'To fish is to hope.' NZCMC supports Casting For Recovery

New Zealand Coaching & Mentoring Centre is supporting Casting for Recovery, a retreat for survivors of breast cancer, by providing ukuleles and a learn to play session by director Aly McNicoll.

Casting for Recovery provides fly fishing retreats to women whose lives have been profoundly affected by breast cancer so they can gather in a beautiful, natural setting and learn to fly fish.

The retreat also incorporates a range of other services to promote well-being for participants and the last retreat included something completely different - the opportunity to learn the ukulele.

NZCMC sponsored the purchase of a set of ukuleles (pink of course) and Aly McNicoll delivered the Saturday night session with the promise that all would be playing the ukulele in less than 10 minutes. This goal was well achieved and the half hour lesson was followed by an almighty sing along.

‘As a trainer I was interested in the challenge of designing a session that would enable the women who had no prior experience on the uke (or the guitar as it turned out) to feel the buzz of making music and learning something completely new.'

This will be a regular feature for the CFR retreats this year and we are exploring possibilities for other groups that NZCMC works with in the leadership space.