Activities at West Oak Care Home

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.

It was brilliant to see the residents all enjoying themselves creating beautiful arrangements.

Coinciding with the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, International Nurses' Day, held on Wednesday 12th May, is a day to celebrate nurses and care staff around the world. Residents and staff at West Oak were happy to get involved by hosting a much-deserved afternoon tea with selection of delicious cakes. A nice box of chocolates were given to all our nurses for their hard work and dedication.

Staff and residents at West Oak were treated to a virtual chair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, followed by a mindfulness session led by Emma Raybould.

Our residents all remember the Green Goddess from Breakfast TV in the 80s, so they really enjoyed seeing her on screen and joining in a gentle exercise session with her.  The mindfulness session was the perfect way to relax afterwards.

West Oak marked the anniversary of VE Day with a relaxed afternoon of reminiscence.

Residents swapped stories of their experiences during this time over a brew and homemade cakes.

Our residents explained to staff how the ration books, identity cards and clothing books worked, with stories about how different things were then compared to how they are now.

As soon as Vera Lynn’s iconic music started to play, our residents couldn’t help but sing along.

West Oak were delighted to go out in the community to do a doughnut run to our local fire station & police station. Loddon Valley Police Station were kind enough to send in lots of donations for our residents & staff at Christmas 2020, which was greatly appreciated. Wokingham Fire Station have been to the home on a number of occasions in the past and always a great help.

Engaging with our local community is something we pride ourselves on here at West Oak, and to be able to give something back meant a lot, even if just a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Loddon Valley Police Station and Wokingham Fire Station for all of their dedication and hard work through such a difficult time, and we look forward to welcoming you back for a bacon roll and warm cup of tea when we can.

Earlier in the week, we received a very generous donation of knitted blankets from local charity, Wokingham In Need. This huge selection is greatly appreciated by all the staff and our residents.

Residents have enjoyed looking through the blankets and we spoke about the different colours and patterns. They have all now selected which blanket they would like for their rooms.