Activities at Leonard Lodge Care Home

We had our first visit to Lake Meadows Park this year. We walked round the lake and looked at the beautiful gardens including one full of germaniums, a rhododendron walk and a sensory garden. We followed up with a visit to the cafe where we enjoyed drinks and ice creams. Despite an overcast sky when we left home, by the time we got to the park the sun was out and it was very hot and we had to sit in the shade to enjoy our ice-creams. We all agreed that sometimes the simply things near home are the best.

We attended a fundraising event at St Peters Church in Hutton in aid of their Daily Bread Cafe and foodbank which supports local people, providing not just food but help and support in other areas as well. We have close links with St Peters. We already support their foodbank, provide  hampers for their Christmas appeal, they conduct our monthly church service and their attached primary school visits us. Therefore when we heard that they were holding a fundraising event we thought it would be a lovely idea to attend and show our support. We played bingo, which one of our lucky residents won and joined in a singalong with BGT semi-finalist Bethan Marshall. We had a great afternoon and it was all in a good cause.

Barchester Get Moving inspired us to organise a sports day afternoon of fun. We started off with egg and spoon races with residents racing against residents and staff against staff. Then we paired up a staff member with a resident for team races and then we did wheelchair races. Later we played ball games for those that didn't want to race and finished off with pin the tail on the donkey. We had an afternoon of fun, laughter and getting fit.

We celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day with tea, cake and the songs of Dame Vera Lynn. Residents shared their memories of the day, including Rosemary who was a 14 year old school girl and remembers lining up at school and the news being passed down the line and being happy and excited at the thought that this could be the beginning of the end. There were also more sombre memories for some residents of brothers and fathers lost in the conflict, but there was also lots of singing and flag waving to honour the bravery of those men.

We received an invitation to our local community hall to attend a 50+ tea dance. The Hutton community hall is only a 5 minute drive from our home so was very easy to reach. As soon as we went in we saw some familiar faces from another larger tea dance that we attend in the next town. We were made to feel very welcome and the smaller gathering made it feel more friendly and intimate. We danced to ABBA, Sinatra and even did the conga. We had a lovely afternoon with tea and cake and can't wait to go back again.

We welcomed Megan to our home for our first Simply Sensory session. Megan used a projector to project games onto the floor for residents to join in with. First of all we went fishing and tried to catch some fish with nets, but they kept getting away. We played table football which got very competitive among the gentlemen, then we raced cars round a track and stroked a rabbit. The residents loved playing the games and we all had a laugh.