To celebrate St David’s Day, we had a whole week of celebrating all things Welsh, from creating daffodils with cupcake cases, making Welsh cakes and even having a Welsh singer perform for us. At the weekend we remembered Welsh actors and singers, played bingo with a Welsh theme. It certainly was a busy week, we had the opportunity to chat and laugh over afternoon teas and enjoy birthday celebrations with family and friends.
Monday 27 February, our morning started with walks in our gardens. A chance to feed the Robin and admire the flowers starting to bloom. We even caught sight of the Heron standing near the water’s edge.
Our music therapist spent the morning with us, we sang and played instruments.
We made daffodils to decorate our tables for afternoon tea. We learned that the daffodil is one of the symbols of Wales, the other being the leek. It was a nice opportunity to chat to friends and enjoy a slice of cake.
Tuesday 28 February, residents worked together to make a wonderful daffodil collage using tissue paper. It looks so bright and lovely, just like a real daffodil.
In the afternoon we decided to be a little more active and we played skittles. This is not only fun, but also helps with our hand to eye co-ordination and balance.
We were lucky to be able to celebrate a lovely lady’s birthday and the staff sang and presented her with a birthday cake.
Wednesday 1 March, was St David’s Day, we made Welsh cakes. Residents helped our activities team mix the dough, roll it out and then cut out the shapes. We chose hearts and flowers instead of the usual circles. They were delicious and went down well with our afternoon tea.
In the afternoon Gareth came to perform for us. As he is Welsh, he sang a couple of songs in Welsh for us. It was very interesting listening to the different language. However, it was our favourites such as Sweet Caroline and Rambling Rose that got us dancing and singing along.
We had the opportunity to celebrate another birthday at Farnham Mill.
Thursday 2 March was a chance to enjoy some time outside before we got busy with our Welsh Fun Facts and Quiz. Balloon badminton was also played around the home keeping everyone active.
In the afternoon we enjoyed the scents and colours of the flowers, we arranged our delivery of flowers into vases to display around our home.
Friday 3 March, residents enjoyed a morning of foot massages in our hair salon. A lovely opportunity to have our feet soaking in warm bubbly water and a little bit of pampering.
In the afternoon we enjoyed tea and cakes together, a lovely opportunity to chat.
Saturday 4 March, in the morning we enjoyed a ‘Welsh who’s who?’ quiz – we reminisced about famous Welsh singers such as Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey as well as actors such as Richard Burton and Ruth Madoc.
In the afternoon we enjoyed a game of Bingo and, of course, this also had a Welsh theme, it gave us a chance to reminisce about holidays we had spent in Wales, famous Welsh singers along with food such as Welsh Lamb and Welsh Rarebit. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
In the evening we were able to take a resident to a concert by the Farnham Youth Choir in the Spire Church, Farnham. It made a lovely trip out and the singing was wonderful.
Sunday 5 March, we celebrated a lovely gentleman’s birthday with his wife and family. They were able to use our activities room to gather together and hold their own party. We enjoy being able to facilitate these gatherings at Farnham Mill.
As it had been such a busy week, the rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying time in the garden or doing jigsaw puzzles.
