Lifestyle and wellbeing at Summerdyne is about bringing uplifting experiences to our residents. Those can be small homely things such as the contentment of baking, through to bigger community events. These help residents feel linked with friends and family and feel part of the bigger picture, which is so important during lockdown.
Uplifting homelife
We are still unable to welcome entertainers to our home, but have been keeping residents lives meaningful and fulfilled, in smaller ways.
Residents enjoy a morning of baking and what better than with the apples from our tree. We have also had a couple of afternoons pickling onions. The smell of the pickle really brought back some memories. Making a start on our homespun gifts for Christmas.
For Harvest Festival we asked our local community to help raise food donations for the Wyre Forest Food Bank. This was in conjunction with the Riverside Elm Church. We also baked our own bread and had an afternoon tea party.
For Halloween we had a Pumpkin Festival and there were 16 entries. The winning entry was by our nurse Lorraine. She decorated her pumpkin with Alpaca hair which one of her Alpacas had kindly donated. The local community joined in with this event. It was lovely to have entries from the Rachel Robinson Childcare Group who visit (pre Covid), Volunteers and other local organisations like “Reach” and our Local Knit and Natter Group.
For Remembrance we decorated our home with tissue poppies residents made. We also added to the decorations poppies made by our local community. We has an uplifting afternoon with a Remembrance Sing-a-long from Fun time Theatre. Most poignant was our minutes silence, with only the sounds of the birds twittering in the trees. We are so privileged to share our time with residents who worked during the War. To hear their commitment to the war effort: From note taking when pilots returned from their missions, to driving fire engines – absolutely fascinating to hear and this is just two of our ladies.
Nothing like an uplifting cruise
First stop France!
We sampled French food, spoken the language and painted some beautiful pictures that would give Claude Monet a run for his money. We also had a fun competition of who can draw the best snail. Lovely moments too of sharing of letters, one in particular bought tears of happiness. Keep sending your letters and pictures – it’s so lovely to keep in touch.
Day two of our cruise took us to India.
Two of our residents have visited India so was nice to recall those memories. We showed residents Indian dress and talked about Diwali – The Festival of Lights. We had an amazing home cooked curry too. But the highlight was our very own Rose who brought Bollywood to our residents. Thank you to Victim Support Bewdley for loaning us all the fantastic clothes.
Can you help us make Christmas special for your residents?
We have launched We All Sing Together to bring your voices and Christmas cheer into Summerdyne. Please send us a video of you, or your bubble group, singing a festive favourite. We will then put together a video to show our residents over the festive period. Imagine their surprise and delight to see you singing for them this Christmas.
Click the link here for all the information. https://www.heritagemanor.co.uk/2020/11/sing-together-christmas-community-project-2020