With the weather so damp and wet we have thrown ourselves into lots of indoor Autumnal activities. With the start of the new school term, children from a local school came to read and sing to us. Everyone had an amazing time, there were wonderful smiles and joy all round. This was just the start of a fantastic collaboration with the school. We will be welcoming them again to join us for activities, reading and more singing. We all can’t wait!
More Autumnal activities
We said hello to autumn by planting up our winter flowering basket. We used heather, pansies and violas to brighten up the winter months. Kate, from Hereford Growing Point, also visited, helping residents make pressed flower bookmarks. She also got us busy shedding sweet pea pods to store for next year and planting a variety of seeds.
On Happy Gratitude Day we spent some quality time talking about the things we are grateful for in life. Everything from the sun in the sky, to the love of our family and of course, chocolate! We made a beautiful gratitude wreath together as a craft project.
Pet therapy. Have you ever seen a bigger smile! One of our residents was overjoyed to get a cuddle from a visitors gorgeous dog. Pure happiness and pleasure from having a visit from a pet. The cuddling and stroking of animals gives such fantastic beneficial support. They help calm, distract and soothe.
We love dominoes here at Newstead. However, it can be tricky for our residents who have difficulty seeing those pesky dots due to a variety of health reasons. But, we have found these amazing large coloured dominoes, and they are fantastic! We even have registered blind players winning games now – how fab is that!
We welcomed Ian James to entertain residents with his comedy and song. He was brilliant and residents loved the show, which made the rainy day sunny.
More coming up …..,
Halloween. We have started to make our Halloween decorations. We have put papier mâché onto blown up balloons to start creating pumpkins. These will be painted and decorated over the coming weeks. We also made funny pumpkin faces and will be making some sweet treats too.
Fitness. We are continuing our sessions with Nuffield Physio. Great stretching to keep us all in shape.
We also have a visit from birds of prey coming up in October.