Activities at Austen House Care Home

Residents, staff and relatives had a brilliant day celebrating the start of the Hindu festival of Diwali, popularly known as the festival of lights. 

Residents helped with making colourful patterned rangoli and lighting diyas, small oil lamps which are lit to signify the triumph of good over evil. Diwali honours Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, the lamps help Lakshmi find her way into peoples homes.

After we decorated some areas of our home with lights and colourful fabrics, we had a wonderful party, where we enjoyed listening to live traditional music by Ratna and dancing with a Bollywood dance teacher, Asha from local community. Some of our residents and staff dressed up for the occasion and had fun joining in with the singing and dancing. We also enjoyed some traditional Indian dishes and sweets.

Norma a resident at Austen House commented: "I love all of the different cultural events that we celebrate here, there's always something going on. I especially like the religious festivals from other cultures and sampling the wonderful food. It makes me feel like I am travelling abroad!"

Staff and residents commemorated Remembrance Day on Sunday 12 November. They joined the rest of the United Kingdom in holding a two-minute silence at 11am. 

As well as marking Remembrance Day by wearing poppies and watching the televised service from The Cenotaph, residents took part in therapeutic activities such as making poppy displays, listening to old wartime songs, reading war poems and having a Remembrance Service from St Nicholas Church.

Maurice, a resident at Austen House, said: "It is very important that we keep the memories of those who fought alive and that we also think about those involved in conflicts around the world today.”.

Our residents had a great time and enjoyed a minibus trip to Henry Street Garden Centre, in Reading. We enjoyed a walk around looking at the beautiful plants and fabulous Christmas displays and making some shopping, there was so much to see and choose.

After that we decided to take the weight off our feet, stop off in the cafeteria and relax with some hot chocolate, cappuccino, latte or tea and delicious cakes for everyone's taste.

We all had a fantastic time! 

Here at Austen House we celebrated World Food Day with a variety of delicious dishes from all over the world, home-cooked and prepared by our talented staff.

Residents and staff enjoyed tasting delicious food and learning about traditions and cultures from different countries.

Residents at Austen House came together to celebrate Oktoberfest.

The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

Residents enjoyed celebrating the world’s largest folk festival by taking part in an authentic German experience listening to German music, tasting German beer and pretzels, dressing up, taking part in an Oktoberfest themed quiz.

We all had a great time!

Staff and residents at Austen House held a charity coffee morning and bake sale to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Residents enjoyed spending time with friends and relatives, and members of the local community. Head chef, Szymon Siewniak, had baked lots of lovely cakes for everyone to sample and for guests to buy to take home. Some team members had baked cakes and biscuits for the occasion too along with their visitors and members of the community, everyone was spoilt for choice!

Austen Houses coffee morning was a big success, we managed to raise over £265 and, most importantly, everyone had a great time doing it!

We would like to say a big thank you to all who have joined us today and donated in support of the fantastic cause!