September always feels like time for a reset. Many of our residents are parents and grandparents and, at this time of year, their thoughts always turn to the children, heading back to school in new oversized uniform and polished shoes! All that nervous anticipation about the term ahead. We wish them all well and are looking forward to meeting the new cohort of children from Langenhoe Primary School, who are joining us for Gardening and Cookery Clubs every Tuesday afternoon.
It was back to school for our residents when Zoolab visited (very aptly on World Lizard Day!) They brought us Jasper the albino corn snake, Elvis the tarantula, Jarvis the cockroach and Honey the gecko. The team are very knowledgeable and always share lots of interesting facts and answer residents' questions. Most of our residents had pets throughout their lives so we have organised for some more cuddly creatures to visit this Autumn, including Shetland ponies and alpacas.
Late summer celebrations
We have picked apples, pears, figs and even some grapes from our secret walled garden. A bumper harvest and delicious straight off the tree or used by our kitchen team in crumbles and cakes.
Some of our team are from Kerala in India, where they have a Hindu harvest festival called Onam that marks the Malayali New Year. It signifies prosperity, cultural unity, and gratitude for a good harvest. It was wonderful that they celebrated Onam with our residents and team at Abberton.
Residents were delighted to see their traditional dress and taste all the different dishes they had made. It was a feast for all the senses.
We are also having a special Harvest Service with Rev Terry on 22nd September.
We also hosted our Autumn celebration, which was the rescheduled Fete, that had been rained off in the summer. The Tendring Dog Agility Group put on a spectacular display and stayed on afterwards so everyone could meet and greet the dogs and owners. Thank you also to our staff team and residents' families for supporting the event and helping out on the stalls. We had a BBQ, raffle, tombola, cakes and games. It was a blue sky afternoon and a lovely way to round off the summer, with family and friends.
Coming up ....
We have been making plans for the Autumn which include musical entertainment from our favourite entertainers including Alex Southgate and Carly. Plus musical moments with Libby. We also have the Colchester Saxophone Quartet visiting on 5th October.
Gunni from Kiddleydivey is back with her ever popular fitness classes, making exercise so fun with lots of props and the bubble machine.
Our next big event is our Country and Western Themed Party on International Country Music Day. This is on 17th September. Tracey is singing from 2-3pm and then we are having afternoon tea.