AJ Day Options Trust

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas!

Video from the AJs Christmas Lunch 😊

07/12/2025

25/11/2025

Staff Update - Tevin

Starting at AJs in July, I was a tad nervous, having very recently moved to Christchurch from the mighty Ash Vegas. It was a fresh start with no experience, in such unfamiliar territory but I am so glad things have worked out the way they have. I hope to never sell electrical cable or quote car parts ever again!

I have been warmly welcomed into the team at AJs by staff and clients alike. I am excited to share a glimpse into life at AJs over the last 5 months!

On Mondays, I do a FOCUS session with Joe, I hold boxing pads for Joe, he does four rounds of punches before doing some press-ups. Joe is punching harder and harder every week.

Once Monday afternoon rolls around it is time to head out to the driving range. One group I take consists of Alecia, Cara and Cam H and every other week I take Daniel, Justin and Harrison. Both groups love trying to hit the targets with their shots and quite enjoy taking a drive for a quick look around if we finish our bucket of balls quickly.

On a Tuesday afternoon myself, Julia-Grace and 5-6 clients head out to play basketball. Regular ballers include Cam M, Kirwan, Dean & Jack. Many others have joined us, such as Harley, Cara, Anthony, Clement, Josh and Samnung to name a few! We start with some drills and always finish with a game. Its great seeing everyone's strengths on display during the game. Cam M can shoot and score from well beyond the 3pt line, Dean gets in the paint and uses the backboard to rack up points, Kirwan enjoys a cheeky steal and Jacks dribbling has been steadily improving!

Yet another busy day on Wednesday! Starting with a FOCUS session with Eddie in the morning, hitting the weights machine, I reckon if we give it a few months Eddie will be maxing out the machine on some of the exercises!

Next comes possibly the most crucial job of the week, imperative to keeping clients in the workroom nourished and full of energy for the remainder of the week: Picking up the Maccas order! Kyle and Alecia regularly help me out, and recently, greatly appreciated assistance has been provided by Josh, Hamish, Clement, Oscar, Hamish, Jack & Paul S.

After lunch I visit the driving range for the second time this week. This time with two different groups, one group being Paul M, Nick F, Harley and Clement. The other being Ben N-F, Eddie, Jeff, & Liam. These two groups never fail to impress with how far they hit the ball, 100m plus drives are business as usual for these fellas!

The sporty schedule continues on Thursday afternoons with a trip to polybat. Lots of the clients enjoy playing polybat and table tennis. Some highlights include lengthy table tennis rallies with Ross and Matt K, Daniel and Clement hitting sharp angles to score in polybat and seeing Justin getting better each week as he has joined in just recently. Apart from that, I love seeing the all-round skills and enthusiasm from other regular polybat attendees such as Biddy, Callum, Hamish and Paul R.

An unscheduled part of my Thursday that I quite enjoy from time to time, is drawing scooters with Kaine, he has taught me there is no such thing as too much green!

Fridays are also an action-packed day. In the mornings Harrison, Nick F, Sam T and I head out on the town for the Young Guys group activity. What happens on Friday morning is decided by the Guys, in the few months I have been going out with these guys we have done all sorts: bowling, basketball, disc golf, visited art galleries, libraries, malls and museums. We still have lots of activities in mind to tick off the list! Sometimes we are lucky enough to have the company of others, Ayden, Harley & Nick T to name a few.

Friday afternoons come fast, and it is time to hit the gym! Ben N-F and Laughie hit the weights and then do some boxing afterwards for a full-on workout. Laughie is our bench press champ and Ben loves to show me up on the leg press, always smashing out an extra couple of reps to push himself!

A recent "one-off" outing definitely worth mentioning is our trip to the Court Theatre to go to SPARK LIVE an amazing sensory production that was wildly entertaining with singing, dancing and other sensory thrills. The clients that attended were able to get up and join in, becoming part of the production, making it a truly unique experience!

Between all of this busyness, I get to enjoy time in the workroom. I love speaking with our clients and getting to know them better and learning about their interests. It is also great to see how excited everyone is when new work comes in, and I love supporting our clients to complete said work. There is a huge variety of work to do and everyone works really hard to get the jobs done!

It's crazy how I have only been at AJs for 5 months, the time has flown by! But at the same time staff and clients have been so kind and helpful to make me feel as if AJs is a team that I have been part of for years! With December approaching soon I would like to wish everyone has a very merry Christmas and I can't wait to give my next update.

03/11/2025

A big thank you to Letina for refurbishing some of our very well used stools!
Very much appreciated 😊

02/10/2025

https://youtu.be/5NlOH-A1wHk

Thanks for watching!

28/09/2025

Staff Update - Mike

It’s hard to believe I’ve been at AJs now for over two and a half years – as the saying goes, time fly’s when you’re having fun! I did my last FB update in my first year and a lot has happened since then. I’ve picked up a few new groups including the Monday morning Walking Group which I’m really enjoying. This typically includes Ben M, Harrison, Cam H and Matt K, and we do a different walk each week, usually of around 7 to 8 km. The guys take the primary lead in where we go and typical places include beaches and parks, along rivers and estuaries, around the red zone, hill walks, etc.

I have also picked up the running of our car cleaning contract on a Thursday. This is a contract we have with Te Whatu Ora Canterbury based at Hillmorton Hospital, whereby we clean four cars each week which takes up most of the day. Kevin comes every week and typically does the vacuuming, and Harley and Ayden alternate and they usually take care of surfaces and door jambs. We clean the cars to a high standard (with very positive feedback!) and it’s great to see the guys learning new skills and getting satisfaction from a job well done! They also get paid a sum per each car cleaned so it is great extra income for them.

I continue to do the Climbing Group on Tuesday afternoons at YMCA Adventure Centre, with usual attendees Harrison and Laughie. It’s been great to see these guys improve their climbing skills and gain greater confidence to tackle more challenging climbs.

I always enjoy getting out for a walk on Wednesday afternoon with John G. We tend to walk and talk (sometimes John sings!) while doing a large loop of the local area, often stopping at the City Mission shop in Fitzgerald Ave for a look where John often buys a few bargain CDs and DVDs. Recently we’ve been visiting a few local cafes to try out their wares, John even partaking in some haggis during a recent visit while exploring his Scottish side!

With Margaret away for three months over winter swanning around Europe, I have been doing the Friday morning sensory group at Pioneer Centre every week with the occasional visit to our Community Gardens in Linwood Ave to keep tabs on the weeds. With Margaret’s return a few weeks ago, we have reverted back to week about Sensory group and Gardening group on a Friday morning.

I continue to take the “Wise Guys” group (or as some wags at AJ’s call it the “pensioners group”) fortnightly on a Friday afternoon, which I really enjoy. This comprises 3 older gents Jimmy K, John G and Allan, alternating a visit to the Penny Lane record shop with a visit to one of the malls for a look around and then afternoon tea. It’s a great way to finish the week.

I spend the rest of my time in the workroom where I really enjoy interacting with the clients and working alongside them while supporting them in their work. And I certainly feel much more comfortable and at home with the noise and “busyness” of the workroom than in my first year at AJ’s. Things have been ticking along nicely in the workroom in recent months, with a steady supply of different jobs coming in, enough to keep everyone pretty busy. I love how the workroom provides a number of different tasks for people at a variety of different levels and abilities.

It’s great to have our new staff person Tevin (that’s Kevin with a ‘T’!) onboard and picking things up very quickly. He is fitting in really well and it’s clear the clients really like having him around.

It’s hard to believe it’s now early spring and we are already starting to look ahead to Christmas! Roll on longer days and warmer weather!

That’s all from me, thanks for reading.

10/07/2025

Staff Update - Lynne

Hi all,

AJs has been buzzing with life, with different people coming and going to do activities, while others remain in the workroom working hard and chipping away at various jobs for local businesses.

It has been exciting to welcome a new staff member named Tevin, and we are looking forward to having him as part of the AJs Team.

I have continued to take Harley, Nick and Matthew for the walking/active group each Wednesday. We walk around wetlands, along beaches, beside rivers and estuaries, up and down hills, along city streets, around parks, and when the weather is bad, we head to an indoor walking track. This group has also participated in swimming activities at QE2 and Pioneer, played disc golf at Jelly Park, Warren Park, and QE2, and engaged in trampolining and basketball shooting. We have also visited the Airforce Museum. We often come across interesting things like logging trucks being loaded, drones collecting scientific samples from the estuary, and helicopters hoisting goods in the hills. We spot wildlife, feed eels, and talk to many council workers and dog owners.

Every Thursday morning, I take Chris and two others (from Simon, Anthony, Georgia, Josh, Kyle, Jack, Paul R, and Nick T) to Timezone. The group typically starts with a relaxed morning tea and conversation before heading to the neon-lit Timezone for exciting arcade games. Everyone has different preferences, from basketball and air hockey to Mario Kart. Recently a new duck racing game has been installed, and most people have enjoyed trying that out. Once the games are played, tickets are redeemed at the prize shop, and the people who play the non-ticketed games try their luck with the Big Sweet Land Candy claw machine.

"City Vibes" is a relatively new group, dedicated to exploring the inner city and occasionally nearby suburbs, which gets out and about on a Tuesday morning. One week John N, Hamish and Cam M are the lucky participants and then alternating that group we normally have Laurel, Sarah P, Beth and Dean. The group's purpose is to encourage participants to discover new places while also getting some physical activity (walking). This group has walked around the city viewing the street art, visited art galleries, the Arts centre, Riccarton Bush, Botanic gardens, Turanga Library and the Cardboard Cathedral as well as the Riverside Market, the pop-up Museum and the Memorial Wall. We have also looked at the different sculptures and monuments in the city. This group enjoys watching trams as they go past and has shown an interest in watching the new Christchurch Campus Otago University building going up on Oxford Terrace. We have wandered through Eastgate, The Palms, The Tannery, South City and Barrington Malls, and watched the bakers at work at the Bohemian Bakery.

This year, I started taking Alecia to a gym on Monday mornings for a one-on-one session. Alecia is learning how to use the gym machines and is getting fitter.

I have enjoyed supporting people on other outings as well - I have been taking a group to 10-pin bowling each week and another group to the Ferrymead Driving Range (filling in since Jacob left). Both are a lot of fun, and it’s great to see everybody participating at their level. AJs definitely has some skilled bowlers and golfers in our midst. Most weeks, I join the Polybat crew at the Canterbury Table Tennis Centre, where it's great to see players cooperate, adjust their styles to suit each other and engage in intense rallies and matches.

Lastly, if I’m not out and about on outings, then I can be found in the workroom or the tea-room - either supporting people to achieve satisfaction in completing tasks or helping with providing nourishment during the day – all in all there is always plenty to do at AJ’s.

30/05/2025

Lyric Update 😊

13/05/2025

Staff Update - Angie

Hi everyone, the saying is ‘time flies when you’re having fun.’

The New Year saw us ease back to work, by February /March things were getting into full swing and now we find ourselves at the beginning of May! It’s just been over twelve weeks and the team at AJ’s have been very busy.

We have had a continuous supply of work come in from Pro Kiwi, Bremick, Aucom and Every Educaid. There has been lots of variety with something for everyone.

Making the most of the summer, some of us enjoyed catching the last of the Buskers festival, enjoyed the variety of summer fruits on our Wednesday fruit platter and periodically we had Mr Whippy conveniently stop just outside AJ’s on a Thursday around lunch time for those who had a little spare cash.

A new activity this summer has been Special Olympics Golf, held at the Waitakere Golf Club which is all about developing skills. This golf outing is added to the other golf outings where we visit the Ferrymead or Riccarton driving range to practice our swing and to see how far one can hit a ball.

We have also enjoyed participating in the annual Helen Anderson Trust T- Ball Competition, played at Dynasty Park on Thursday afternoons against other organisations. This is a fun social game which is quietly competitive! We have some very enthusiastic fielders and batters. As summer comes to an end, so does T- Ball and we move inside to play polybat and table tennis at the Table Tennis Canterbury sports complex on Blenheim Road. We hire three tables, one is set up for polybat and the other two are for table tennis. We take turns at scoring, (the timer is set for six minutes) and then we rotate amongst ourselves playing up to five games.

Our walking groups have been clocking up some serious kilometres, while the indoor rock climbers at the Adventure Centre have been reaching new heights. Some even record personal bests - this is not for the faint hearted!

Other recreational groups who get out and about include The City Vibes, who explore our city and what it has to offer. We have people visiting libraries, supermarkets and cafes. Visits to Sensory Room at Pioneer Stadium, Orana Park to deliver shredded paper, along with an afternoon of singing, action songs, poi swinging and news sharing at choir. There is car washing at Hillmorton, garden sessions, ten pin bowling, gym sessions, unit grocery shopping and visits to Timezone.

Within the unit we have dancing, fitness sessions, movie groups, craft, yoga, and car cleaning along with the many individual sessions based around movement, fast or slow, high or low, intense or chilled! Of course we also need the general clean-ups which include the rubbish, kitchen, and laundry duties.

Julia Grace is AJ’s media person, who captures small clips, of people working, show casing different types of work we do within the unit. These clips are posted on the AJ’s face book page, and remain there for 24 hours, then magically disappear.

During 2025 we have welcomed Angus, Matty, William and Jeremy to AJ’s. These people graduated from high school at the end of 2024. Throughout their final year they attended AJ’s for some work experience and now have placements at AJ’s.

We welcome Alex, who is in his final year at school and here on work experience with us, and a warm welcome to Shannon who has also joined the team. We farewelled Sophie who recently left us and wish her all the best for the future.

It was with sadness we said farewell to Jacob and Bronte. They have headed off to the big wide world to seek their fortunes and we wish them all the best for their big adventure and safe travels. Recently we advertised and are in the process of finding new team players to join us at AJ’s. Meanwhile, we have rallied round to pick up where Jacob and Bronte left, and also invited Barbara back from retirement, just for a few weeks to ease the load. We are very fortunate to have her - thanks Barbs!

Before Bronte left, she instigated the building of a small hutch, where we had the pleasure of watching caterpillars become butterflies. Swan plants and caterpillars were introduced to the hutch. This was a wonderful exercise for everyone to watch and follow the process of the caterpillars eating their way through the swan plants, make their cocoon which became a chrysalis and eventually a butterfly. The hutch was stationed in the candle room, with Mary as the guardian, reporting any progress as it happened. The journey provided much curiosity and discussion amongst everyone.

As it was Easter recently, some of us had the pleasure to consume some hot cross buns for morning tea. Thank you to the chefs on the day!

As we head into autumn and winter, we are all aware that the cold and flu season will be upon us soon. Please take extra precautions with hygiene and if you have any symptoms or feeling unwell best to stay home, take care and help prevent the spread. If in doubt pop a mask on.

Angie.

15/04/2025

Recently we said farewell to two of our staff members, Jacob and Bronte, who have left AJs to go travelling.

On their last day they were swarmed with clients at lunchtime wanting to give them speeches before they set off on their trip.

They will be missed by many at AJs, but we are all very excited for them and can’t wait to hear about all their adventures 😊

05/03/2025

Harrison & Bens Famous Pokémon Show - Episode 12

Special Guest: Nick

Special Guest: NickThanks for watching!

16/01/2025

Paul was quite keen to give an update about life at AJs today 😊