Activities at Cheshire Grange Care Home

Residents helped to put together some ‘Cups of Kindness’ for the elderly in the local community. Treats including a pretty handkerchief, sachets of hot chocolate, cappuccino and latte coffee along with chocolate pennies and posh choccies were put in a pretty mug, gift wrapped and tied with a special Christmas Heart.

The mugs were given to ‘Leave No One Behind’ in Lymm, a local group set up to support the vulnerable during the pandemic, who distributed them to local residents.

We love getting gifts, and we’ve been so grateful over the past months for the thoughtfulness and time people have from the local community, so we were delighted to have a bag arrive full with some beautifully knitted twiddle muffs, from Lymm Jubilee WI. The time that has gone into knitting these show how much these ladies care about their craft and our residents, they are bright cheerful and have been welcomed by so many.

Residents at Cheshire Grange Care Home, in Lymm recently joined forces with All Saints Church in Thelwall, to pack boxes for The Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child Appeal. A request was sent out to our families and friends and the local community via social media for donations to fill the shoe boxes, residents enjoyed several afternoons deciding if a box was for a little boy or girl and then selecting the items to pack, ranging from colouring books & pens to knitted puppets and from bars of soap and toothbrushes to dolls and cars.

We introduced our residents on Memory Lane to the art of marbling, dropping paint onto a bath of water and then picking it up with a sheet of paper. The residents enjoyed watching the swirling patterns take shape and then seeing the finished result. We will be using the prints made for some of our Christmas art projects.

November saw two celebrations from different cultures with are both usually celebrated with fireworks and for very different reasons!

Guy Fawkes Night was a quiet affair as many residents preferred not to have fireworks as they thought it unkind to pets, we respected this and instead we watched a previously recorded display from Edinburgh whilst talking about the history of The Gunpowder Plot and reminiscing about how they celebrated the day with when they were younger and then enjoying a specially prepared meal by the homes hospitality team.

We then had an Indian day celebrating Diwali, the residents made lanterns which decorated the dining tables, the activities team dressed up and we had a video tour of The Taj Mahal before enjoying an Indian Feast, several of our residents had memories of living in India to travelling to the area and were very happy to share their experiences.

Remembrance Sunday is always a special day on the Cheshire Grange calendar, where we normally invite standard bearers and a bugler form The Thelwall British Legion to take the service for us, but this year due to Covid 19 restrictions it had to be somewhat different. As always we took in to consideration the residents views, many not wishing to talk in any great detail about that time in history, not wanting to remember the tragedy it brought, but wanting to pay their respects. We created a display in the lounge area with knitted poppies donated by a local art group for which staff gave donations to The Royal British Legion, we also supported the group by placing a Virtual memorial in The 2020 Field of Remembrance, residents helped by making tissue paper poppies which were placed around the home.

On the day small groups from all communities gathered in the lounges to watch the service from the Cenotaph followed by Songs Of Praise, those who chose to stay in the rooms watched on their own TVs.  In the afternoon all residents who wished to, got the opportunity to watch a specially made Remembrance Day Musical DVD made by one of our favourite singer Deborah who was a regular visitor before lockdown restriction.