Crowhurst Holiday day 2

Day 2 holiday adventure... 

Liz, jim,Philip,Hester,Eileen g and Anne s came again!

 We had lunch at the clubhouse courtesy of volunteer Christina, played ping pong and boules and walked in the bluebells... We were joined by Jude and marianne took these lovely photos....

Crowhurst park holiday may 2015

Lovely weather day 1 with chick,pat, Anne c and Anne s and Peggy 2 and Arthur, David and Audrey f plus Michelle and katarina for good measure....

While pat, chick and David went to the bar, Arthur offered to wash up the lunch things and everyone else chilled out...

Looking forward to the next group coming tomorrow ...

VE Day

So we have decided to celebrate by doing a puzzle ... Lovely picture.  Hope everyone joins in so we get it finished by today!

The twelve windows at tudeley

At the special request of Hester we arranged a trip to see the beautiful stained glass windows at All Saints Church, Tudeley, designed by Marc Chagall ... We were so lucky to have sunshine which showed off his stunning work to perfection.  

Afterwards it was tea and cake at the Hop Farm before joining the traffic queues trying to get back into tunbridge wells

!!

Film night...

The showing of 42nd street on Friday proved a hit for residents who really enjoyed the singing and dancing!  They also enjoyed the popcorn (katarina even provided lovely popcorn boxes to eat it from) some more than others!!!

Here's Anne enjoying her popcorn one minute....

and the next ... It was on the floor, much to Eileen's amusement... But she did help pick it up! 

Kitchen garden....

...is taking shape and green shoots are appearing!  It will be lovely to serve fresh produce from our own garden thanks to the hard work by our gardeners, Pauline and co!

AWARD SUCCESS

the finals of The Great British Care Awards were held in Birmingham on friday 24th april and we are delighted to report that The Nutrition and Hydration Award was won by....... 

Amanda Hodge – Mount Ephraim House!
Amanda’s innovative approach to hydration is based on her aim to improve resident’s well-being, together with her passion to provide the very best meal time experience is why the judges chose this winner....

www.care-awards.co.uk

Karen announced the win in the dining room (where else) yesterday and cracked open several bottles of sparkly!
 

April ends ....

But what a beautiful month - from celebrating Easter, St George's day, Doreen, Audrey and Gordon's birthdays to raising money at the spring fayre, starting the veg garden, first days out on the patio by residents, a new home for the guinea pigs and starting 'film nights' and zumba gold again ...

the only sad occasion was losing dear Helen d who passed away peacefully in her sleep.  She will sorely missed for her lovely sense of humour, bright clever mind and inward calm; May she rest in peace.

New run...

The guinea pigs have a new 'run'

now the weather is warmer and they had a lovely time outside in the sun today !

All I need to do now is persuade the residents to have a go at cleaning out the hutch!!

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!