Activities at Rivermead Care Home

We experienced the Christmas extravaganza of Blenheim Palace with Social Historian - Antonia Keaney, who took us on a recorded tour around the Christmas sights at the palace this year.

Our residents were able to discover the story of The Nutcracker re-imagined within the palace rooms, each one exquisitely transformed and filled with hidden surprises – from the toymaker’s workshop on a frosty Christmas Eve; through the glistening Land of Snow and onto the candy-cane Kingdom of Sweets adorned with the sweetest of treats and larger-than-life gingerbread men.

Then the residents explored the after-dark illuminated trail in the palace’s picture-perfect gardens. A feast for the senses, as we witnessed glittering tunnels of light, dancing lakeside reflections, trees drenched in jewel-like colour and mesmerising flickering flames in the fire garden.

It was a truly magical experience, enjoyed by all.

Rivermead residents got together last week to make a Christmas Tree with a difference, for it was built up from hand-painted ceramic hearts. Working in Memory Lane, a group of residents dipped unglazed hearts into pots of marbling paint, and eventually created 54 - one for each resident in the home! All were unique, but were marbled in a seasonal theme of reds and greens, and afterwards they were hung on the wall outside Rivermead’s front door in the shape of a Christmas Tree.

Our residents were thrilled to join Antonia Keaney - Blenheim Palace’s Historian for an intriguing virtual talk on Winston Churchill.

The private resources of Blenheim Palace were drawn upon to afford very new and refreshing insights into this remarkable man. During the talk Antonia shared fascinating information about the breadth of talent, achievement and personality of the "Greatest Briton": soldier, politician, statesman, painter, writer, orator, family man - and bricklayer!

We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed learning more about UK’s former Prime Minister.

We were delighted to join Blooming Haus’s Christmas Wreath Making Masterclass, where Master Florist, Michal and his business partner - Michael showed us the best method to create beautiful festive wreaths.

Following the tips and ideas learnt during the amazing virtual experience, we were happy to put our skills to a test and to enter the #BarchesterChristmasWreaths competition.

We all had a wonderful time creating our festive wreath/s.

Thank you @bloominghaus for helping our residents flow into the true spirit of Noel.

We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.

ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.

Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.

Residents had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.

Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.

Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.