Activities at Milford House Care Home

There is nothing that we enjoy more at Milford than a lovely garden themed activity, and we have recently had a group cutting out beautiful flower prints and making their own flower vase pictures from their favourites. It may be sub-zero outside but that doesn't stop us from thinking about warmer days ahead and what we hope to see in our gardens. With this in mind we have been getting together with our new gardener Caroline (both inside and outside!) to talk about what everyone would like to grow in the gardens over the coming summer and we are really excited to have Caroline guiding us in this - in fact we think we are officially going to make 2024 the 'Year of the Garden' here at Milford!

With our dining rooms dressed to the nines, residents assembled to toast the New Year, let us into their new year resolutions and enjoy the delicious meal prepared by our talented team of chefs which was the perfect way to kick off 2024 before everyone came back down to earth with a bang and found themselves in January!   Our Christmas and New Year was filled with sparkle and fun and our new year’s resolution as a team is to keep the fun going throughout 2024.

The anticipation had been building and the Milford Christmas House - along with its Christmas Trees - was painted, decorated and finally delivered to the beautiful setting of St Thomas's Church, Salisbury where it has joined 93 other exhibits! We have been receiving lots of lovely compliments from visitors to the exhibition who have seen our tree and residents have also visited during the week . Alongside the trees there was a full programme of activities going on from choirs to bell ringing - the festival was open for five days and was a really festive occasion in the heart of Salisbury that was guaranteed to get everyone into the Christmas Spirit.

Milford residents and staff got their Christmas festivities off to a flying start with a Christmas Market held on what might have been the coldest day of the year so far, the home was delighted to welcome Councillor Nick Baker, Chair of Laverstock & Ford Parish Council to declare the Market open. Residents, family and friends then enjoyed a fabulous set from Musical Theatre Salisbury before everyone got stuck into browsing the stalls and enjoying mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies!

There were green table decorations made by residents, selection treat boxes, bath smellies, lots of lovely art, creative and decorative items as well as a fantastic raffle that was so kindly supported by a host of local business from in and around Salisbury as well as family and friends who donated prizes.  The array of goodies were gleefully claimed by lucky ticket holders and all proceeds will go to the home’s chosen charity for 2023, River Bourne Community Farm

Residents, family, friends and staff at Milford have all been supporting a local Christmas Box appeal that sends shoe boxes of small gifts to families in southern Europe who otherwise would receive no gifts at this special time of year.  Each box is curated for a particular age group with a whole array of small gifts:  toiletries, gloves, hats and scarves and of course sweets and toys.  Milford has put together over 30 boxes which were delivered to the House of Opportunity who are running the programme at their collection point at River Bourne Community Farm.  As well as delivering the boxes a group of staff also volunteered at the collection point for a morning sorting and checking the boxes before they get sent on their way.  Thank you to everyone who contributed items to the appeal – it was a fantastic effort all round.

Residents, visitors and staff celebrated the opening of our latest art exhibition at Milford House featuring work by artist and Milford Registered Nurse Ela Anthony. It was fantastic to see so many people turn up to admire the stunning works as well as cards and other gifts that Ela had on display and the exhibition has been a real talking point for residents and visitors alike who are really enjoying looking at the beautiful pictures brightening up our home. We are delighted that the exhibition will run right through into December and will be there for our Christmas Market together with the gifts. Sister Ela, who has been sharing her talents by running art and craft sessions for the residents, is generously donating 10% of any sale proceeds to the home's chosen charity for 2023 River Bourne Community Farm.