Residents are overjoyed at Ashby House thanks to the new Covid-safe indoor visiting suite which means residents can spend time with their loved ones in warmth and comfort over Christmas and throughout the winter. We continue to offer socially distanced garden visits, too. The new visiting suite has been designed to use an existing room which is accessed from inside the home by residents and via the patio door by relatives. Ashby House has added furnishings to make it welcoming and an intercom system so that residents and families can hear each other through the large window in the floor to ceiling partition wall. Visitors are asked to use hand sanitiser at the start of their visit, and infection control cleaning of the visiting suite takes place after each visit. It is wonderful to see how the new comfortable visits are making Ashby House’s residents and their relatives really happy.

Ashby House received some lovely handmade Christmas card from MK Loughton Scouts, including cards made by children aged 5 upwards, from Beavers, Scouts and Brownies. It is so kind of the children to think of us - support from the community is much appreciated by staff and residents at Ashby House. The cards were bright and festive. Residents absolutely loved looking at them and reading the Christmas messages from all the children. They are now on display in one of our lounges for everyone to enjoy.

At Ashby House we have been writing Christmas cards for family and friends. This has been a really enjoyable activity, chatting about our families and where they all live. We are very festive here now and have many more seasonal activities planned. We are delighted that family members are receiving Christmas cards from their loved ones during their visits. Some of the cards are being posted abroad including one from Angie to her grandaughter in Canada.

Ashby House has a few more Christmas tree now. Residents and staff had fun adding more decorations to our home while dancing to some favourite festive songs. Resident Ambassador, Mary (pictured), joined in and those who couldn’t reach to add baubles still gave instructions from their chairs to Home Manager, Wojciech. We are all feeling festive and looking forward to a whole month of traditional activities and seasonal fun through December.

Ashby House residents have spent a lovely afternoon decorating our first Christmas tree of the season. The TV lounge in our Bradwell nursing community is starting to look festive and we enjoyed Christmas music in the background to add to the atmosphere while we added baubles. We recalled Christmases past and shared memories of decorating Christmas trees with our own families. There is something magical about decorating a Christmas tree, however old you are. We all enjoyed adding decorations and when we had finished we turned down the lounge lights turned on the tree lights which sparkle and twinkle so prettily.

At Ashby House our themed dining experience for this month was 1950s USA. Residents enjoyed the atmosphere created with the help of some Rock ‘n’ Roll music and decorations including inflatable saxophones and guitars, stars and stripes flags, and some ice-cream parlour table centres. We wore sunglasses of the era, ‘Pink Lady’ jackets from the film Grease, and USA headbands.

Our fantastic chef, Jay, and his team, produced a tasty, authentic menu including burgers, chicken wings, fries and onion rings. For dessert residents enjoyed traditional American-style pancakes with syrup and fresh fruit. Delicious!

Everyone enjoyed the music, the atmosphere and the food. Angie said, “It brought back fond memories”, and she told us about her time in the USA when she was younger. David and Glennis, who have been married for many years and both live at Ashby House now, enjoyed recalling their Rock 'n' Roll years.