Activities at Cheshire Grange Care Home

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the Armistice came into place, ending the hostilities of World War One, the war to end all wars.

At Cheshire Grange we spent the days running up to the 11th making poppies, involving as many residents as possible, for our tribute to those who gave so much, not only in WW1 but subsequent conflicts and reminisced about our residents memories and personal reflections of the times. We talked about family members who went away to fight, being evacuated, land girls, the fear and many other emotions.

Staff and residents gathered in the lounge to pay their respects during the televised service at The Cenotaph.

Cheshire Grange residents and staff were delighted to welcome Elvis in to the building, Elvis the Golden Retriever. This was his first visit to us and although he was excited to be making new friends he was very well behaved, and made himself at home, so much so that he thought one of our ladies beds was his!!!!

Nearly all our ladies and gents got to spend time with Elvis, which he loved shaking hands and getting treats. We are all very much looking forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks.

We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.

ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.

Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.

We had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.

Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.

Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.

We had a great time joining journalist and novelist, Mike Gayle, for an intriguing virtual interview, during which he shared top tips for creative writing with our residents and read passages from his latest book, All the Lonely People.

We were thrilled to find out about Mike’s background, to understand what led him to become a writer and his creative process.

It was a lovely talk, enjoyed by all, especially by our keen writers at the home.

We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Lisa Richards from Unilever for an exciting Virtual Cruise experience.

Our residents were welcomed with mocktails as Lisa and Paul took them on a magical journey to 3 mystery destinations, which were uncovered after a few clues.

Paul demonstrated how to create a few of the local traditional dishes, which our residents had the opportunity to try too.

The event evoked lots of great memories and it was truly enjoyed by all.