This week at Farnham Mill we celebrated Harvest time. A time to reminisce about how, as children, we celebrated Harvest Festivals at school and with our own children, and as we are now in autumn, we can see the leaves changing around us as we go outside and enjoy the gardens. We had a visit from one of our favourite entertainers, Natasha, as well as the students from Lord Wandsworth College joining us one afternoon. A couple of residents also went out to a local church to enjoy Holy Communion on Sunday.
Monday 10 October and to start our Harvest theme week we played our morning word game on the ground floor. We had to see how many words we could make from Combine Harvester, and after a lot of reminiscing about Harvest time we found 150 words.
We were so pleased with ourselves and as our ‘reward’ we enjoyed a lovely Harvest themed afternoon tea. There was carrot cupcakes and scones with pumpkin and cinnamon cream to taste and lots of chatting amongst our residents.
Tuesday 11 October and a busy morning of balloon games, garden walks and some pampering in the hair salon. Something for everyone.
In the afternoon a lovely trolley of delicious apple pie and cream visited all floors of Farnham Mill. So delicious and just right for our harvest week as we remembered picking apples from our gardens and mums making apple pies.
Wednesday 12 October and our residents got creative with the leaves that are falling in our gardens and made lovely Autumn Wreaths. We so admired the different colours that autumn brings, and it was a lovely way to decorate paper plates.
In the afternoon our Activities Team put together a Harvest Trolley – lots of fruit and vegetables that we tried to guess what they were with our eyes closed. A chance to touch and smell them. A great sensory experience.
Students from Lord Wandsworth College also came and played Scrabble with some of our residents. Its great chatting to them and hearing how school is different to when we went.
Thursday 13 October and as the sun was shining, we had a turn around the garden to check on the birds before we did a few seated exercises. We also did some Harvest theme painting and caught up with friends for a chat.
In the afternoon we gathered for our flower arranging. It’s so popular with our residents and we were able to spread the flowers around all three floors so everyone was able to take part and share the flowers. It’s an activity that everyone can join in, from the very experienced who like to do arrangements in florists oasis, to the majority of us who like to arrange them in vases to go in our rooms.
One of our residents was also able to practice his golf skills on the balcony – maybe we’ll have a Farnham Mill Open one day!
In the evening Farnham Mill also hosted a quiz night for the charity, Families Supporting Care. Staff, residents and families from all four homes attended to make it a very successful evening.
Friday 14 October and we had a gentle start to the day with some word searches and time spent on the balcony.
In the afternoon we had a great performance from Natasha, lots of dancing and singing which is something we all enjoy at Farnham Mill.
Saturday 15 October and in the morning, we had a mix of activities. Some residents updated their scrapbooks, whilst others enjoyed painting. A nice relaxing way to start the weekend.
In the afternoon we enjoyed an afternoon tea together. It’s always nice to come together for a chat with delicious cakes and a cup of tea served in our best china.
Sunday 16 October and a busy day for our residents. A chance for some residents to visit St Georges Church in Badshot Lea for a Holy Communion service, whilst other residents enjoyed a word game or walks in the garden before a delicious Sunday roast lamb diner.
Our Sunday afternoon knitting group got together for a knit and natter over a cup of tea and cake. Sharing stories of what we used to knit and this week, one of our residents showed us an enormous pair of knitting needles she was knitting with. It certainly gave us something to talk about and was a great way to end the week.
