Gardening, a Jive Performance, and Coronation Celebrations

We have had a busy month so far at our care home in Wimborne Minster, with gardening in the sun, a special Jive performance, and also celebrations for the King's Coronation.

It is important to us at Oakdene that we do all we can to add a little colour to the lives of our residents. They had recently been singing, dancing and discussing how they used to go to Elvis reunions. They also spoke of what they used to wear which include large circular skirts and ankle socks. One lady recalled she used to use a whole tin of hairspray at a time on her beehive!

In recognition of this, we arranged a Jive performance to take place here at our home. We welcomed a duo who came and sang jive songs and residents really got involved and joined in with the dancing and jigging. We were also fortunate enough to have some of our relatives in attendance who also took part.

The performance was well-loved by everyone, and the residents enjoyed themselves so much that they have asked if our special performers could return again in the future.

With the outdoors coming to life for Spring, our residents have really been keen to get outside and participate in some gardening.

Our residents have been busy preparing bird feeders, planting some spring bedding plants, and taking responsibility for watering them in preparation for the Coronation. Hopefully, we will be seeing some red white and blue blooms to go with our Coronation colour scheme!

We have then incorporated the outdoors in many of our arts and crafts sessions, where residents have been pressing flowers and creating wonderful Spring collages.

The gardens bring joy and colour and help mark the changing seasons for the residents and give them a sense of pride and ownership, much like our arts and crafts sessions. The residents have been thorougly enjoying gardening and getting outdoors for some fresh air and light exercise.

In celebration of the King's Coronation, we held a day of events which included tea and cakes outside for our street party-themed afternoon. This came after the screening of the ceremony on our TV and a champagne toast for the new King.

Our resident's relatives were all sent private invites for the afternoon and we were so delighted that many of them were able to join us and get involved. We held a buffet for our residents, relatives and staff, which was chosen by the residents, and they also decided that the dress code should be red, white and blue.

We also held a raffle and we are delighted to announce the funds collected are being donated to the Princes Trust - a charity that was chosen by the people who live here. Prizes were generously donated by local businesses and gratefully received by the lucky winners.

We as a home are very much looking forward to seeing what the upcoming warmer months hold and due to the success of our coronation celebrations, we are also planning future celebrations that we look forward to sharing with those in our community.