Hobby craft has been a theme for this new year. Trying new hobbies and getting back into old hobbies. A perfect time to relax and take pleasure from being creative. We have also had some celebrations – any excuse for a party!
Hobby craft 1 – bird watching
The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch was a great way to enjoy bird watching. In preparation for the weekend, we spent two afternoons painting bird houses. With a bit of construction and some varnish they were ready to hang up. Residents also had fun making bird food with seeds and peanut butter!
We chose Sunday afternoon for the bird count for the Big Garden Bird Watch. After a slightly slow start the birds soon came out to enjoy the food we had made and put out on our various bird feeding stations! With our results submitted we look forward to seeing all the totals in April. And of course, we will keep feeding our feathered friends.
We also keep chickens here at West Eaton, and residents enjoy helping out with them. Nothing better than fresh eggs too – the yolks are so yellow!
Hobby craft 2 – knitting
Iris recently decided that she wanted to start knitting again and we needed some wool! Thank you to Edie Morgan, John Rumsey. Alison Sumner, Iris Gregory and Val Gates for their donations. We will now be embarking on pom-pom Hedgehogs and then hopefully scarves, hats and blankets for those in need. As a starter we are making knitted squares.
We are delighted to have joined up with The Woolpack Knitters who we will be sending our efforts to once we have finished some more squares! We are also taking part in the March Knit-a-thon for Arthritis and have already raised £35 of our £100 target!
Hobby craft 3 – creative writing and poetry
Two of our residents had fun getting to grips with some old technology – The Typewriter!! Jean B tried out the oldest one at our reception desk! She loved reminiscing about her time spent working with one and how fast she used to be able to type. Jean RC was given her electric typewriter for Christmas and was keen to get started.
We have had some lovely creative writing and poetry sessions. Our staff and residents put together a joint poem for Dignity in Action Day on 1st February. A great day to remember what dignity means to everyone.
“So let’s have some cake and a nice cup of tea
Because that’s when you’ll learn about the
REAL ME”
Residents at West Eaton
Celebrations at West Eaton
We celebrated Burns Night with Haggis on the menu as a lunchtime choice. Roddy, our home manager is Scottish and did the 1st verse of Ode to the Haggis before plunging in the knife! It was served with the traditional neaps & tatties and a whiskey cream sauce. Many of our residents had never tried this traditional Scottish dish and there were clean plates all round.
Chinese New Year started early with crafting sessions making some lovely Chinese Lanterns to hang up. We then painted a fantastic dragon for our window display. We celebrated the Chinese New Year with a Chinese lunch and fortune cookies. All finished off by learning about our Chinese Zodiac signs which were pretty accurate!
For Valentine’s Day we enjoyed a Valentine’s Roast Dinner and baked heart shaped cookies for all our staff and residents.
