This week residents celebrated and rejoiced in the Queens Platinum Jubilee. The week brought back so many fond memories of the Coronation 70 years ago. We have loved hearing stories and tales of times gone by and just how much Queen Elizabeth means to so many of our residents. The week was filled with festivities and jubilation from a Jubilee Baking competition that saw all four of our homes come together, residents also attended a Right Royal Fete, playing games on stalls like hook a swan and Coconut shy and residents met our very own Queen during National Donut Day.
Monday morning, our Arts and Craft Club met in the day lounge to craft stunning royal crowns ready for our Jubilee celebrations. Something as simple as cutting and sticking or painting can help with an elderly person’s dexterity and motor skills
Cooking Club ran alongside Arts and Craft as we made biscuits in the shape of crowns, ready for our upcoming Jubilee Bake Off our home hosted.
That afternoon our Garden View lounge Cooking Club met to decorate our Royal biscuits, icing them with gems and stones ahead of the Jubilee Bake Off.
Tuesday morning, we adorned our aprons and whisked up two scrumptious cakes, an Eton mess themed sponge and a gooey chocolate brownie cake, that we believe is one of the queens’ favourites.
We cut strawberries and diced chocolate bars ready to fold into our cakes.
Later the same morning we spent time engaging in one-to-one activities including therapeutic colouring and jigsaw puzzles. Puzzles develop memory skills, as well as an ability to plan, test ideas and solve problems. While completing a puzzle we need to remember shapes, colours, positions and strategies to complete them.
Others opted for a group game of dominoes. Playing dominoes does not require a high level of thinking and concentration; it can also help players practice the skills of visual scanning, matching, and planning.
On garden view we enjoyed a morning of Royal reminiscing and group jigsaw puzzles.
‘Reminiscence’ means sharing life experiences, memories and stories from the past. Typically, a person with dementia is more able to recall things from many years ago than recent memories, so reminiscence draws on this strength.
We also created a stunning Queens portrait collage, we shared stories with one and other about how much the Queen means to us.
The afternoon, we took turns to play Royal Guard tin can alley as part of our varied exercise class.
We finalised our Royal Crowns in our garden view lounge.
Wednesday morning, we were so excited to finish our ‘Great Jubilee Bake Off entry’ first thing in the morning. We rolled out icing, covered the sponge in buttercream and piped and iced our cake ready for the afternoon’s celebrations.
That afternoon our sister homes; Farnham Mill, Woodlands & Hillbrow kicked off their Jubilee celebrations in style, as they came here to Hill House to attend ‘The Great Jubilee Bake Off’. Residents across the homes have been busy over the last couple of days creating stunning puddings and cakes to bring with them to our competition.
Our judging panel was made up from the home manager from Hill House, our incredible volunteer Mike and a resident who has hosted many events in her years of being part of the girl guides community.
During the afternoon’s celebrations, we sang and danced during a 1940’s and 50’s singalong, while our judges had hard decisions to make.
It was a fabulous afternoon we caught up with old friends and made new ones, while indulging in our Jubilee Afternoon Tea. Our elite judging panel took their time considering each category while tasting a slice of each. During judging everyone took part in a Royal Singalong, the home was full of jubilation and the perfect start to our Jubilee Weekend.
We were delighted to win ‘Most Creative’. We celebrated by eating more cake and drinking more tea.
Thursday morning marked a very special occasion the Platinum Jubilee Trooping of the colours, we gathered in the day lounge to watch it projected onto the giant screen. We had flags in hand waving away while watching.
What a fabulous afternoon planting our Jubilee plaque alongside our oak tree to commemorate of Her majesty the Queen. This will create a green legacy of its own, with every tree planted bringing benefits for people, wildlife, and climate, now and for the future.
We also celebrated a very special birthday in our garden view courtyard, surrounded by family and loved ones, it was the perfect afternoon of celebrations.
Friday morning as the coverage of the Queens Jubilees Thanks Giving Service was broadcast live on tv we watched on, others took the opportunity to engage in therapeutic painting.
Hill House and Hillbrow continue our Platinum Jubilee Celebrations as our phenomenal activity’s teams hosted ‘A Right Royal Fete’ for residents, families and friends.
With a large selection of stalls including Royal Coin Roll, Hook a Swan, Coconut Shy and a Raffle raising money for Families Supporting Care. Everyone had an incredible afternoon playing games, chatting with friends, and just enjoying the celebrations and fun of a fete.
Saturday after a relaxing morning of manicures and hand massages, we spent the afternoon entertained by our very own Queen and her Royal guard who spent the afternoon in true jubilee spirit as they treated us and all the staff to donuts to mark International Donut Day.
Music followed the Queen, and her guard where ever they went, as the interactive donut cart rolled round with music from the 1940’s. We indulged in the sweet treats paired perfectly with a glass of wine or a fruit cocktail.
Sunday, as we were drawing our Platinum jubilee celebrations to an end we went out with a bang of jubilation and joy as we attended a splendid street party jointly with our sister home Hillbrow.
The home was completely covered in Red, White and Blue bunting and union jacks. With tables lined in the traditional street party formation, as we were treated to a splendid afternoon of party food and music.
We sat with old friends, made new friends and shared this special occasion with loved ones and family.
Following on from the street party was a fabulous Jubilee concert with Live singing from the talented David. We spent the entire afternoon singing, dancing and waving flags
