Hill House activities this week took a look at all things Great British as we prepared for the 75year VE Day celebrations. We shared stories of war time, had a right royal quiz, handmade decorations and got dressed up in fancy dress, let our hair down and rocked out to karaoke.
It was all hands-on deck recently to prepare for VE day. Along with paper chain decorations, residents loved making union jack lanterns while listening to British musicians the likes of John Lennon, The Beatles and Joan Cross.
Monday morning continued as we helped to change over the display. It was amazing to evoke memories about our country, our amazing royal family and look at all the artefacts we were displaying.
In the afternoon we recited old cake recipes that we could remember and devised the winning recipe before raiding the pantry for ingredients. We worked as a group mixing and beating the mixture before lining our cupcake trays and filling them ready for baking.
Our interactive activity centre has a vast selection of games we enjoyed playing large floor games like target throwing and catching fish.
Tuesday morning, we filled the lounge with laughter during our exercise programme as we took it in turns to add an exercise each, we added in the helicopter, swimming doggy paddle and our favourite was the banana.
After lunch we enjoyed a Quoit’s competition in the lounge.
We had some beautiful flowers delivered this week bright pinks of the Gerberas and stunning yellow sunflowers, we arranged them into vases ready to be displayed around the home.
Our weekly hairdressing sessions have seen staff willingly take on the task, with very pleasing results. We cannot thank them enough for helping keep us to looking our best. It was nice to be pampered on a Wednesday morning as they served us tea, coffees had arranged magazines for us to read while we sat under the dryers, it was like being in a high street salon.
Music and singing lift our spirits, boost energy and bring smiles to everyone’s faces. On Wednesday afternoon staff joined us in a Great British karaoke singalong, we dressed the part wearing far too many accessories as we rocked out to the Beatles, harmonised with Shirley Bassey and danced the afternoon away.
We all enjoyed tasting Joyce’s birthday cake made by our super chef and opening lots of present and flowers that had been sent in for her birthday.
Thursday morning, we enjoyed a large game of balloon bounce, getting our arms moving and having fun while doing important exercises. Others enjoyed a fun game of quoits, as well as spending time together talking about the war and the upcoming VE day celebrations.
On Thursday afternoon we tackled this week’s giant crossword in the main lounge followed by a great British themed Quiz.
We continued to make decorations for next week’s VE day celebration. Making large paperchains and using our therapeutic arts session to colour and paint union jacks, that we can display around the home.
Our knitting and a natter club is proving so popular that we we have more than enough squares to have two blankets/ throws, we spent Friday morning sorting them into colours to ensure nothing clashed or was too gerish.
We have also knitted a number of face-mask holders for staff to wear to protect the back of their ears.
Friday morning, we managed to find 57 words in our ‘Great British’ word finder game. During the one to one time with our activities team we engaged in a wide range of fun activities while talking about our past and our families it was lovely to share stories with them.
Friday afternoon we worked in teams as we took part in the royal group quiz, there were three rounds, questions about the current monarchy, a picture round and a general British Royal quiz.
The garden view lounge was a quieter affair in the afternoon with games of dominoes and a small group of us reflecting on war time memories inspired by our display table and the WAAF booklet, the conversation soon turned to sport, mainly football and snooker.
Saturday morning, inspired by the karaoke earlier on in the week, we enjoyed a Vera Lynn singalong, getting out the musical instruments and dressed up.
Saturday morning our activities team stepped up again and transferred their skills to hairdressing, it makes us feel special.
Saturday afternoon after a lovely lunch we gathered around the big screen for a Vera Lynn concert that was streamed through YouTube. We had song sheet made for us so we could sing along not that any of us needed the words.
It is very important to keep moving as you get older, on Saturday as part of our movement to music we sung, march and wiggled. Movement to music is one of the many fun exercise classes we enjoy at Hill House.
On Saturday we wrote our first ‘round-robin story’, the story is written in rounds. It is a collaborative storytelling game. It starts by each of us getting a character. We were then given a unique theme before writing our ‘Disastrous wedding short story’ as a group. We included personal snippets as well as outlandish scenarios that made everyone laugh.
In the afternoon we tackled a giant world map jigsaw puzzle that filled most of the table. On completion we studied the map and discussed our many holidays abroad and the exotic countries we have visited and who we visited them with.
With a special request for chocolaty chocolate cake the kitchen team baked a massive cake for everyone to enjoy with their afternoon tea. Yummy!
