Activities at Thistle Hill Care Home

After almost 30 years of continuous service at Thistle Hill, a much-loved nurse, Pam Lee has decided to retire.  Staff and residents at the home sent Pam off in style with wine, flowers, plants and other gifts to thank her for her many years of dedication, and there was a huge party with lots of singing and dancing. Everyone at the home has very fond memories of Pam, and she will be sadly missed.

During her time at Thistle Hill Care Centre, Pam worked tirelessly to help the residents and other staff members.  She always went above and beyond in her role.  
 

Staff and residents were treated to a virtual tour of J and J Alpacas, a family-run alpaca farm in Dry Doddington, Newark.

Residents joined Farm Manager, Jess, live from Newark to get an inside look into the daily care for the 134 alpacas that live on the farm and meet some of the fantastic characters that make up the herd. Residents learned how the alpaca farm was first set up in 2005 with just four alpacas but how addictive keeping alpacas is, and how the herd has grown and gone from strength to strength over the last 20 years.
 

Thistle Hill was full of animal mischief on Monday when the animals from Diggi’s Den came to visit the home. Residents at Thistle Hill were pleasantly surprised to see animals such as rabbits and Guinea pigs roaming around their lounges as Diggi’s Den paid a visit.

General Manager Mandy Scott said: “Our residents have really enjoyed their furry visitors today.  We knew that having the animals here would be a bit of fun for all our residents, especially as some find it difficult to go on many outings in our minibus.  We are always looking for new activities for the residents and today we have seen the seen the enjoyment and the therapeutic influence animals can have on people.”
 

Coffee mornings are not just coffee mornings at Thistle Hill!  Residents from around the home have been coming together to make a wish tree complete with wishes as they chat and have a brew together.  

We have been reminiscing to work out what wishes everyone would like and had a lot of giggles as we worked on the tree.  The tree is not complete yet, but it is coming along nicely, and we can all see it is going to look lovely once finished.
 

Thistle Hill  was transformed into Graceland to mark what would have been Elvis Presley’s 90th birthday. It is estimated that Elvis has sold over one billion records worldwide, so to honour the undisputed King of Rock & Roll, the staff and residents enjoyed a fantastic day of music, fun and dancing.

Les, a resident, said: “I loved Elvis growing up.  Listening to all his old hits has brought back so many memories.  We’ve all had a brilliant time reminiscing about our dance hall days!” 
 

We turned up the music and residents, visitors and staff all joined in to get the party in full swing.  

The kitchen created a lovely buffet for the event and the bar was fully stocked with all kinds of beers, wines, sherry, gin and fizz.  

It was lovely to see so many visiting friends and family join us.

The event was a massive success. Everyone said that they couldn’t wait for the next big party!