Activities at Milford House Care Home

Residents, staff, family, friends and members of the local community came together to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support by taking part in 'The World's Biggest Coffee Morning'. It was a huge success, and thank you to everyone who came along and supported us and helped us raise £176 excluding donations made via the scan and donate option which was a fantastic result! 

Our fabulous cakes baked by Chef Becky disappeared in a flash, our activity team made a record number of speciality coffees, happy shoppers went away with gorgeous cards featuring artwork by our residents, seeds for the garden, posies of fresh flowers and of course boxes of cupcakes 

We also had fun doing the count the coffee cup competition and one lucky winner went away with a box of chocolates - so a great morning all around and all for a great cause.

What a special day we had at the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum where our resident was met by his brother and best friend who had come especially for the day to join in this trip to make a motorcycle fan’s dream come true!

The group were treated to a mouth-watering array of motorcycles, accessories and more at the museum but, as if that wasn’t enough, they were also met by none other than Sammy Miller himself who took them for a tour of his workshop where he still works on restoring bikes. Sammy was 11 times British Trials Champion and won over 1400 competition events across a range of disciplines while he also developed and maintained his own machines, so to spend time with him was just fabulous and we can’t thank him and the team at the museum enough for making the day extra special.

After a great morning followed by lunch, it was time to say our goodbyes and head home with a bucket full of special memories to take with us.  The team also prepared a photo book to present as a reminder of this special wish come true.

Residents really got into the spirit of things for their 'Downton Abbey' Vintage afternoon. The sun was shining, the red carpet was out, the welcoming committee were waiting and the scene was set as the gorgeous Beaufort Belle carrying ‘Lord and Lady Milford’ swept into the drive and came to a halt in front of the reception party.

Following the formal greetings residents, many of whom had dressed in suitably vintage style especially for the afternoon, had their chance to come and get up close to Belle and even get behind the wheel. Belle’s owners Chris and Jo Davis were on hand to chat about the history of the car and, for those petrol heads amongst the group, talk through the finer points of engine size, braking capacity and more before the afternoon finished with a tea service. 

There were so many great moments but a special highlight was when the home's own ‘Lady Milford’, General Manager Aga Musial got behind the wheel and looked ready to drive off to the set of ‘My Fair Lady’.

The home has recently had another in its series of Making Memories Lunches which had a beautiful autumnal theme. With the table looking amazing dressed in vibrant autumn colours, Paul on hand to play the piano as the guests assembled and a delicious lunch prepared by our chef team the scene was well and truly set for a lovely meal.

This time we had a number of new residents to welcome to Milford and our lunch was the perfect place to introduce them to one another and to get to know them better. We also had an 89th birthday to celebrate as well which made the occasion extra special.  Everyone had a great time as the smiles show and as is traditional at these lunches each attendee took away their own little bag with a tiny gift as their memento of the afternoon.

We are always delighted if we can make a special wish come true for one of our residents and recently we were thrilled that, with the help of the fantastic team at The Hurlingham Club in Fulham who responded with such alacrity and enthusiasm to our request, we were able to arrange a visit to the club for Jim who had worked there for 50 years as a gardener.

With a car arranged for the day, Jim and his daughter and a member of our activity team set off for the two hour journey. There were so many special moments during the day we couldn't possibly list them all, but one has to be the presence of Jeff one of the current gardeners, who along with his colleague Tom looked after Jim for the day, and had worked with Jim when he himself first came to the club as a 20 year old, this made for a very special connection and shared memories. The other was when Jim was shown his long service plaque up in the courtyard which he had not seen before. The whole day was just a delight and each member of the club's team, from the staff on the gate to the kitchen team who laid on such a lovely al fresco lunch and everyone in between, contributed to making every second special and they even managed to make the sun shine so that the gardens looked even more lovely!

Following a wonderful day Jim was whisked back to Salisbury after a long but happy trip down memory lane and a couple of days later was presented with a photo book packed with reminders of the day. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen and contributed to memories to treasure.

Thank you to Salisbury Arts Scene who had the Milford House Artists along as part of their fabulous Sunday art event that happens on the first Sunday of each month in the Market Square, Salisbury. Residents popped down to enjoy the atmosphere and see their art displayed as well as looking at all the other artworks in the square. Their art, featuring works inspired by our gardens, was displayed in one of the gazebos, we had art in action courtesy of Wendy displaying various art techniques and with the jazz band playing right next to us everyone enjoyed a great day chatting to visitors, family and friends alike who dropped by to see us.

We were bowled over by all the interest and lovely comments we received about our art, with one visitor leaving feeling very disappointed that she wasn't able to purchase our iris canvas! What a great day all round at a really great event and there wasn't a drop of rain despite the forecast.