Hill House this week hosted a village Fete. A fête, is an elaborate festival, party or celebration. In Britain, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include games and the sale of goods and refreshments. Our fete was jam packed with games, stalls, and laughter.
As we kicked off with fete week, we got messy making Paper Mache coconuts for our coconut shy game later in the week. Creative activities help reduce agitation and boost mood as well as give a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
A beautiful sunny Monday afternoon at Hill House as we gathered in the garden to partake in a giant cross word. The afternoons conversation soon turned to the theme of the week ‘Fete’, it was amazing to hear how different parts of our country hold different stalls and games at tehri Village/ Town fetes and fairs.
Others enjoyed a cooler afternoon indoors with light exercise and a game of dominoes. Over a cup of tea and coffee we shared our memories of the village fetes or school fete, a lot of us have been PTA members while our children were at school putting on fetes and fundraises and how we had roped our husbands in to build games and props.
Tuesday morning, we put on our baking hats as we whisked up a Victoria sandwich cake as part of our cooking club.
Cooking provides an excellent activity for sensory stimulation exploring touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste.
Garden view enjoyed a game of giant snakes and ladders and some quiet time reading and learning about birds that can be seen in our gardens here at hill house.
Tuesday afternoon was another scorcher of a day, we enjoyed activities alfresco, hook a duck is a traditional fete game and was enjoyed by everyone who had a go trying to hook a duck on the rod to see if they had won a prize.
In the view garden, we spent the afternoon arranging floral displays, playing board games in the garden and taking time out to be pampered with hair and manicures.
The outdoors has proved itself to be a highly relaxing environment which can be greatly beneficial, to help reduce anxieties or stress. Simply spending some time in the fresh air, taking part in an activity or relaxing on comfortable seats, can be excellent for reducing agitation and encouraging relaxation.
On Wednesday we enjoyed our weekly pamper session with our fabulous activities team who have been keeping us looking smart throughout lockdown. We also helped fold raffle tickets for the afternoon’s tombola.
Garden view lounges opened up the patio doors and enjoyed the morning sunshine and garden walks. Hook a duck proved to be a fun and exciting game as we tried so hard to hook a duck and win prizes. Being outside with friends made the morning fly by chatting away and laughing together before we realised it was lunch time.
As part of fete week on Wednesday afternoon our creative activities team pulled out all the stops with the fete themed games and colourful clown outfits. We started the afternoon playing traditional fete guessing games, name the duck, guess the weight of the cake, and how many sweets in the jar for our chance to win them as prizes. The guessing games visited everyone here at Hill House, staff joined in and the friendly completion got us all in the spirit of being at a fete.
The tombola was such a success we loved picking out a handful of tickets drawn at random, with prizes allocated to all tickets ending in a 5, we could instantly see whether or not we had won a prize.
Thursday morning the fete games continued as part of our weekly exercise programme we enjoyed tin can alley, getting the upper body moving.
Alternatively, in the garden view lounge we raced pigs at the Hill House donkey (Pig) Derby, the history of the donkey derby is unknown but earlier in the week we disused and agreed that it is most popular in northern England and was a key future in many country fetes and fairs.
After lunch the donkey derby continued as the donkeys went outside, we enjoyed racing the Donkeys (Pigs in fancy dress) up and down the track placing bets and winning prizes.
We also enjoyed a game of tin can alley in garden view lounge on Thursday afternoon, others knitted and read books.
Friday morning the sun was still shinning, last week we watch the gardeners planting and pruning the garden we couldn’t wait to get out and inspect tehri hard work. The plants are bright and colourful it amazing to see all the different shades and colours together.
The coconut shy drew big crowds as we took it in turns to knock down the coconuts, we are sure some were glued down as no matter how hard we tried they were not budging.
Exercise and dance stimulate the brain and the body as well as tapping into the magic of music. It has lots of social elements as well as offering an opportunity for us to express ourselves and most importantly to move.
Friday afternoon we were treated to a magnificent ice-cream parlour, from banana splits, cornettoes, ice-cream bowls to Mr whippy 99’s. The ice cream parlour filled the home with the tune of an ice-cream van, we could hear it coming, it brought back so many fond memories of the traditional ice cream van coming down the road, scrapping around for loose change and running after him down the road. We all enjoyed a refreshing cold treat on such a warm day.
On Saturday morning we pulled out the scrap books and filled them full of fun pictures from the week before. Others spent time outside in the gardens, or feeding the fish at the pond.
After lunch we started a new jigsaw puzzle up at the table. Completing a jigsaw puzzle stimulates thinking and memory, which increases feelings of well-being.
Sundays are traditionally a day of rest, but here at Hill House we love to keep busy. Rummy Kub is new favourite of ours we have taught each other and the staff how to play. Others enjoyed a relaxing morning reading the daily papers.
Sunday afternoons film club is very popular we could choose to watch any of the three films on offer throughout the home; space jam, Annie and Silver screen. Other’s took time away sitting in the garden, knitting and partaking in therapeutic painting.
