Activities at The Cedars Bourne Care Home

The Cedars said ‘Thank You for the Music’ as they celebrated International ABBA Day with a themed karaoke party and happy hour.

Staff, residents and guests dress in their 60’s and 70’s finest, and came together to sing and dance to the most iconic tracks from Swedish pop group ABBA: well known as one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and who is one of the best-selling musical acts in the history of popular music.

The Cedars have brought a bit of technological magic to their residents with the purchase of a new Virtual Reality headset, as a way to improve residents’ life enrichment and to get away from it all: all from the comfort of our own living room!

The headset is programmed with many worldwide destinations, including a tour of the pyramids, a boat tour of Venice, close-up animal encounters and underwater scuba-diving adventures. Anne had always wanted to visit the pyramids, and she was thrilled to be able to go. She said 'it's a marvel- it's like I'm really there!' Marjorie loved swimming with the dolphins and was reaching out to touch them because they looked so real! She said 'I've never seen anything like this!'; and Edna was amazed to be able to go home to Spain for the morning - she was tapping her feet to the music and laughing with joy at the Spanish parade she watched. 
 

What a fun and fascinating afternoon we had this month, when we were joined by Russel Dadswell and his amazing and beautiful street organs. Our residents were intrigued by the history and the mechanics of these wonderful machines, all of which Russel explained brilliantly using a digital presentation to enhance the talk. 

He then shared some of the music with us- some from an English organ and some from a German organ. He described how he used to go with his grandfather in the school holidays and learn about the instruments and how to play them; this was how his love and passion for these beautiful pieces began.

We are looking forward to welcoming him back with one of his large outdoor organs for the Summer Fête in June.

Our monthly animal therapy is so popular, with residents and staff getting great joy from seeing our varied visitors. 

This month was the turn of Darwin the Therapy Horse, whose one-to-one visits with residents throughout the home benefit all communities and stages of health. He is very intuitive, and able to connect with all different residents with all different needs - he is a marvel! Michael said that 'he is a handsome fellow- a very unusual guest!'. 

The smiles really do say it all.

We had a wonderful time celebrating St. Patrick's Day today. We started with an Irish Dancing-themed exercise class, with very fun and fast footwork that Ellen said was very accurate to the traditional Irish dancing that she used to teach. 

We then enjoyed a quiz, exploring the origins of St. Patrick's Day and Irish Culture; before enjoying an Irish Coffee (or two) and watching the recording from today's St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was a fun, informative and busy day that we all enjoyed!

Our residents always look forward to World Book Day as it is our annual tradition to hold a Young Writers Competition with the schools in Bourne.

This year we were thrilled to receive so many amazing poems written on the theme of ‘Book an Adventure’. The competition was open to all 11–16-year-olds in Bourne, and entries were received from both the Bourne Grammar School and Bourne Academy. It was very hard to choose our winners: so many of the poems were well written and moving-Maureen commented that it ‘was too big a job to choose!’ But choose we did; and our winners impressed all of our residents with their prose, composition and what Chris described as a ‘good musical lilt’.