Catching up on the month...

Celebrating Doreens's birthday, St George's Day and the most beautiful spring weather ....

Another gorgeous day...

Blue sky and sunshine brought out quite a few today... Marian and Peggy and Joan this morning for coffee and after lunch, Peggy, Anne, Arthur and David lapped up the last of the rays.  Arthur planted some sunflower seeds in the pots made ready by volunteer Roy while Mary, patty, Marie etc helped make some decorations for st George's day on Thursday...and Eileen did her puzzle in the art studio!

Volunteer jenny made some gorgeous homemade carrot cake that was served for afternoon tea and she also brought in TONS of beautiful cushions she had made for MEH while on HOLIDAY!!

Anyway, a lovely day for everyone...

Happy birthday...

....to Gordon today; celebrating his 90th birthday with family and friends 

After Easter....

Sunshine and fresh air, spring fayre !

Good Friday

Church service, hot cross buns and Easter bonnet parade... Easter begins at MEH

The long Good Friday

Pam came to visit with Thomas, knit and natter with christina, lots of families arriving with chocolate and flowers, Easter hats, fish n chips, Derek on piano,  for a sing a long, Easter bingo and Quiz with Christiane, the pool table set up in the  lounge, patty did a poster, Peggy enjoyed Easter decorations with katerina...

Goodbye march

Saying goodbye to Iris....march 2015

This was one of the last photos I took of iris, on her birthday in January.  Sadly she passed away in February and her memorial service was held in march at bidborough church.  Iris was a very special lady, kind and gentle and always so pleased to see visitors, whether family friends or members of staff... She is missed every day

End of another week...

Phyl received some flowers, Christina is getting on well with her knitting (the residents of the knitting circle did a good job teaching her!) we have started a new on-line vintage business to raise money for activities ... And we are decorating the place for Easter...

Making a start on Easter decorations...

With jenny and Roy on Tuesday ...

Boys club...

The foyer area has become a favourite gathering place for some of our gentlemen residents - they like to see what's going on throughout the day!  

A game of dominoes brought Arthur, chick and David together today and I think they enjoyed it!

1st day of spring today (officially) ...

Thanking our volunteers ...

Our annual volunteer thankyou  lunch was held today at #themountedgcumbe and attended by nearly all of our lovely volunteers - sadly, Rachel and tim, Carolyn and some of our students were unable to make it, but it was a good turnout and we were very grateful they made time to come along.  A buffet lunch  was provided by the hotel and in her speech, Karen thanked everyone for the joy they brought to our residents.

We are lucky to have such support - from taking residents to church, personal shopping, art and craft, bingo, scrabble, and poetry groups to the weekly PAT dog visit, printing of our newsletter, knit and natter, weekly quiz, helping on trips out and   dropping in the church newsletter - there is a wealth of variety which the residents so enjoy.

Happy st patricks day

Heather from music for health provided the music, Amanda produced some delicious cakes and we celebrated st patricks day in style, finishing with a rendition of 'Danny boy' which the residents joined in with...      

It's also nutrition and hydration week' and chick agreed to wear the sash to promote our tea party!!

A Monday soirée

We were very privileged to be entertained today by Ellen who plays a magnificent harp. Afternoon tea was served in the vintage china and we found  the posh biscuits!  Even the cats enjoyed it...

As Stuart was visiting from head office

it seemed appropriate that Ellen's first piece of music was 'greensleeves'

She finished by playing a happy birthday tribute to David who celebrates his special day on Thursday.

We had a packed lounge today and a very appreciative audience, who would love to hear Ellen play for them again. 

Mothering Sunday

Although we probably think of our mums every day, today is Mothering Sunday when we 'officially' say thankyou to them all for bringing us into the world !

First day this year....

.....for Peggy to sit out on the patio to do her colouring ... Gorgeous day and she was determined to make the most if it!

Eileen ventured into the art studio to continue her jigsaw puzzle after the big quiz in the lounge courtesy of volunteer Nadia.  It was hairdressing day in the salon too with charity and a bit of art therapy in the games room!

And the winner is .....

Arthur! He beat chick and David to win the Thursday shove ha'penny contest !

Friday 6th march

Another glorious spring day, and the knitters gathered in the library ... We've decided to make cushions now instead of blankets and Marie had a stack of lovely pastel squares for joining together. 

Christina's knitting skills are coming on well too!  During coffee Pam arrived with Thomas the 'pat' dog and began his tour of the home visiting all his favourite people!

This afternoon Derek came to play piano in the lounge, Christiane held the weekly bingo session and katerina made a cake with Anne and Joan, using the eggs she had 'blown' from their shells!   While the cake was in the oven, katerina helped Anne to paint the shells ready for Easter decoration finishing touches next week. 

Jean, Margaret, Gloria and Eileen w helped with some flower arranging; we were given several lovely bunches of spring flowers from Vera, who stayed with us last week, as a thank you,

and I think the ladies enjoyed the task !

Beautiful spring flowers

Glorious day today; took Eileen for a quick visit to sainsburys while Peggy was shopping in Tonbridge with Denise.

After parking the van we stopped to admire the pretty spring flowers growing around the summer house.  Eileen remembers this was one of the first sights that greeted her as she came to live at meh 2 years ago this week!

 

Happy birthday Audrey

February - coming and going

February came and went in a flash....shrove Tuesday, valentines day, Chinese New Year ( any excuse for a celebration) signs of spring in the garden, making preparations for Easter....

We were so sad to lose Iris and Marjorie who have been a part of MEH for so long and we will miss them very much.

Bridget came to live with us earlier in the month and we are looking forward to getting to know her.  

Last week the tun wells half marathon took place; one of the runners was David storer (grandson of the late Mary p) who dedicated his run to her memory and has raised money for activities at meh for which we are very grateful.

St David's day...

1st march we celebrate at David's day - even more so this year as we have a new resident come to live with us who is welsh - hope she feels at home and will enjoy being part of life at MEH.

Tuesday art and craft

With jenny and Roy... Starting on the Easter decorations already, how time flies

busy in the craft room, homemade lemon cake with tea and a gorgeous blanket made by jenny as a gift for Gordon ...

Half marathon run for meh

Chinese new year

Year of the sheep (goat) 2015 

Celebrations today with homemade paper lanterns using residents artwork, homemade paper fortune cookies, and a dragon or two....!!  Daniel served up a sweet 'n sour feast for supper 

Friday 13th

Started off with knit and natter in the library- Christina, our volunteer looks after the ladies and they teach her to knit!  

To continue our valentines week theme, we had Derek playing the piano after lunch followed by Doug and his amazing Yamaha sound system, with a mixture of ballads and old favourites.  

Thursday ....

Finishing off the valentine decorations for the home today which many of the residents have helped to make ...

Charity came in to style everyone's hair ..,, Nadia was here for the weekly general knowledge quiz in the lounge and later, the school volunteers popped in for the weekly scrabble competitions!   

Meanwhile David started on a jigsaw which was great fun though it took a while to get the outside edges done!

Happy valentines.....

Jenny and Roy arranged a lovely tea party in the lounge on Tuesday to celebrate valentines this week.  Jenny made some heart shaped cakes, sandwiches, sausage rolls and cheese straws- we had romantic music, lots of  visitors and fun. Many thanks jenny and Roy

Spring is sprung

No keep fit this week (sues on holiday) so we arranged a walk in the grounds for anyone who wanted to!  Peggy, David and Anne were the only willing participants ....we admired the gardens, picked some spring flowers and listened to the birdsong in the trees.