Activities at Milford House Care Home

Residents were delighted to welcome Alice from The Salisbury Museum who ran two in-house workshops for us both of which explored the ideas surrounding 'home' both civic and personal. The morning session explored the place that is the home town to many of the residents, Salisbury and its surrounds including the parish of Milford. There were maps, photographs and more as the group shared
some fantastic stories and memories of Salisbury over the years. Flooding in the city seemed to feature strongly in the mind of many and it was brilliant how one story told led to another.

The afternoon session featured personal items brought along by residents who shared the related stories and memories, one of which was 'Betsy Wetsy' the doll which had been bought in Aden in 1935 as our resident's family was travelling out to India, and here she was for us all to look at and share in her history 85 years later! Alice helped both groups to create a mini museum display from artefacts
brought along which will be added to and we can admire as a memory of this truly special day.

Residents have enjoyed  two weeks of Olympic celebrations which have encompassed opening our own 'Cafe Olympique' every morning during the games serving a selection of coffees, sweet treats and more,  an Olympic themed Wine & Cheese evening with a mouth-watering selection of French cheeses naturally, and a French themed 'Making Memories ' lunch to name but a few!

There have also been Olympic quizzes, art sessions and scrabble and more and of course there has also been lots of shouting at the TV as we cheered home the Team GB athletes as they did us proud!  Reflecting on all that we have done over the past two weeks we decided that we will definitely keep our cafe going  on a more regular basis as it was such a great way to get together each morning in the Conservatory. 

Milford residents were delighted to welcome David and Barbara Lovibond who came and delivered a talk on the history of Milford entitled  'Walking on Bones'. With our conservatory packed to the rafters, residents were held spellbound by the long and ancient history of Milford and some of the people and buildings that have played starring
roles in the parish. With arti facts to handle, old paintings to illustrate the area - including the well known watercolour of Milford Bridge by John Constable no less - there was much to learn in a lively session where residents had lots of questions but also knowledge of
their own to add to the afternoon. David, who is chair of the Milford Area Preservation Group is a passionate advocate of our lovely local area and its history to which we say 'hear, hear!'.

Residents at Milford were treated to a fascinating talk from Hugh Anderson of the local, award-winning Downton Distillery which was so informative as he told us all about how gin is made, the different types, the varying strengths and so much more.  There was a lot to take in and some fascinating insights into the market, sales methods and how a small gin distillery runs.  We also got to taste two of his brands and at the end of the talk we all signed off with a fabulous pre-dinner gin & tonic based on the gin of our choice.   There were lots of questions from the very enthusiastic audience and at the end of the afternoon we all raised our glasses to Hugh – cheers!

Milford House recently welcomed the team from Liberty's Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre who brought four of their beautiful birds; a tawny and little owl, a peregrine falcon and a kestrel to visit residents. Ryan from the centre introduced us to the birds, told us all about them, what they like to eat, how they hunt, why keeping their feathers tidy is so important and lots more besides! Everyone had their own favourite and as one resident said 'it was a treat to be able to get so close to such amazing creatures and observe them so closely.' They were so well behaved although at one point the peregrine seemed to take quite a fancy to his reflection in the mirror and started calling to himself! The little owl, with his mesmerising yellow eyes, also went and paid a visit to some residents in their rooms and was a most welcome visitor.

We had a great turn out for our Summer Garden Party but sadly, due to the wind and showers, we weren't able party in the garden but that in no way dampened our spirits! So we changed our plans quicker than the British weather and we did our very best to bring the garden inside with our flower themed decorations, table covers and pretty posies of flowers picked from the garden on the tables.

With the fabulous Cosmic Sparkle in the house our dining room was packed with residents, visitors and smiles throughout the afternoon as everyone danced, clapped and sang along. We also had some stalls dotted around the home and raised over £220 for our chosen charity, River Bourne Community Farm. Somehow, in amongst all the activity, we managed to fit in a delicious cream tea and we must say a huge thank you to all the in-house teams and volunteers who helped to make this a truly special Milford afternoon.