Activities at Oxford Beaumont Care Community

It was a privilege and honour for us to be able to invite ‘Snowflake Books’ into our wonderful establishment to celebrate the ‘Chinese Boat Festival’. The session at Oxford Beaumont Community, was very informative and gave us lots of facts about the Chinese culture.

It began with a traditional Chinese story and continued with ladies and gentlemen enjoying the traditional beautiful puppets. Calamus and wormwood were handed round, these are two herbs against bad luck and diseases. Usually hung on door frames, but can also be worn around the neck for aroma. Additionally, our guests showed us a five-colour string bracelet, customised for the Dragon Boat Festival and containing the lucky colours green, red, white, black and yellow.

The community joined in playing rattle drums, as they played the magnificent colourful dragon was taken around the home to display. The dragon is a symbol of power, strength and luck. Everyone remarked how beautiful it was.

The session was very diverse, but the highlight was that every individual was presented with a painting or picture, which has been created by a child, who lives in Taiwan and sent over via the post. A lovely short film has also been produced, showing the children speaking to our community about their lifestyle. This was such a thoughtful idea and really brought smiles to all.

To show appreciation the residents wrote ‘Thank You’ notes and one gentleman sent over a photo of his dog.

We would really like to thank ‘Snowflake Books’ for all their hard work and for this lovely afternoon.

Staff and residents had a lovely trip to Abingdon-on-Thames. They gathered their picnic baskets and took in all the natural beauty of the area, which included lots of wildlife and fields full of colour. There was grapeseed growing and various other flowers, trees and beautiful architecture framing the picturesque portrait that is Abingdon-on-Thames.

When arriving at their final destination, the group took a steady walk along the river, where they enjoyed the riverside view, including the annual dragon boat racing and ‘bun’ throwing.

They also witnessed a grey heron sat in the shade under a weeping willow tree, ready to pounce for his prey in the river.

The day continued with a nice conversation about the “good old days” and an enjoyable talk with the local people.

It was a pleasurable few hours for all involved.

All residents from Oxford Beaumont Home had an amazing Easter celebration. The Easter Church Service at the Oxford Beaumont community, including family and friends, gathered together and enjoyed reading of scripture, verses, psalms and Holy Communion. This was followed by refreshments and Easter eggs. Many people joined in with Easter themed baking crafts, decorated eggs for the Easter Tree, and of course the traditional Easter Bonnets. Staff showed their competitive side by participating in egg and spoon races around the home, bringing laughter to all. The ‘Incredible Eggs’ visited the home and provided a ‘hatching kit’, and chick eggs to celebrate ‘New Life’. The eggs were nurtured by staff providing an interesting activity for the community. All generations were delighted to see a birth of a first chick.

Residents enjoyed our recent sunny weather whilst being entertained by Christopher Simms.

On Saturday 21st July, Oxford Beaumont enjoyed a sizzling summer barbecue in the orchard with plenty of drinks and delicious food freshly cooked outdoors by our own fabulous chefs.

We raised £180 on the day for the Barchester Foundation with a grand raffle, tombola, cake stall, white elephant stall, an auction and a competition to guess the giant teddy bear’s birthday, and Tim Valentine brought his outdoor piano to entertained with a wide variety of music.

Many residents, relatives, staff and friends of the home supported the event by helping to prepare and clean up. Their contributions of prizes, happiness, time, effort, equipment and generosity made it an afternoon to remember.

We've been keeping ourselves very busy here at Oxford Beaumont!

Residents have been playing lots of games, including bagatelle, and enjoy messing around with the parachute. They also enjoy colouring and have been making cherry scones in preparation for our numerous themed social evenings, which are attended by friends and family members. We were joined by the Wantage Male Voice Choir, who put on an excellent performance, and residents have really been loving our home cinema system.

There's always something fun going on at Oxford Beaumont!