a fond farewell to Hilary

Hilary our Deputy Manager is enjoying her last day with us today - a presentation from the Chief Executive of Greensleeves, music by Derek on the piano, flowers, gifts, cards, plants....and lots of tearful goodbyes from residents and staff.

Hilary will be sorely missed as she has looked after everyone so well for over 12 years and is much loved by residents, staff, relatives and the various professionals who deal with MEH ...Karen especially will miss her unwavering support but we all hope that Hilary enjoys 'retirement' in her new cottage by the sea, and that she will pay us regular visits.

Spring fayre raises funds for activity

A big thank you to everyone who helped today especially jenny and Roy and Marie, Di & Sheila, laura,Amanda & Heidi .... And thanks to visitors to our stall which helped to raise over £120.00 The Raffle was called and the large Harrods hamper was won by Marise-Louise !

NCT celebrating more 1sts

Two more of the babies were celebrating their 1st birthdays today with cake and candles 

Happy birthday Karen!

Residents and staff gathered in the lounge this morning to celebrate Karens birthday and Peggy led the singing of 'happy birthday'

Last minute preparations

joining jenny & Roy in the games room for art and craft were patty Marise Mary Pru Iris Marie and Eileen - putting finishing touches to our sale items for Thursdays spring fayre....

After the bank holiday...

A picnic in the lounge today ... The chilly rainy day meant that we couldn't have our planned picnic on the Common  so instead we set up a table in the lounge, katerina made a cake and we filled the picnic basket with drinks and snacks. The residents were bemused but joined in with good spirits and enjoyed their afternoon!

A buzz in the air at MEH

...According to one of the relatives today who came to visit her mum!  heather was entertaining residents in the lounge with her fun programme of activity called 'music for health' this afternoon.  Earlier in the day there was a good turnout for sue's keep fit class and after lunch Lorraine the manicurist arrived...followed by jenny and Roy (complete with cream, strawberries and meringue ) to host a craft class making stuff for the spring fayre.  Eileen added another layer to her side table and Mary played scrabble with one of the lovely school volunteers...

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile...

Back at MEH business as usual - communion , poetry club , morning coffee, walks on the common, art and computers ... And got time to show Peggy how to use my new pompon maker !  Very addictive  - she enjoyed the challenge and we now have a tree of pom-poms in the games room!  Patty did us some more posters and Marise got out her summer wardrobe - modelling her sun hat and glasses today!  Peggy had to get out the sunscreen it was so hot today.  Baby Jude joined us on the  patio, had his lunch and then we took him to the volunteers lunch!  

A big thank you ...

To all of our wonderful volunteers - we held a lunch party in their honour today at  'the smart & simple hotel' in tunbridge wells. beautiful afternoon , sitting in the garden with lots of lovely food and chilled drinks.  Thanks to Marius and his team for the excellent service.  Sadly , Karen couldn't join us as she was called away on urgent business so Hilary stepped in to do the honours and thanked everyone for their contribution to the residents - it means a great deal to them and we are very grateful for the time and effort everyone here today puts in .  

Trip out to notcutts today...

No bingo while Christiane is on her holiday, so we arranged a trip out to the newly refurbished notcutts garden centre - it was lovely! So much to see, super cafe and staff really helpful and friendly. Jean, Marie, Pam, Peggy, lucille, Philip, pru, and Mary f were joined by Steve and Gemma and katerina who looked after them. We arrived back at MEH just in time to hear Derek play his final song on the piano- he had been keeping the residents left behind, entertained!

 

 

Happy birthday Mary

Grand raffle!

Photo-shoot

Karen gathered as many staff working today, together in the garden for an impromptu group photo ...

Farewell Leanne and good luck!

Leanne has been with us at MEH for past five months on placement as part of her social worker training and sadly this week it was time to say goodbye. The staff and residents will miss her but she has promised to visit and stay in touch. We wish her well in the future....

Happy Birthday Peggy and Marise.....

Peggy and Marise celebrated their birthday today......

Friday frenzy

Of activity! Thomas the PAT dog visits in the morning and got Mary up out of bed! He and Pam then visit everyone in the lounge and dining room before joining the ladies at 'knit and natter' in the library where they all enjoyed a well earned drink... Patty had a hospital appt today and although it was badly timed (just in the middle of a fish n chip lunch ) she enjoyed the drive to pembury, admiring the flora and fauna (!) on the way. We collected our volunteer Christiane for bingo and the usual crowd were waiting for her in the games room...jeans son came to visit and had tea on the patio - Heidi presented jean with Edward the teddy bear who is set to become her new best friend. Eileen has put another coat of chalk paint on the old side table and a few more pebbles have been painted. It's now time for the weekly quiz and jean is off for a walk on the common.... Nearly time for me to go ...

Such a talented bunch!

Keeping busy!

 

May day

Didn't go exactly to plan!  It rained....and rained...so no dancing round the maypole out on the lawn.  Instead, we had a busy day with the hairdresser, a fun afternoon quiz with Nadia and lots of Visitors...

We could try tomorrow...

Wednesday - last day of April

So a third of the year gone already! First day of summer apparently tomorrow so we are going to celebrate May Day!

Made a start today - finding a pole, making some garlands which jean modelled for me ....and digging out some ribbons from my car !

Volunteers from TWGS came today and there was a real buzz about the place. Leanne introduced the iPad mini to some intrigued residents, patty created another masterpiece and Margaret had a visitor...

 

 

 

Great British Care Awards 2014.....

Karen, Heidi, Gemma, Becky, Amanda  and Annie attended The Great British Care Awards.
Although no awards were achieved Amanda, Gemma and Annie are all stars in our eyes and we are very proud of them.
A fantastic night was had by all.
Well Done!

 

Redident's are visited by PG Tips.....

Resident's and staff were entertained by The singing band PG Tips there performance was enjoyed and appreciated by everyone and we hope they will perform for us again soon.
Thank You

 

Goodbye Lillo.......

Staff and residents say goodbye and good luck to a valued member of our team whom sadly is leaving us to explore pastures new.
Lillo will be dearly missed by residents and staff.
Good luck Lillo!

Afternoon tea

Making the most of the lovely weather - Joan sat out on the patio this afternoon with her artwork, later joined by our TWGS volunteers. they had tea with Peggy, patty and Joan's daughter... Jon McDevitt came to play guitar and sing in the lounge today - he enjoys coming to MEH as he says he always gets a warm welcome! Jane was in for computer fun - showing residents how interesting computers can be and ways of using them. Then nadia finished off the afternoon with a general knowledge quiz. Charity the hairdresser changed her day this week and will be in tomorrow.

 

After the Easter break...

Things are slowly getting back to normal- keep fit today and it was a full house! This afternoon heather kept the residents entertained with 'music for health ' session, a very lively event

Later in the afternoon it was warm enough for a stroll in the garden - martina did the full circuit but lucille and Joan opted for a shorter route and then they all met up for a chat!

Now the holidays are over our volunteers from school are back - Marie was happy to beat them at scrabble ...

It's st George's day tomorrow - we found some union jacks ( no England flags around) and decorated the home...very patriotic!

The wisteria has grown back after the building work a couple of years meant it had to be chopped down and I noticed today it has started to flower...
You will also notice the scaffolding - work starts on the windows soon so there is no parking at MEH for the time being..