Activities at Sutton Valence Care Home

Residents, John and Dorothy, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They received a very special card from the Queen. Daughter, Ruth, and son, Phillip, came in to celebrate the big day with them. They brought a beautiful display of balloons and a handmade cake. Activities Coordinators, Ricky and Emily, visited John and Dorothy to celebrate the day with them. 

With this hot weather we have been blessed with the last couple of days in the UK, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get outside and resume our Sutton Valence Gardener’s Club.

With the help of Residents Lynn, Sheila and Joyce and our Gardener, Peter, we were able to plant some tomatoes, green beans and carrots in our raised beds. We made an afternoon of it and had some ice lollies to cool off with.

Our Residents will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour in the coming weeks. A special thanks for the compost that was kindly donated for the amazing hanging baskets that the residents made to adorn the outside of the home to invite everyone back to the home after some restrictions were lifted this month.

Staff and residents were treated to an interactive virtual floristry masterclass, courtesy of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski, from Blooming Haus. 

Blooming Haus started with a small pop-up shop in Chelsea. They have since blossomed spectacularly on to the floristry scene as ‘floral engineers’, carving themselves an outstanding reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative floral design studios. The company is the vision of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski and his business partner, Michael Dariane. The pair bring a completely fresh approach to floristry and their ambition to push the boundaries of traditional floristry has laid the foundations of Blooming Haus’ success to date.

Residents and staff were invited to gather together flowers and foliage chosen by themselves and follow Michal’s demonstration to create their own displays.  Residents’ arrangements will be entered into a Facebook competition judged by Michal and Michael to win Love2Shop vouchers.

Staff and residents were treated to an armchair workout courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s Furniture Company, followed by a mindfulness session, led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.

Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and well-being of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackleton's as their Health and Wellness Adviser.

Shackleton's and Diana both celebrate the importance of exercise, a healthy diet and mindfulness, particularly in later living. Diana has been working with Shackleton's since 2019 to promote their bespoke seating. She has produced a series of exercise videos extolling the virtues of gentle exercise in a Shackleton's chair.

After many months of planning and hard work by our very talented resident, Adele, her beautiful competition-winning mosaic design has been completed to create a stunning display piece to be mounted in the grounds for all to see and enjoy.

The inspiration for Adele’s mosaic design came from all the trials and tribulations, solidarity, loves and loss we all experienced during the lockdown of 2020.

Adele has described in great detail the meaning of all the parts that make up the mosaic, these include the shield, because we were shielding at the time this competition was set; the home that makes us all one large inclusive family; the tree of life that symbolises togetherness and a reminder that you are never alone; the heart that’s made up of the shaking of hands, meaning that everything is done from the heart, and the hands expressing gratitude for all that has been done. The dove is a sign of piece and a messenger to send messages home to our friends and family.

She should feel proud of her creation as we all are of her.

Lacey is a very talented and kind local girl who lives in Leeds village near Maidstone, and she is 10 years old.

Lacey has been busy hand making some beautiful heart shaped pocket hugs, which she has kindly donated to the residents at Sutton Valence to remind them that they are loved and always in our hearts.

Our residents here at Sutton Valence were touched by the kind gesture and enjoyed picking out their own pocket hugs in their favourite colours, and were all grateful to Lacey for her thoughtful gift to them.

Lacey was proud that she could do something within her community to make people happy and put a smile on their faces.

She should feel proud of her creation as we all are of her.