friday 4th feb

more flowers today from sainsbury's - Jean kept me company while I put them all in vases, as the residents prefered either to play bingo with christianne, or watch a film in the lounge this afternoon - we had a 'new' film today (just found it still in its wrapper on the shelf) called 'the other boleyn girl' and everyone seemed to enjoy it...

time for a walk

after the chinese lunch, we had a quiz (about china!) in the lounge - then we worked out who was born under which sign - we had a few monkeys amongst the residents as well as a couple of horses, some Ox, and a dog!

then a film show - 'The King and I' - not quite china but close (thailand i think) and that seemed to please most of the residents. the others were offered the option of making chinese lanterns or going for a walk on the common.

luckily, Julie one of our volunteers, had come to assist today, so we were able to take Marie, lucille and patty for a lovely walk on twells common. it was a beautiful afternoon, cold but sunny and the residents were so pleased to have an opportunity to get some fresh air in their lungs after so many horrible days indoors. Phyll opted to just walk around the garden.

we met some lovely dog walkers en route and fell in love with a dear little spaniel called tilly who was a rescue dog and her companion dot, the daschund!

Year of the Rabbit

Gordon and Peggy posed (willingly would you believe!) for this photo, with the Rabbit which had pride of place in the dining room today, to celebrate the new chinese year, The Year of the Rabbit.

chinese new year

sheila decorated the dining room - she had a chinese parasol, chopstick flower displays and a chinese calender. she designed a special chinese themed luncheon, and afterwards this table (helen p, marie, patty, phyll and peggy) posed for photos with their chopsticks!!

Madge - all chilled out!

Madge found a good spot on wednesday, to chill. she looked so comfortable that we decided not to disturb her; hope she appreciates the photo!

A very classical afternoon

Here are the wonderful Lesley and Ray - volunteers who have been entertaining residents of MEH for a number of years. They compile a programme of classical music and in between each piece of music, they tell the story. The lounge is always packed to the rafters when Lesley and Ray 'perform' - they are such a special couple and much appreciated by their audience.

today I asked them to pose in amongst some of the residents, here is grace,then lesley with hilda behind, then ray, sylvia, dorothy and a little bit of lucille.
the second photo shows helen p in the stalls, then susan and diana, patti in the front next to jean and robert.

checking the time zones

Lucille enquired about the time difference between new york and london so I showed her how to find out using our 'simply unite' computer system. she was then able to go and make a call to her daughter, without fear of waking her up!

scrabble champion!

monday 31st - last day of january at last; its been a long cold month.

this morning, the residents were entertained by elizabeth and joan in the library - with stories, quizzes and poetry, always a good way to start the week.

in the afternoon, Sue came to deliver the 'variety hour' which is very popular, and the lounge was full.

meanwhile, margaret, dorothy b and margaret b had a game of scrabble (assisted by hollie our new carer) and margaret (pictured here, smiling broadly!) won the game with the most points.

the party for helen

happy birthday Helen! - saturday 29th January 2011

looking good!

friday jan 28th

newsletters and invitations to Oscar night being prepared to send off today - lucille kindly assisted, while helen, marie, doreen, marian, phyll and susan played bingo with Christiane.
Patty wandered down to the library for another book, to find a jigsaw puzzle in progress and couldn't resist having a go - its quite addictive!
helen c had some visitors (its her birthday on saturday) as did peggy and win.

wishing Helen a very happy birthday!

Visit to the Trinity Art gallery

today we arranged a trip to the Trinity Arts Theatre in tunbridge wells; to look at the latest exhibition in the gallery and to have tea in the cafe.

A really interesting and diverse collection of art caught the imagination of our residents, lucille, patty, marie, gordon and marian, who were joined by Julia, one of our volunteers, and carer Hollie.

This exhibition was entitled 'snapshots from the mind of an artist' by Tim Edmonds. everyone seemed to find a painting they especially liked, and provoked much discussion. to our delight, the artist suddenly appeared to answer our questions on the various pieces and agreed to pose for us too.

we told him that we would be featuring him on our 'blog' today!

if you want any more info please visit his website: www.tim-edmonds.co.uk

happy birthday Iris

Iris celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday with the help of her friends and fellow residents and staff at mount ephraim house. Here she is blowing out the candles on her beautiful cake, being applauded by the residents! A special day for a very special lady.

computer training

Val, our computer tutor came today and helped marian get 'online' using her own laptop. she was able to surf the net and check out google earth...

meanwhile, marie was using the meh computer to look at history of tunbridge wells, in particular the site under threat for redevelopment- the civic centre in the centre of town.

Robert Burns celebrations

we broke with tradition today by celebrating Burn's night at lunchtime! Hilda came with me to the Tunbridge wells library to collect some books on scotland, robert burns, a dvd of coast and a cd of robert burns songs.

after a lunch with a scottish theme, we held a quiz in the lounge, read a poem by robert burns and finished with a round of auld lang syne!!

morning entertainment

An enthusiastic Madge joins in with the musical session this morning, with her marakas!
Win, jean, ursula, helen c, patty, pat k, also joined in. Keep fit followed so everyone was ready for their coffee break at 11.30...

thankyou nick

Phyll's son Nicholas sent us these lovely spring bulbs as a thankyou to the MEH staff, as he was leaving to go home to New Zealand.  He said they would remind us that spring is on its way! What a lovely thought!

start of another week.......

Monday, 24 January 2011

start of another week...

called in to sainsburys on my way to work today to pick up MORE flowers!  really lovely spring tulips amongst the bouquets today.  the home looks and smells really welcoming with all the blooms so thanks again to the kind people of sainsburys (denise in particular) who are donating them to us at the moment.

New resident Sheila is settling in well; usual monday morning get together of residents in the library with the volunteers, for a chat over coffee. Sue was back from her skiing trip today and held a reminisence session in the lounge

shopping trip

to round off the week we arranged a shopping trip to Barsley's in Paddock Wood as we heard a sale was on! 
Phyll, lucille, helen p, gordon, john, marie and marion decided to come and spend their money and Christane (one of our volunteers) accompanied us.  we had tea in their friendly cafe (customer service in barsley's is exceptional) and got back before the rush hour.