With Autumn now upon us we have started some new things; having fun and fundraising this Autumn.
Fun and fundraising supporting great causes
We had a wonderful Macmillan Coffee Morning with residents, their families and friends. We were gifted two beautiful planters by Julie and her family in support of the coffee morning. They are a lovely pop of colour at our front entrance. Thanks to Chris, our head chef, for baking some delicious cakes. We have also welcomed Leanne to our catering team, who has joined us from the hospitality sector.
We will be fundraising for Children in Need through November, when there may even be a visit from Pudsey Bear! Guaranteed lots of fun and fundraising! For the full calendar of events, please contact Allison [email protected]
We will, as always, be supporting the Poppy Appeal and marking Remembrance Sunday. Poppy craft is a lovely way to have a time of reflection together. We have regular visits from St Peter’s Church in Astley, who support our residents with private worship and give them the opportunity to take Holy Communion, should they wish to. Thank you to Pam and Nick at St Peter’s.
Do remember too that we are collecting for our local food banks. Any non-perishable donations for our collection boxes would be gratefully received.
New fun activities
New for September
We have started Dance to Health lessons started with Kim and Mo. They are putting our residents through their paces and have lots of props to keep things fun. We have also been learning some new relaxation techniques, which go hand in hand with our sensory sessions with June. Reiki, head and hand massages are favourites.
With the launch of The Great British Bake Off, we are enjoying treats to match the show’s weekly themes. We are also planning with our chefs some culinary theme days to showcase the cuisines of the countries our staffing team are from.
Music therapy with Ray Mytton is booked in and Kim and Jeanette have visited to entertain our residents. They especially loved Jeanette’s recent performance of a medley of ABBA classics!
We have started a Book Club. The first book up for review is Richard Osman’s bestseller The Man Who Died Twice. Our residents love a murder mystery and this one is very apt, with the super sleuths being care home residents! We also have regular newspaper and magazine deliveries. Always good to catch up and natter about everything from world events, celebrity gossip and fashion, with a cuppa in the morning.
New for October
As the nights draw in, we are having Halloween themed activities through October. Making decorations for our lounge and Halloween biscuits. Plus funny hats, fancy dress and a monster mash Halloween bash!
Our residents pulled out all the stops with their Autumn Floral Showcase. Led by resident Derek, they created some beautiful arrangements, with a huge variety of colours and themes. Sunflowers are the national flower of the Ukraine, so we incorporated those into a number of our arrangements, as a dedication to our team members who have come to Astley from the Ukraine. We are looking forward to working on other botanical projects, including Christmas wreaths and table centres.
For National Poetry Day, we had a poetry workshop and put together a selection of poems from British and American poets. It was lovely to include a poem by one of our residents, Daniel, entitled The River. It is very moving and thought provoking. Another favourite was the Revolting Rhyme of The Three Little Pigs by Roald Dahl, which was very funny.
Congratulations and a fond farewell
A huge congratulations to our Carol Hill who is a finalist at the regional Great British Care Awards 2023 in the Care Home Worker Category. Across our Heritage Manor group, we have 7 members of staff as finalists at the Awards and Heritage Manor is also a finalist in the Care Employer Category. The awards ceremony is in November. We have our fingers crossed for Carol – she is already a winner in our eyes.
We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to our Jane Jones, who has been a nurse at Astley Hall for 25 years. She has dedicated so much of her career to the care and wellbeing of our residents and it has been a privilege to work with her. We would like to wish her all the best in her retirement.