Activities at Milford House Care Home

A group of residents visited Cedars Care Home - Barchester Healthcare at Landford for a fabulously fun afternoon of cycling with the team from Pedall - New Forest Inclusive Cycling . Everyone had a ball - and our huge thanks go to the team from Pedall for making it such fun and to the team from The Cedars for organising the day and making sure there was plenty of tea and scrummy cakes on offer as well. It was lovely to be out in the fresh air and residents loved the whole cycling experience and it brought back many happy memories of cycling to school to work and for pleasure. We are looking forward to doing it again!!

Residents and family members enjoyed a great afternoon at Riding for the Disabled - Wilton Group with all the volunteers and ponies. Everyone was made to feel so welcome as they were shown around the stables and met up with the wonderful ponies who are just so sweet and gentle. Residents petted, groomed and fed the ponies before being treated to tea and homemade cakes. It was a particularly nostalgic afternoon for one of our residents who had volunteered with the group previously and who was thrilled to be back. Thank you all for such a happy afternoon we can't wait to come back later in the summer.

Milford residents recently celebrated getting our fish tank back up and running again with a new look and selection of fish and we supported this with the latest in our series of 'Making Memories' lunches which this time appropriately took the sea as its theme. The 'Fish Tank Lounge' was specially decorated with all things fishy for the lunch and of course there was fish and chips on the menu! The table settings looked fabulous and there was even a pianist, Paul Stoney, who came in and played at the end of the meal while everyone enjoyed their coffee - what a perfect ending to the special meal. Thanks to our chief organiser Gale, chef Becky, helpers Bridget and Tina and everyone who made the lunch so special - there were truly lots of memories to take away.

Residents had the best afternoon sailing out onto Southampton Water aboard the Alison MacGregor. The conditions were perfect as we cruised and enjoyed the sights. Our thanks to the great crew who volunteer with Solent Dolphin to make these trips possible – as one resident said ‘ The trip was wonderful – nothing was too much trouble for the crew who made us tea, commentated on the sights and chatted to us throughout the trip – I could not have enjoyed it more!’   Residents are already looking forward to our next trip later in the year.

Residents had a fascinating afternoon with Sandra from Charmworth Miniatures who brought along her beautiful miniature clothes models showing off forties fashion. The workmanship was absolutely exquisite and residents loved looking at and handling the dresses and hearing about how they were made and the stories behind the fashion. The lovely wedding dress was made from parachute silk as other sources would have been hard to come by. Another trick was to make different collars to wear under a cardigan to create lots of different looks and shirts could be made from a large square scarf! Necessity really was the mother of invention. There was lots of discussion about the fashions, how they were worn and lots of reminiscing from everyone. It was a very special afternoon.

Residents and staff at Milford enjoyed three days of celebrations ‘fit for a King!’  Over the bank holiday weekend the home held Coronation events each day culminating in ‘The Big Coronation Cream Tea Party & Fete’ on the Monday to draw the festivities to an end with a bang.  The whole home came together to celebrate our new King and talk about the new era the country is entering.

Jane a resident said: “We have just had the most wonderful weekend celebrating our new King.  Saturday was magical as we watched the Coronation together with a buffet meal in surroundings decorated so wonderfully – the whole day felt really special.  It has also been lovely to have family and friends come for our Cream Team Party today and despite the rather drizzly weather nothing has dampened our celebrations!’