This week we celebrated the British tradition of Guy Fawkes / bonfire night. Residents spent the week prepping for our big fire work display painting stunning art work and making a life size Guy Fawkes evoking stories of taking a Guy Fawkes around in a pram and asking for ‘A penny for the guy’. We also celebrated Diwali with a sensational spread of food made by staff and welcomed our goats back into the home for a therapy session.

Monday morning, we all love an active start to the week a game of giant snakes and ladders gets us up and moving with the giant dice rolling to moving the counters.

That afternoon we played a game that relies on all our senses with our ‘What’s in the bag game’ using touch only. We can either try to guess the object, say what the object can be used for, or count the objects in the bag. This is a great same to test our memory.

Others played a selection of board games. The Grand Prix game is a roll and move style game racing around the board to be the first to cross the finishing line trying to gain bonus points and avoid the miss ago squares. This was followed by a game of Qwirkle, this game is not only fun but boost a number of benefits. Qwirkle is similar to dominoes, in which players match up shapes and colours. It has proven beneficial to Alzheimer’s patients as well as keeping the brain Sharpe for others. It aids at a cognitive level, adds mobility, and provides a great social activity.

Others spent the afternoon building sensory maze puzzles and building block structures.

Tuesday morning the pet therapy session with our fabulous goats was a huge success. So many of us love having them around. Both Mario and Luigi have a gentle temperament and friendly personality and their presence provides us with relaxation and companionship.

Followed by a group game of knock out hangman before lunch.

Elsewhere, we spent the morning singing and dancing in our garden view lounge. We love to sing and dance together. We have a play list of all our favourite songs so there is something for everyone. Music can elicit emotions and memories and help provide a link to a person’s past and promote interconnection with caregivers and others with dementia. Recent findings suggest that that musical training delays cognitive decline and promotes brain plasticity in the elderly brain.

With Guy Fawkes night just around the corner, it was time to roll up our sleeves and get stuffing as we made a giant Lifesize Guy on Tuesday afternoon. It is traditional to place Guy on the bonfire but we wanted to display him in the lounge for the week ahead to remind us of just why we celebrate Guy Fawkes. We spent time after chatting about fireworks and displays we visited with our children and grandchildren.

Residents and staff organised a special Thankyou to our amazing Kings Nurse Sahlee who has helped us out over the last year at Hill House when we really needed her. She was the face we all saw first thing in the morning and was always around to help, we couldn’t thank her enough for all the extra support.

Arts and crafts in our garden view lounge saw us make fire work scenes with chalk. Being ever more creative one resident cut out and made 3D fireworks to hang as decorations.

Wednesday morning, we settled down in the lounge over a cup of tea and coffee to take on this week’s brain training game together. Using the letters from ‘Bonfire Night’ to see how many words we could make in our word finder game. We are so impressed with finding 90 different variations of words.

Wednesday afternoon we welcomed Natasha into Hill House for an afternoon of live music. Dressed in her Military outfit we danced and sang the afternoon away with some of our favourite songs including White cliffs of dover and When the saints go marching in.

Thursday morning 1 to 1 holy communion was held for those wishing join in. Alternatively, we spent time at the in-house hairdressers getting pampered or playing games on our Omi magic table. Fireworks was a fab themed game we enjoyed popping and making our own digital firework display.

Thursday afternoon our flower arranging group met in the lounge to form stunning floral displays.

A taste sensation was part of our Diwali celebration our staff laid on a stunning Feast to celebrate their culture and festival with our resident. The smells filled the room and everyone loved trying new foods or old favourites.

Diwali in Nepal, also called ‘Deepawali’ is more commonly known as ‘Tihar’ among the locals. There are various other names like ‘Yamapanchak’ or ‘Swanti’. ‘Yamapanchak’ translates to the five days of Lord Yama, the God of Death.

Diwali is observed by more than a billion people across faiths. This five-day festival of lights brings prayer, feasts, fireworks and for some, a new year.

Friday morning, we caught up on the daily news with the morning papers and a social chat with friends. Additionally, we spent time adding memories to our scrapbooks of all the fab activities and events we have celebrated recently.

After lunch we used the scratch art work to make colourful firework pictures. This technique was so much fun seeing the colours appear. Followed by firework poetry readings and coming up with our own words to describe fireworks.

As we sat sipping on hot chocolate with fluffy cream, gooey marshmallows and chocolate log flakes, we watched in amazement as this year’s fire work show began. The marvellous show didn’t disappoint with bright colourful lights filling the sky.

A brilliant evening of entertainment,

Saturday morning a group gathered for a game of floor bowls a game of accuracy and team work.

Floor bowls isn’t just fun but it is a great form of exercise both physically and mentally.

Our garden view lounge spent the morning playing games and doing quizzes on the Omi interactive as it projected on the floor. We worked as a team to answer the questions and solve the puzzles.

After lunch in our Garden view lounge, we played dominoes and read our daily newspapers.

With this weekend movie in the lounge, it gave time for one-to-one visits and garden walks outside.

Sunday mornings religious service played in the lounges finishing a reading from our activity’s coordinator Lynn. A Choir sing along before lunch left everyone chirpy and happy. We also spent time looking through and adding pictures to our ever-growing scrapbooks.

The afternoon was full of fun and excitement as we played board games in the lounge. Exercises to music before our afternoon tea.

Our garden view lounge spent the afternoon singing and playing ball games. People who exercise tend to have improved immune and digestive functioning, better blood pressure and bone density. Also enhanced your mobility, flexibility, and balance.