This week at Hill House it has been a fantastic opportunity to show off all things British. As we explored the 4 countries of this wonderful island we live on. Residents cooked and ate yummy fresh Welsh cakes, they enjoyed and English Afternoon tea and spent time in the beautiful British sunshine playing bingo in the garden.
Monday morning, and our English day. We took on our English landmark picture quiz, we shared stories of the places we love to visit in England and the holidays we have been on and places we wish to explore.
That afternoon, we Celebrating National Afternoon Tea Day in style. We had a sensational afternoon tea with fresh profiteroles and scones with cream, yummy jam and lots of tea and coffee.
We engaged in a trivia and fact filled afternoon in our garden view lounge learning facts about famous English landmarks. That then lead to a fantastic group social about HH Queen Elizabeth.
Tuesday morning was the day we celebrated Ireland. We spent time in the beautiful sunshine in the garden, playing Irish bingo and engaging in an Irish themed singalong and a quiz.
Our fantastic four-leaf clover game was a huge success as we threw beanbags onto the targets to build up our scores on the leader board.
Research suggests that older adults with cognitive impairment, who participate in exercise programs may improve strength and endurance, cognitive function, and ability to perform activities of daily living.
That afternoon, we had a fabulous afternoon playing Irish floor bowls in the day lounge, while listening to Irish music as our Irish celebrations continue.
We loved playing, Irish bingo in our garden view lounge, a fun game that brought everyone together.
Others opted for a group jigsaw puzzle. Doing a puzzle exercises the area of the brain that stores memories. A person has to remember pieces they’ve seen before when putting a puzzle together. Strengthening and exercising short-term memory is especially important for older adults. Putting together a puzzle strengthens the connections within a person’s brain.
Wednesday morning, or should we say ‘bore dydd Mercher’ as day we explore Wales. We crafted stunning paper daffodils in our garden view lounge.
Our day lounge enjoyed a morning playing our Welsh themed quiz board game. A fabulous way to learn and share our knowledge of Wales in fun and relaxing way.
Enjoying our Omi interactive games and spending one to one time engaging in activities.
We finished our morning with a fabulous game of Scrabble.
That afternoon, we flicked through our 1950’s reminiscing books and rummage box, sharing our stories with carers.
We trimmed and pruned our house plants as part of our gardening club in our garden view lounge.
Gardening helps keep elderly general health in a better state by strengthening bones, muscles and joints; it also helps the elderly with balance resulting in less falls; keeps blood pressure at bay; reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke; and of course, helps keep our minds in a positive state.
We took part in one of our favourite activities, live cooking clubs hosted by our incredible activities team. We worked together to make traditional Welsh cakes, mixing ingrediencies, rolling ready to be cooking live and ate hot!
Cooking and baking are fully immersive experiences which engage all the senses. It’s a very tactile activity, which allows them to experience different textures and sensations. It also gets them moving and can improve hand-eye coordination through stirring, kneading dough, and other movement.
Thursday, we explore Scotland and started with tartan weaving, the word Tartan refers to a pattern of vertical and horizontal lines crossing over each other to form a pattern. Tartan is thought to have originated as far back as the third or fourth century AD in Scotland.
Our aqua art boards, the true magic of our Aqua paints is that people with dementia are able to express themselves creatively whilst feeling a sense of joy and accomplishment. Each soothing stroke of the brush, with just a dash of water, reveals a beautiful image below.
Our garden view lounge we created stunning floral arrangements to be displayed around the home.
Our four-day adventures around Great Britain having drawn to a close with the final afternoon celebrating Scottish cuisine. We enjoyed a travel documentary all about Scotland, with an extensive group social about places they had been and lived in Scotland.
This was followed by a mouth-watering Scottish Food tasting, from haggis to shortbread washed down with Iron-bru or scotch whisky, everyone loved the afternoon and wants to see Haggis on the menu in the winter.
Friday morning, we took part in an old fashioned Great British singalong to some of our favourite songs; white cliffs of Dover, she’ll be coming round the mountain and Run rabbit. This led to us playing sweet careline in our garden view lounge and we got up dancing and singing.
Our activity coordinator Bryony at Hill House was busy this morning ensuring residents and staff all stay hydrated in this heat wave, she whizzed around the home offering a selection of cold drinks, in-particular her signature Iced coffees, with a fabulous flavour selection; Vanilla, chocolate or caramel flavours.
We spent the Afternoon enthralled in board games in our garden view lounge from giant dominoes to snakes and ladders, everyone was keeping busy .
Others attended our monthly residents meeting in the day lounge, chatting and enjoying drinks and cakes.
Our fabulous staff picked up their staff sunflower awards and we were delighted to give volunteer Mike his award for all the extra support he gives residents, he really is so kind and thoughtful.
Following the meeting, we played an old favoured ‘the double dice game’ a game of luck that also includes Maths.
Saturday, our best of British cart rolled through he home offering us food and drinks from around Great Britain.
We spent the afternoon watching The Crown.
Sunday morning brain training games in our garden view lounge. Others watched the Sunday services streamed through the lounges.
That afternoon we played floor trivial pursuit in the day lounge, racing to be the first to land on and correctly answer each category on the board.
