Yesterday evening we held a Chinese Dining Experience for residents at Ashby House. We had lanterns, cherry blossoms and classical Chinese music to set the scene. One of our chefs, Roselyn, prepared a lovely menu including Chow Mein, Chinese Style beef and prawn crackers.

Lots of residents enjoyed the themed menu and at the end of the meal Angie exclaimed, “Wonderful food, compliments to the chef!” Another resident, Chung, who is originally from China, said, “It was very good”, and he gave us the thumbs up!

He spoke to his family on Skype during the meal and they enjoyed a Chinese takeaway at the same time. Chung and his family all enjoyed their virtual meal together.

It was great to connect residents at Ashby House Care Home in Milton Keynes with local celebrations for the Hindu festival of Diwali. Maya Care, whose volunteers offer a befriending service for elderly people in the Milton Keynes community, delivered a zoom demonstration of traditional activities including sweet making and creating colourful Rangoli designs. Rangoli are traditional signs showing that visitors are welcome, and they made one for resident Rose. Thank you very much to Manjiri and Abhay Joshi and their daughter Mahi from Maya Care.

On Remembrance Sunday we decorated the Ashby House lounges with poppies and Union Jacks. We used our projector to show a Remembrance Service with words to read along to. It was a heartfelt service and Bertha said it was just like being at the church from her home town. Everyone really appreciated being able to take part and felt it was a fitting way to remember the fallen.

On Bonfire Night we had a virtual fireworks display at Ashby House. Fiona and Briony in the Activities Team have bought a new projector and screen for all our virtual activities and the fireworks looked amazing on the big screen. The accompanying music was great too and our kitchen team provided sticky sausages and cake which everyone loved. It was an evening at the pictures with a difference.

At Ashby House we celebrated World Food Day on 16th October, thanks to kind donations from Asda and Morrison’s in Milton Keynes. Activities Coordinator, Fiona, collected world foods from both stores, along with a few pumpkins. Our own Chef, Jay, also made a selection of tasty treats from Spain, Greece, Italy and Mexico, and all the food was set up on a trolley so everyone could try some new and different tastes. The Spanish tortilla, nachos and dips were very popular. We even tried seaweed crisps. This was a great sensory activity and led to people recalling holidays they had taken abroad and the food they ate there. Residents also discussed about the meals they used to cook at home and which dishes were their families’ favourites.

This week we celebrated the annual Barchester Care Awards. We couldn’t have our usual awards dinner for nominees so the announcements were held on Zoom which we showed on a TV in our reception area for staff to see during the day. We are proud that Ashby House had two nominations. Nellie, one of our Senior Carers, was nominated for Carer of the Year by the family of a resident, for all her hard work and dedication. She was presented with a Certificate of Recognition here at Ashby House and was quite emotional to have been nominated. The whole Ashby House team was also nominated for ‘Team of the Year’ and each staff member received a certificate. We all feel very honoured to have been nominated.