No chance of any January blues here at West Eaton, as we have filled our days with lots of fun, meaningful and memorable activities.
Enjoying the garden whatever the weather
We are enjoying the spring bulbs that we planted last year with Carlie from Herefordshire Growing Point. We also made some bird seed feeders in readiness for the Great British Bird Count. Residents familiarised themselves with the birds we hoped to see and took great delight spotting them over the birdwatch weekend. Plenty of squirrels too!
We also made kites for Mahar Sankranti (the Festival of Kites) and attempted to fly them in the garden. Not enough wind on the day, but we have saved them for another occasion. It was a fun process with residents choosing the paper and ribbons to personalise their kites.
Carlie was back again to help us create artwork for a Hereford Growing Point Competition. The theme is "What gardening means to me" and the residents used magazines to interpret what they liked and enjoyed in the garden. We also discussed what emotions and feelings the garden evoked and included them within the piece. It will be exhibited with all other entrants at the Leominster Information Centre in March.
Musical entertainment
We enjoyed a sunny afternoon sing along with Jemma, who bought musical instruments for us all to play and we raised the roof! We do love a singalong and a bit of a dance - our team recently demonstrated the Macarena to residents!
Diana, who is studying Harp therapy, visited to play for us. We all felt very relaxed listening to her beautiful playing.
We enjoyed seeing Jane and all the Tenbury U3A Scottish Dancers for Burns night! Annie and Rose braved the elements with their bagpipes and our cheffing team cooked haggis, neaps and tatties. All washed down with a tot of whisky.
More Crafting
Olivia from Creative Minds Herefordshire was back with us for more creative crafting. She brought in some inks for residents to experiment mark making, which we then made into a snake to celebrate Chinese New Year! We also made Chinese lanterns and celebrated with a delicious sweet and sour chicken dish on the menu.
Although Lego was first introduced in the UK back in the 1950s, most of our residents hadn't had the opportunity to see what it was all about. World Lego Day gave a perfect opportunity. They really enjoyed making things and sifting through all the Lego pieces, especially looking for the Lego figures.
New faces and new challenges
We are pleased to welcome Khate, Jemma and Emily to the West Eaton team, who are all carers.
Our Hollie has also signed up for a 26 mile walk across Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) on June 14th. This is a fundraiser for Dementia UK which is a cause so close to our hearts. So please take time to visit her JustGiving page as a little goes a long way! https://www.justgiving.com/.../Trek26BreconBeacons202526m...
So, we survived January with lots of fun and laughter !....Bring on the sunshine!
