As the country marked the 76th anniversary of VE Day Hill house embraced the theme with themed arts and crafts, reminiscing and sharing war time stories. This week also marked a 90th birthday and here at Hill House we love an opportunity for a celebration. As always, our activities team ensure a variety of activities on top of our programmed activities, these range from pet therapy session to group games and clubs.
Monday morning, we started our day off with therapeutic arts, we choice a medium that suited us as we coloured painted or collaged union jacks’ flags and bunting ready for the weeks VE Day celebrations.
After lunch a group of us played a new card game UNO, playing cards were invented by the Chinese before 1000 AD during the Tang dynasty but only reached Europe in 1360 via Egypt. Each country experimented with their own suits which varied widely from goblets, swords, acorns, leaves, coins, hearts and bells.
The suits we know today were created by the French: Hearts, Tiles, Clovers, and Pikes. The English changed their names to Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades and the rest is history!
Other completed picture puzzles or joined in with a war time singalong.
Tuesday morning started with a dance in our garden view lounge. Later that morning we enjoyed knock out skittles game and completed white board word games over a cup of tea and cake.
In the lounge we played floor bowls a game of skill and accuracy. Regular bowls playing will improve strength, reduced risk of falls considerably, reduce mobility-related illness and promote longevity and health.
Tuesday afternoon we came together to take on our weekly giant crossword puzzle.
Others opted for a quiet game of dominoes with friends.
Wednesday morning was a real highlight as we were able to join as a collective and host our monthly residents meeting with our directors, over the last couple of months with the pandemic we have been un able to gather in such a large group, so we celebrated in style with wine and refreshments and everyone shared their thoughts and listened to exciting new updates.
The meeting was followed by a war time singalong, you can not beat the classic’s vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll meet again’ or ‘run rabbit’ and ‘white cliffs of Dover’.
After lunch a game of balloon tennis was enjoyed in our garden view lounge. Balloon tennis is a great way to exercise and have fun at the same time.
Our new scrabble club meet in one area of the lounge, some worked independently and others opted to team up to enjoy the game. Training your memory leads to improved cognitive capacity, which means that your brain will be more efficient when dealing with challenging tasks.
Thursday mornign we enjoyed a game of snakes and ladders over a cup of tea and sharingf memories and war stories linked with VE Day.
We had a special birthday on Thursday and our care partners went above and beyond to ensure he celebrated in style, volunteering there time to help him celebrate.
Our amazing team here at Hill House worked together to pull off a special birthday lunch in our pod.
That afternoon was full of fun and laughter as we played balloon games and skittle in our garden view lounge.
Friday morning, in preparation for tomorrows VE Day street party we whipped up a twist on the British classic cake, Bakewell tarts and adapted them to Bakewell cupcakes, using our collective knowledge and baking over the years we adapted the recipe we had to take into consideration the change in ingrediencies.
Friday afternoon we welcomed into the home an orphaned Lamb called Evie, that one of our amazing staff has taken under her wing to nurse. At only 5 weeks old we couldn’t believe how big the lamb was.
The ability to have something to pet or touch can result in lower blood pressure, normal heart rate and reduced stress. Pets provide emotional stability during stressful situations, helping to reduce anxiety and depression.
Saturday, we started our VE Day celebrations early with a trip down memory lane with VE Day reminiscing and documentaries in the afternoon we celebrated with a VE Day street party that was moved indoors due to the great British weather.
We didn’t let the weather dampen our spirits as we sat with friends enjoying tea and coffee in fine bone china tea cups and a selection of scones and cakes. This was followed by a Great British themed sing along.
Sunday, we spent the day adding to our weekly scrapbooks or attending the virtual church services offered around the home. Others opted for board games and one to one activity with carers.
Over Sunday coffee we took part in brain training word ladder games.
