It's another bank holiday and, for most, another day of rest. However, this is Woodland View and we don't rest any more than necessary!

Along with the craft workshop and Gentleman's Club, residents were again delighted in the morning by a visit from a little chap called 'Bear'.

Bear is Woodland View's PAT dog, and stops by once a week, calling in to the coffee lounge and doing one-to-one visits in residents' rooms. Sporting his very smart blue dickie-bow and photo-ID badge, Bear is a welcome sight to all the dog lovers in the home and photo opportunities are a regular feature.

Bear is a 15 month old Pug/Chihuahua mix, and belongs to his keeper, Leah O'Kane. He thoroughly enjoys the attention he gets from his human fans and he's more than happy to have a quick doze on someone's lap.

We all know that there's nothing nicer than having a cake and a cuppa. Residents at Woodland View had some sweet, sticky fun decorating cakes and then - surpisingly - eating them!

Icing, buttercream, chocolate buttons, marshmallows, cherries, sprinkles, jelly babies - it wasn't too difficult to find a topping that raised a smile of anticipation on every residents' face.

Woodland View has finally managed to make arrangements for a PAT Dog to visit residents on a regular basis.

The PAT Dog scheme is volunteer-based and relies on there being someone in the area available. Woodland View has been trying to get someone for almost a year and were thrilled to finally be contacted by Leah O'Kane.

Leah will now be visiting Woodland View every Monday with Bear - a sweet Pug/Chihuahua mix. Their first visit on Monday 22nd May was a complete success; Bear was a hit with residents in general, but especially with those who, for a number of reasons, spend most or all of their time in their room.

Woodland View now has regular animal-based activities, which includes regular dog visits from a couple of agencies, as well as a fortnightly trip to a local animal therapy farm.

Celebrating the film festival season, Woodland View residents held their own awards ceremony.

Over a period of a week, residents were handed out slips of paper asking who the 'Best Actor/Actress' was and what 'Best Film' of all time was. The slips were all collected, counted and a special presentation was prepared announcing the winners.

This presentation was shown on Sunday afternoon to residents prior to the screening of the winning film. The 'Best Actor/Actress' award went to Laurence Olivier, and 'Casablanca' was named the 'Best Film'.

Pupils from Queen Boudica Primary School joined residents at Woodland View for a game of bingo recently. You might be wondering, 'what is so special about that?'

Well, we have been hosting game sessions with Queen Boudica's pupils for a number of months now; we usually play Snakes & Ladders, Play Your Cards Right, skittles, etc., and they're always great fun!. However, Activities Coordinator, Kevin Riley, asked the children if there were any games that haven't played that they'd like try, and they excitedly replied with "Bingo!"

So, residents and pupils gathered on Thursday 18th May and the game commenced. One resident emerged victorious and was rewarded with a box of chocolates, but all pupils received some treats from Kevin's 'Sweety Treaty Jar'.

Another thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for everyone involved, and bingo was, yet again, a runaway success... phew!

Having been such a popular trio when first performing live at Woodland View in February, 'The Jolly Boys Outing' made a return visit to deliver a very enjoyable mix of songs from across the musical ages for residents to reminisce to.

The selection of songs covered had residents singing, clapping and tapping along, with one number also evoking a very emotional response too; so, all in all, it was a very wide-reaching performance that was enjoyed by all.

Residents have asked for the boys to be invited back again - and they have accepted! Watch this space for upcoming performances.