Activities at Bushey House Beaumont Care Home

Wedding celebrations were under way at Bushey House when resident Phillippa got her wish to see her Granddaughters wedding in Spain. Phillippa was devastated, that due to her Granddaughters wedding being held abroad, she would not be able to go, so in true Bushey House style we brought the wedding to her. The home was decorated with beautiful flowers and arrangements were made with Philippa’s son, Marc, to live stream the wedding service all the way from Spain. What’s more family and friends, including the groom’s mother and grandmother who also sadly couldn’t make the trip, were invited to Bushey House to celebrate the special occasion with afternoon tea, glasses of fizz and wedding cake to toast the happy couple. We even created a guest book in which to write personal messages of congratulations!

Philippa was moved to tears by the event and was overjoyed to be able to witness the ceremony live from Spain with her guests and fellow residents. The day was made extra special for her when she got to speak to the bride and groom on FaceTime after the ceremony.

Ian is a resident of Bushey House and a double amputee. Ian has always refused to leave his room or use a wheelchair until this Christmas. Ian’s favourite activity is always the performing pet visits and every month the pets visit in his room and I take a photo for him and print out for him to put on his wall. Last summer I started to suggest it would be nice for Ian to come out in a wheelchair and get his Christmas pet photo by our big Christmas tree for a nice photo for his wall.

After lots of persuasion he agreed on the condition I got him a very fancy Santa suit. On the day with the assistance of the care team we got Ian into his Santa costume and into a wheelchair suitable for him. Ian was in reception by the tree to meet Wilson the baby wallaby and get his special photo in front of the tree. This was the first time Ian had left his room and there was not a dry eye in the home as we saw how happy he was. Following this visit Ian got his special photo which we framed and has pride of place on his wall. Following this Ian also came out Christmas day and joined in the celebrations and has agreed to come out to meet the performing pet every month it has been a joy to see the change in Ian and see him meeting all the other residents.

Residents recently took part in a fun activity when they embarked on a virtual cruise to The Philippines, originally various islands populated by competing tribes arriving from mainland Southeast Asia, each with their own king and queen“ where people have lived since the dawn of human history!

The trip was organised by one of our nurses Heidi with help from colleagues, who arranged for our residents watched an interesting film show all about life in The Philippines.

As well as 'visiting' interesting landmarks and learning historical facts about The Philippines and being entertained with traditional dancing, our residents got to sample some traditional fruits and to make their own bird wind chime souvenirs.

Everyone enjoyed learning about a country that most were not familiar with and found the whole experience very interesting.

Our next cruise is preparing to set sail to Japan and our residents have their “tickets“ at the ready and looking forward to the sail away party when they board the ship!

Residents recently enjoyed interactive, intergenerational fun at Bushey house, when the girls from 'Bushey Brownies' came to celebrate Mitzvah Day with us.

The brownie group based at Bushey Synagogue came to sing songs to entertain us, and also brought cards and gifts especially for our residents.

Mitzvah Day is all about bringing local communities and people together and doing selfless acts, as well as delivering acts of kindness for others.

Our residents were delighted to meet all the girls and thrilled with the handmade boxes of chocolates and cards given to them, as well as to hear the joyful songs they performed especially for us.

They are welcome to visit again any time!

We had a captive audience of residents on Sunday morning to watch the Remembrance Sunday service together, broadcast on the big TV screen.

Afterwards, we all enjoyed freshly brewed cups of tea and delicious home-baked cakes prepared by Head Chef Avni, and shared stories together, to reminisce about our individual experiences about World War II and remembering people we'd loved and lost, which all agreed they found comfort in coming together to mark this day of huge significance.

Last week, we made a poppy wreath which we are taking to our local war memorial on behalf of us all at Bushey House later today.

Residents enjoyed an afternoon of creative activity when they applied their artistic skills to make poppies.

The 'Piece de Resistance' was a beautiful wreath made entirely of the poppies and currently has pride of place in the Reception area of our Home, where it will be displayed until Sunday 12th November, after which it will then be taken and placed at our local War Memorial.

Remembrance Sunday is very important to our residents and many recalled their memories of the war, while we worked on on creating our poppies and wreath.

The residents were all very proud of their beautiful creation and agreed the wreath was unique, and reflected everyone’s talents.