Colleagues and Residents at HC One’s White Gables care home paid their respects on Armistice Day.
Residents at the Lincoln care home enjoyed a relaxed Armistice Day yesterday.
The home started off with a reminiscence session including news reels from the time, quizzes and rounded off with a sing song of Bless ‘Em All.
Everyone then watched the television broadcast coverage from the BBC and all observed the two minutes silence at 11 am. AOD Margaret (Mags) Barton was in the home for her monthly visit at the time and observed the silence with the Colleagues and Residents.
Mags then took the time to speak to a Resident who had caught her eye. Throughout the silence she held her hands together and seemed so emotional, so much more than any other Resident. It turns out Lydia was a wartime evacuee, and told Mags all about how she had to flee the country to escape the bombing where she lived in London.
Lydia spoke so eloquently about it and said how grateful she was to the staff for helping her to remember it. Mags was floored by the utter sense of gratitude Lydia had for allowing her to access this memory of her past. She had never mentioned this before, the staff were so glad to have helped her to remember such an important time in her past.
The day was ended by colouring some poppies to add to the homes remembrance wall and had a lovely 70’s style inspired buffet complete with cheese hedgehogs and mini gherkins. It was a lovely relaxed day to remember such an important era in history, and to observe the sacrifice made by many for the freedom everyone enjoys today.
The home manager said “Moment where residents open up and recall their past are few and far between and make us remember why we do this job in the first place.”