Activities at Ashlar House Care Home

We had two reasons to celebrate: firstly, we all raised a cup to our nation's drink of choice in acknowledgement to National Tea Day. We also joined the rest of the nation in celebrating the Queen’s birthday.

The beverage we think of first to help us process good and bad times... for many of our residents tea isn’t simply a way of hydrating, it has typically become the focal point of many social engagements with friends and family members.

To celebrate National Tea Day we at Ashlar House put on a full tea trolley service, whizzing around the house delivering a smorgasbord of fragrant teas available, along with appropriate dunking materials, which is an absolute necessity to celebrate such a prestigious occasion!

We had many tea-related activities on offer, including trivia games that spanned the centuries. We Brits have had such a personal relationship with tea. As tea is never just tea, we also used video conferencing as an opportunity to include our residents' friends and families to share a brew and a chat... another full day at Ashlar House.

In such unprecedented times, residents, families and our dedicated carers at Ashlar House, are already showing wonderful community spirit in a time of need. The display around our home is keeping us going!

We celebrate Good Friday thanks to Andrew at Tesco in Epping, who provided limited access so that all of our residents could receive an Easter egg on Sunday. We also had a very welcome addition to the Ashlar House family, as our resident Robin’s eggs hatched. We are wishing everyone a happy and safe Easter from all at Ashlar House.

3 weeks into government enforced isolation due to COVID-19, we have ensured that all Ashlar House residents are at least able to see their loved ones via FaceTime or other video conference services. It is so heart warming being able to share these precious moments between family and friends locally, but also as far as Spain and Germany.

Every day is a new memory that is shared, despite the global crisis. Our first priority is the health of our residents. but by connecting each resident with their global support network, we are also ensuring their mental well-being.

With the restrictions in place to help protect our residents from COVID-19, we have had to get creative with our normal social interactions with the local community. Several of the schools that we associate with have started sending in ‘pen pal’ letters from their students to our residents.

We are sharing these letters and encouraging our residents to spend some time with replies. Even in the face of a global pandemic, we are finding creating ways to ensure we stay connected to the relationships we have helped to foster.

Today we celebrated Mother’s Day at Ashlar house. Due to Government advice regarding COVID-19 we are limiting our residents exposure to the virus which has unfortunately meant no loved ones visiting their mothers today. We have ensured that all loved ones were at least able to see their mothers today via FaceTime or other video conference service.

It was so heart-warming being able to share these moments between mother and son, daughter and grandchild. We also shared Mother’s Day Cards and pictures among our residents. Today could have been memorable for all the wrong reasons however even in the face of such a global crisis connecting our Mums with their families was spent focusing on love as it should be!