Activities at Dudwell St Mary Care Home

On a lovely sunny morning we took a trip out to Ashburnham Place enjoying the amazing gardens and finishing with tea and cake in The Orangery.

We had a busy Monday this week, we planted some tomato plants, enjoyed coffee in the sun and finished the day by making some delicious cheese scones.

Resident, Gerry, at Dudwell St Mary care home wish was to attend a Freemasons Lodge meeting at his Mother Lodge which he hasn’t been able to do for the last 10 years, so staff at the home made his wish a reality proving the old adage, it’s never too late.

Gerry has been a Freemason for over 50 years and reached senior rank in both London and Sussex. The opportunity to get him to his mother lodge to meet fellow Freemasons was too good an opportunity to miss. In Gerry's own words “Freemasonry is not a secret society, it's a society with secrets”.

Gerry has lived at Dudwell St Mary since May and is beloved by staff and residents alike. Staff at the home were delighted to be a part of making his wish come true, as they knew how much it meant to him, and they all wanted to be there to see the smile on Gerry’s face when his wish was realised.

When staff first found out about Gerry’s wish, they have been dedicated to helping him achieve it. Gerry was accompanied by Laurence Thurlow, General Manager, who was there to witness this momentous occasion.

In response to this wonderful surprise, Gerry, said: “I was on the verge of tears. It is such an amazing feeling to know that such a loving group of people care so much about me that they helped me to live out a dream – and I didn’t even ask. I’m really pleased we went.”

Laurence Thurlow, General Manager at the home, said: “We believe that every moment is worth cherishing.  We want everyone we care for to know how important they are to us here at Dudwell St Mary. It is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team here in making our residents’ dreams come true.  It was wonderful to see how happy Gerry was – and the staff loved being a part of this as well.”

We have a variety of activities to enable us to accommodate peoples differing interests. We trialled a painting class run by a local volunteer and the residents who took part were pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it. We will now be running this on a regular basis and will adapt the classes for all abilities so everyone gets to be involved.

Animals coming to the home are always well received. Whilst we are waiting for a new Pat dog to start here, one of our housekeeping team has lent us their dog Gizmo. He brings a smile to everyone’s faces and really lifts spirits.

We have many lovely places to visit in this area so this month we went to Ashburnham place. It has lovely gardens so we took three residents, who are keen gardeners, to enjoy the views. It was a beautiful day and we finished off with tea and cake in the Orangery.