Chalk Paint .'.....The chalk paint sold in the shops is very expensive so we made our own version with one part plaster of Paris to two parts white emulsion paint......it worked out very well.

The following week all the tins were dry and ready to be decoupage......We printed the word ' FLOWERS ' on tissue paper on an ordinary printer and used some lovely shop bought tissue with birds on to represent the beginning of spring......Let's see how everyone got on.

At the end of the day Christianne brought in a few plants she dug out of her garden that morning. She planted them into some of the tins for the raffle.......think Ann might have sold a few more raffle tickets that day!!!

Lisa’s Ukulele Group…..’UkeCan’

The Ukulele Group practice on Wednesday but also join sister group 'Don't Fret ' ( Guitar group ) on Sunday afternoon..... come along, have some fun, and play or learn to play the guitar or the ukulele with us......beginners welcome!!!.... We are a friendly bunch so come, give it a go!!!

Meet Lisa....

UkeCan and Don’t Fret on Sunday Afternoon

Group Leader Ann with little Reg and Peggy having a quiet moment...

Tai Chi With Christianne

At the end of the day our lovely Christianne comes along to help us unwind.

Well that's it for now folks. Hope you enjoyed looking back over the last few months....Patricia xx

Info

September to December 2018

Hi Toggers,

I am back again with a reminder of some of the ART & CRAFT work you have created since we returned after our summer break.

Jennifer’s Art Group

Marilyn’s Jewellery Group

Craft Table

We had a great time these last few months......Hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as I did......

Faux Metalwork on Candle Tins

I found some lovely smelling candles in plain tins in the pound shop......selling at half price so quickly grabbed 10 of them to use in this project.

We quickly whipped off the labels and made a start decorating the outsides with foil and home made PVA paint.......ordinary acrylic paint doesn't adhere to kitchen foil.

Lots of concentration...but I think they are enjoying themselves.

Dirty Pour on Glass and Ceramic Tiles

Another bargain haul from a local charity shop......I snapped this lot up for 50p each.....I had no idea what to do with them at the time......but got this idea from You Tube......This is what is called a ' dirty pour ' .....don't ask!!!!....I also had some plain white tiles sitting in my craft cupboard and thought the two would be just right for this cool project.

A few more bits and pieces and we were ready to have a bit of fun.

Getting the paint ready for the crazy 'Dirty Pour'. Everyone was so quiet doing this...making sure their mixes were just right.

The plain vases were stacked on top of the white tiles and the paint mixes were poured over the top and left to run down the sides of the vase on to the tiles below.

The end results were quite dramatic...

Halloween……Mexican Skull Biscuits

Take some plain old biscuit mixture....

ICE THEM !!

And just be really silly with colourful fondant icing.....

Blackboard with Rolled Paper Border

Rolling the papers from old magazines.......not as easy as it looks.

Next Stage is carefully gluing them in place around the border of the already painted blackboard.

The Finished Product......

Christmas Wreath

First and foremost let's find some interesting old books......and tear out the pages....

Starting to make cone shapes from the pages...

Recycled cardboard backing for the wreath.....painted white.

Putting it all together.

We done it.....SO BEAUTIFUL !!!

Ann's New Toy........We Have a Trolley ......Hooray!!!!

Ukecan

The band have been very busy these last few weeks......Not only with our own gigs.....Some of us also belong to More Than Just a Choir, so we have been tugged every which way trying to attend as many functions as we could manage.

Ukecan Busking at the Civic Centre

Ukecan at our 2018 Christmas Meal

Ukecan Gigging at Rethink Support Group Christmas 2018

Sunday Afternoons at the Bridge

UKECAN and DON'T FRET get together for jamming sessions.....although it's serious practice we have a good laugh at the same time.

Getting the room ready......

LISA and PATRICIA relaxing before the jamming starts.

The Christmas ‘TOG’ Party 2018

We all had a good time.....all that practice every Sunday was well worth it......we are getting there!!!

Everyone enjoyed the food the music and the dancing.......I am unable to show any pictures of the line dancing we did again at this party..... We danced to ' Uptown Funk '....It was a great song for the Line Dance....a number of people joined in.

We had 15 musicians on stage.....t'was a tight squeeze......but so good to see so many up for the challenge.

That was an awful lot of photos......hope everyone enjoyed coming along to TOG, UKECAN and DON'T FRET.......We are going to take a Christmas break now....Happy New Year to all.....See you all again in 2019 !!!!!!!

Patricia xx.
PS...TOG will return the last 2 Wednesdays in January......Wednesday 23rd & Wednesday 30th......see you all there!!!!!... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Info

June / July 2018

Hi again Toggers......we seemed to have produced a lot of work so far this year...and we have picked up many new skills on the way......Thanks to Ann, Jennifer & Marilyn also Brian, Lisa and Hansa who volunteer their time each week to make TOG such a success........also maybe you don't know, but behind the scenes Miguel & Lisa volunteered to set up and manage our two websites TOG & DON'T FRET/UKECAN......they have both been doing this for a few years now, so done to them.

Lets get on now and look at your work.

Jennifer's Art Table

Marilyn's Jewellery Table

Craft Table

I found a dozen children's tin buckets in a charity shop for 25p each.....I had no idea what to do with them at the time...but couldn't resist a good bargain....Here's what happened to them.......we started of by gluing torn up tissue paper all over the surface.

We needed to put a coat of white emulsion paint over the original gloss artwork. By covering the tins with white tissue paper it made it easier to paint.

We stencilled over the white painted tins with a tile adhesive to get an embossed look and then painted over the raised design.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT.....we were aiming for the trendy 'Shabby Chic' look using sandpaper to distress the paint.

Printing words on the tin was another skill we learnt. Maybe I will go into how we achieved that look another time.

So a lot of craft skills were learnt on these little children's tin buckets.

Lisa's Ukulele Group

Tog Summer Party 2018 Entertained by Don't Fret and UKECAN

Thank you Jennifer for the food......especially the yummy PIZZA's....

We are off now for a well earned rest......we will be back for some more fun and games on Wednesday 12th September.......Bye for now Patricia x

Info

April / May 2018

Craft Table

Hi Guys.....I seem to be overloaded with stuff from our Craft Table so I have decided to put them up this month.

Eggshell Mosaics

First things first....painting the eggshells.

Don't they look beautiful....all those scrumptious colours.

Now let's have some fun!!.....We made some plaques to decorate some wooded flower-boxes. Brian made the flower-boxes from bits of old salvage timber he found lying around.

Finito!! They look fab!....now to glue them to the front of the wooden flower-boxes.

First one done....now to complete the others.

Let's get planting!!!

The end product.... it really was a lot of fun!!!!

Sheenal missed out doing the flower-boxes but ended up doing her own little craft box from the rest of the painted eggshells.

String Art

First step....Draw something simple on to an A4 sheet of paper.

Then we went out into the garden......we needed to hammer loads of nails on to pieces of painted wood......it was a very noisy business.....glad it was quite a nice day.

While we were busy hammering away Ann came out into the garden to walk Reg.

Some of the items hammered up and ready to start the string art.

Some of the finished items.......

Fun Day

At the end of May we decided to have a FUN DAY.....We celebrated the 35th anniversary of 'Rethink'...... Ann brought in a yummy chocolate cake for us all to share........Don't Fret and UKECAN played a number of their favourite songs and we learnt a line dance called 'The Cupid Shuffle'.......We dance to songs from Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson......it was such fun.......Hope you enjoy looking at some of the photos we took of the day.

Gig at Waitrose

UKECAN and Harrow Community Choir played a gig at 'Waitrose' in South Harrow the day of the Royal Wedding......we sang a song for the happy couple called 'Marry Me'.

Sorry dear Toggers unfortunately we are unable to meet up for TOG on the 20th and 27th of June.....we will be back on Wednesday 11th July.

There will be no TOG during the month of August.......

Patricia x

Info

January / February / March 2018

Hi all you Toggers out there.....It's that time again.....Time to show off how creative we have been these last few months. As usual not a lot of chit-chat...Just let's get down to the nitty gritty and take a closer look at what we have been getting up to.

Jennifer's Art Group

Marilyn's Jewellery Table

I had to look twice at this photo it was such a hairy strong looking arm..... then remembered that Simon had made a man's bracelet for himself.....It's so good to see a few men joining in this group.....What a stunning piece!!!

How incredible!!!!.... What an array of different types and colours of beads....If you want to join this group and make a pretty piece of jewellery for yourself or for someone else, look no further.....Think I will have to take time off to do a little something for myself.

Socialising Between 1pm and 2pm

We begin the afternoon by having a cuppa a bite to eat and a chat.

Harrow Rethink Support Group Newsletter

At the end of every month Peggy and Lynette settle down to fill the envelopes with the monthly news.....

Lisa's Ukulele Group

The Ukulele group has been growing steadily over the years and so has TOG. So it was agreed that the Ukulele Group should be found a new place to practice on Wednesday......Most weeks now they will be practicing in the Common Room.

The Ukulele Group in the Common Room.

Craft Table

Painted Narrowboat Plates

We painted the plates black first.....most all Narrow Boat Buckets, Watering Cans, Coal Shuttles etc have a black base and brightly coloured flowers give them the Narrow Boat look.

It was great fun painting these ordinary white plates.

Painting Some 'TOG' Signs to Make Some Placemats

We will laminate these and use them at one of our parties......nothing like using your very own artwork.......

Cake in a Cup

Yes you got it!!! It was Easter weekend so why not make some Easter Cakes with a difference......The ' Cup Cakes ' were made in a microwave in a cup....They each took about one and a half minutes to cook.

Faux Metal Work

This is probably my favourite type of craft work.......It's cheap and easy as pie to get a wonderful result.

The products we used...an old coffee jar...craft leading...kitchen foil...double sided tape...black acrylic paint and some odd bits to tart it up.

We also needed some coloured film for the windows.....we were lucky enough to have some in our stack of goodies.....as most everyone will know we are frugal crafters and try to get thing free or for very little money.....more exciting that way!!!!!!!

These three are ready to have a coat of black acrylic paint....everyone gets really nervous at this point....it's such a drastic thing to do......but this is how to get the look of old distressed metal.

Hope you all enjoyed your time at TOG these last few months.....With summer nearly here let's hope we can think of some more exciting things to do.

Patricia x

Info

Tog Christmas Party 2017

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves....A big Thank-You to Jennifer & Ann for organizing the lovely buffet.......Thank-You Hansa for making the 'Coconut Kisses ' so beautifully displayed in the champagne flutes which adorned the tables.

Thanks to Brian helping out in any way he can.....supporting me throughout the year.

Thank-You for the combined efforts of ' Don't Fret ' & ' UkeCan ' and also Keyboard John who stepped in at the last minute to join the band for the afternoon.....Thank-You Lisa for getting to The Bridge really early to set up the band equipment.... it was a big job as 12 band members were on stage.....Thanks to everyone who helped in any way ( can't name you all...so many were eager to lend a hand.)

A very Happy Christmas to all, and the very best for 2018.

Next Munch & Mingle Friday 5th January 2018.

Next TOG meeting Wednesday 10th January 2018

Patricia x

Info

October / November / December 2017

Hi again fellow Toggers.....There are many, many pictures to show.....hope you find your work among these.

Jennifer's Art Table

Makesh's Charcoal Drawing Class

Our thanks to Makesh for taking over this week....a little break for Jennifer.

Tog Table

For those thinking of coming along to TOG for the first time.

As you enter the room there is a table with various things eg...information sheets, Raffle prizes, a signing in sheet and a polite notice asking you to put a £1 donation into the can to cover the cost of the afternoon. This includes all the tea or coffee you can drink etc....a real bargain!!! .....You might find Ann sitting there welcoming those entering reminding them to sign in.

Malcolm always comes along for a chat, a cup of tea and some good company....remember if that is all you want to do it's fine.

Nicola and Sheenal's Nail Bar

Every now and again Nicola gives the ladies a real treat with a manicure and giving the nails a couple of coats of nail varnish.. Sheenal offered to do a hand massage this time with some lovely smelling creams.....

Marilyn's Jewellery Table

Marilyn and Liz getting ready for the afternoon.

The Ukulele Group

Open day at THE BRIDGE....UKECAN busking in reception.

That was such fun!!!!........When we finished Mark from Mind asked Lisa if UKECAN could do a gig at the Mind AGM in December.

Dave in charge for the afternoon!!!

The Craft Table

Sorry Guys hope I don't bore you too much......but we did so much stuff and everyone wants to see their work displayed.

Open day at the Bridge

What a display of our work!!!......we had a lot of good feedback.

RECYCLED SPOONS made into........COAT HOOKS?????

We got good old Uri Geller to bend all the spoons first....who else!!

The spoons were flattened so we could cover the heads in the most beautiful shades of Fimo Clay......It is lovely clay to work with.

This lot are taking their work very seriously....

The finished product.....think they came out pretty well.

DIY Coloured Glass Jars

Just for an experiment.....we made our own glass paint out of PVA glue and some old printer ink I had lying around........well.... it did work to a fashion.

Each person had to make up their own colour mixture, pour it into a clean,clear jar. Screw on the lid and toss the jar from side to side to cover the whole inside of the jar...They were left to dry and the result was an amazing array of beautiful coloured jars.

Gee Whizz!! what beautiful coloured jars......some were decorated with a gold or siver 3D outliner for effect.

Boring Old White Plates!!!!!

Lets see what happened to them.

First things first.....getting ready to decorate those boring white plates.

I managed to find yet another fantastic book to chop up......sorry book lovers!!!

Now lets get MESSY.....such a lovely word MESSY...lots and lots of gooey glue and a bit of artistic flair.

The finished product......all of them were fantastic.

Marble Art

I was so impressed when I found out how to do this artwork.....The old way with water, oil paints, plastic sheets to protect the surfaces and towels to clean up the mess put me completely off this project......But by chance I came across this new ( at least to me ) way.

Using Shaving Foam and Watercolours......I quickly rushed to the bathroom to find my husbands shaving cream to have a go.....I was hooked and just had to bring this idea to TOG.

The results were truly beautiful....well done guys.

Christmas Stuff

We managed to do some Christmas stuff.......paper chains, Snowflakes, angels and some plastic champagne flutes that we glittered ready to be filled with ' Coconut Kisses ' made by our very own sweetmaker Hansa.

Well that's it folks....such a lot to look at I know, but I hope you enjoyed peeking into the last few months at TOG......We have a festive day on 20th December.........Music supplied by Don't Fret & UkeCan hope to see you all there.

Patricia x

Info