The theme for the last month ‘Dancing May’ reflected the age old tradition of dancing round the Maypole on the village green on Mayday, the 1st of the month. Residents enjoyed a lot of singing and dancing, and quite a few birthday celebrations throughout the month. Here is a short description of what they were up to.
Our monthly ‘Singing For The Brain’ session was on 4th May and included some old wartime favourites such as ‘Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree…’ and a ‘Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ to name just a couple. These songs all the residents sung along to and particularly enjoyed.
On Friday 6th in the morning, some residents joined a group from Woodlands and went to do some shopping in Fleet. They all enjoyed coffee and delicious cake in the Hart Centre.
We celebrated National Doughnut Week on 10th May by singing songs with a bun and music themes such as ‘If I knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake…’ and other well-known songs. This was followed with a sampling of the Roll-Royce of doughnuts, namely the American ‘Krispy Kreme’ variety. Everyone, it’s fair to say, loved them!!! Following tea being served to soak up all those lovely doughnuts, residents learnt a little of the history of the doughnut including the ‘Doughnut dollies’ of the Salvation Army that served troops on the front line in France during the First World War.
Our regular church service took place on Friday 13th May, with Vicar Tara who also shared stories with the residents about her trip to the Queen’s Garden Party earlier that week. Following on ‘stories’, on Monday 16th residents across the home celebrated ‘Share A Story’ month by listening to some amusing short stories and being encouraged to share some of their own. Residents, as part of ‘Local History Day’, also listened to an interesting ‘potted’ history of Farnham, which prospered as a result of its brewing industry.
Friday 20th was a busy and exciting day for our residents. A group of them enjoyed a drink and a chat at the local Tweseldown pub in the morning. They enjoyed the company of other residents from both Woodlands and Hill Brow Residential Homes.
In the afternoon residents from across all three homes were entertained by Emma – a lady with a beautiful voice, who captivated the residents with her lovely songs. Residents loved hearing her sing songs from the musicals and other old favourites, and particularly loved her version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ from the Wizard of Oz. So much was she enjoyed by everyone present, that she was even persuaded to do an encore for the residents and many sang and danced along with the music.
On 27th May residents from both sides of the home enjoyed a lively game of Musical Bingo. This was the first time many had participated in such a game and they enjoyed recognising and singing along to many well-known tunes from ‘Happy Birthday’ to ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and everything in between. The eventual winner was our resident Stuart. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon so we shall definitely play this again!!