January’s theme was ‘Happy New Year!’ reflecting the start of a brand new year.
On Friday 2nd January a group of residents enjoyed a morning outing to the Wyvern pub, Crookham village. It was a cold and frosty morning so everyone was wrapped up well against the cold before setting off. Once inside residents enjoyed fresh coffee, tea and biscuits, as well as wine, sherry or beer if they wanted it. Residents from both Woodlands and Hill Brow also joined and had a good chat and a reminiscence. One of the residents even used to go to this pub when she was a teenager!
On the afternoon of Saturday 21st January residents were delighted by a visit from The Dance Focus Academy of Fleet. A group of 11 ballet dancers with their teacher April performed various set routines as well as character dances using props such as baskets, ‘little toy fish’ and homework books! The residents were enchanted by the little dancers and their performance, clapping vigorously after each dance. The girls were so encouraged that soon lost any nerves they may have had. The performance concluded with a wonderful tap dancing demonstration by April herself which completed a very engaging, and entertaining Saturday afternoon!
On the evening of Wednesday 25th January Hill House hosted the first quarterly quiz of 2017 in aid of our registered Charity ‘Families Supporting Care’ and raised £270! There were 7 teams with residents and their relatives and friends representing both Woodlands and Hillbrow, as well as Hill House. The quiz was strongly fought but eventually the all-lady quiz team called ‘Princes Eugenie Troops’ won. Participants enjoyed tea, coffee, wine and snacks and many were lucky enough to win a prize in the raffle too.
On the morning of Friday 27th January a group of residents and some relatives enjoyed a trip to Redfields Garden Centre. They took a nice walk round the many displays – the beautiful and colourful begonias and orchids and the ladies in particular enjoyed looking at the clothing, scarves and hats and so on. They also enjoyed looking at the many unusual and interesting items on sale in the ‘Home’ area such as vases, picture frames, cushions and ornaments of all kinds. The group met up with residents from the two other homes and sat down to enjoy coffee, tea and biscuits before returning to the home in time for lunch.
On the afternoon of Friday 27th January Hill House celebrated Burns Night in style with its very own authentic bagpiper! Residents plus some relatives from across all three homes came together to hear some rousing Scottish tunes, as well as listening to some anecdotes about Robbie Burns’ life. They also learnt about some of the Burns night traditions such as the ceremony of the ‘haggis’. This was interspersed with some of the most well-known poems too. Residents enjoyed tea, coffee, wine and homemade Scottish style shortbread, and for those that wanted even a tot of whiskey! The piper concluded by walking round the home playing the bagpipes and visiting some of the other residents that couldn’t actually attend the main event in the lounge, and it is fair to say, they took the Scottish music to their hearts, singing and dancing along when he arrived.
On the afternoon of Tuesday 31st January, residents from across the home enjoyed an afternoon of storytelling and reminiscence in celebration of ‘National Storytelling Week’ which commenced on January 28th. As well as some short stories being read to the residents, the residents themselves contributed some both interesting and often funny stories to the afternoon. Although no actual theme was chosen, all the stories strangely seemed to feature some element of travelling and other countries, demonstrating just how very well-travelled our residents are!
