Love is all we need and this helped us create a display centred around “love” to highlight Valentine’s Day. We created it with the help and support of family and friends by sharing pictures that draw attention to all kinds of love. We have shared pictures from partner love, family love, pet love through to just companionship.

As we all experience our own journeys of love with our partners, siblings, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, pets and/or good friends we get to learn more about the love around us and what keeps each and every one of us going through the good and especially the more challenging times! 

Today we delivered the food donations we have been collecting from residents, families and staff to North Guildford Food Bank in support of those struggling in these challenging times.

2022 has been a busy year for North Guildford Food Bank but due to their dedicated volunteers, and the generosity of donors, they have been able to help meet the needs of those needing emergency help.

On collection of parcels, tea, coffee, and cake is available and a listening ear - everyone is welcome to stay but not obliged to. Those less able to collect can arrange for parcels to be delivered on Wednesdays.

Thank you to everyone that donated, and we would love to continue supporting this food bank so please continue to donate any food you can over the coming months. 

Recently, our residents, family and friends got to enjoy a traditional show of Punch & Judy. It brought back some great memories of seaside holidays and memories of years past. These shows were known as a “staple of the British seaside scene” for adult audiences. Direction then changed to children’s entertainment.

Since the Victoria times puppeteers (also known as “professor” or “punchman”) would hide in the booth and perform with two characters, mainly Mr Punch and Judy and some other characters. The show included a variety of “episodes” which provoked much laughter from the clowning around of Mr Punch.

What a real treat the residents had as we had a visit from Kevin the Pony and his friends. Residents enjoyed some therapy and more festive spirit was created by Kevin. What a delight residents resting in bed had when they had their visitor and he was more than happy to say hello to everyone. It was amazing to see the interactions of residents and Kevin and friends were so gentle and loved the attention. We even had some smaller animals for laps so many enjoyed stroking these little furry friends.

We were lucky enough to have an amazing performance by the Sunday Club and YAC from St Mary’s Send at the home just before Christmas. It was a lovely spin on “Christmas Around the World” covering lots of different traditions. It was so popular it drew the biggest audience to date and all those involved should be really proud of their hard work and our residents want to thank each and every one that helped and performed. It was a real treat leading up to Christmas and even more so after the last few years. 

Residents thoroughly enjoyed having family and friends visit for an afternoon of quiz trivia fun. Everyone enjoyed a tipple along with mince pies and some snacks. The teams felt challenged with some tricky questions in all topics, but we have to admit it was enjoyable and everyone had many laughs even if they didn’t know the answers. In the end, we had some higher scores versus lower scores, but the ultimate outcome was getting together and having some much needed fun to create the festive cheer especially at the beginning of the week leading up to Christmas.