The Christmas spirit has been in full swing at Ash Grange care home, in the West Midlands ranging from cheese and wine afternoons to Christmas parties and special screenings of ‘A Christmas Carol’.
On the 18th of December, at Ash Grange Care home, they celebrated the run up to Christmas with their annual Christmas party.
Due to the pandemic, the home was unable to get any outside entertainment, however, that did not stop them entertaining Residents. Colleagues sang Christmas songs and carols and classic songs as well. Even Residents joined in in a variety of different ways; whether through singing, playing musical instruments or dancing.
Many Colleagues and Residents put on their festive attire and got involved with the festive fun. They also played some festive games such as ‘pass the parcel’, snowman bowling and a Christmas tree bean bag target game.
The Residents enjoyed an alcoholic beverage of their choice; some had a beer, some had wine, cherry or Baileys.
The festivities ended with a buffet tea filled with lots of festive treats, from homemade mince pies, chocolates, Christmas cake and yule log. There was also lots of savoury options like sandwiches, Indian style snacks, crisps, cheese and pineapple, chutney, stilton and sausage rolls - which all went down a treat.
Home Manager, Anita Horton, said, “Overall it was a fun and exciting day that got our Residents in the festive spirits- as in these unprecedented times its finally starting to feel like Christmas. The Residents had smiles throughout.”
On the afternoon of 22nd of December, Wellbeing Coordinator Katie went around with a trolley full of delicious festive cheeses, crackers and wine for Residents to enjoy.
One Resident commented, “Cheese makes everything better!”
The cheese board consisted of cranberry wensleydale, apricot wensleydale red leicester and black pepper, plain red leicester and mature cheder. Residents enjoyed the festive snack with a nice glass of chardonnay, which was the wine voted by Residents to have on the afternoon, while they relaxed and watched a Christmas movie. The favourite cheese of the day was the cranberry wensleydale - which was the first block of cheese to be finished!
Katie said, “It was a very successful afternoon filled with high spirits from our Residents as they are starting to get into the festive spirits.”
Another activity from this week was on the 23rd of December, when Residents tucked into an early lunch so that they would be in time for the Old Vic: in Camera live broadcast of A Christmas Carol.
The majority of Residents sat down and watching a classic Christmas performance - which they all really enjoyed and it even brought back some memories for them of when they used to go to the pantomime at Christmas with family.
During the interval the Residents enjoyed a nice scone with jam and cream, alongside a cup of tea, of course!
Each resident who attended was given a theatre ticket to make it feel like they were at the theatre - which they really enjoyed.
One Resident remarked, “I love the theatre.”
Anita added, “It was a really successful afternoon, all Residents enjoyed themselves and were excited to watch the performance while getting into the festive spirit. The Residents enjoyed receiving tickets at the door and that the live performance had a lot of music and singing in it.”