On Sunday 27th April, Let's Dance! (Hassocks) visited Valerie Manor and entertained the residents and staff for an afternoon.

A group made up of Adults and Children performed a variety of Line Dances including a Line Waltz and a Line Cha Cha. The younger visitors danced a balletic number 'Oh what a beautiful mornin' from Oklahoma - which went down a storm!

One of the adults, Jan, sang 2 popular classics, 'Don't it make your brown eyes blue' and Dolly Partons 'Here you come again'

A lovely afternoon enjoyed by all and a HUGE thank you to the dancers who took time out of their Sunday to entertain us.

The full care team gathered at Valerie Manor on Friday for our mandatory fire training session.

As the sun was shining and we had everyone in one place, it was a perfect opportunity to take some group photos of the team.

Below is a small selection of the pictures taken...SMILE!

As I'm sure you are aware, Wednesday was St. George's Day.

To celebrate in style, we decorated the dining room, ate a themed lunch (whilst wearing hats I must add) and enjoyed SingaLongaWarYears with Max Bygraves!

As a resident remarked; "Never knew St.George's Day was such fun. The Dining Room looked fantastic and such a surprise. Lovely grub too."

What a happy St.George's Day it was!

What a difference in the weather!

One week a blog dedicated to a snow covered Valerie Manor and a week or so later quite the opposite.

On Tuesday, the residents enjoyed sitting in the garden, drinking tea and admiring the spring landscape. Plenty of rabbits playing in the surrounding fields to watch not to mention dove's flying overhead. Truly a wonderful setting!

Today saw another trip out for the residents...with a nip in the air we were confined to the Jalopy and so drove along the seafront to Ferring. We couldn't believe that the weather changed so dramatically whist out and about. The skies turned from blue to grey in a blink of an eye!

BINGO!

Once a month we play Bingo in the lounge - everybody gets involved and there's even prizes to be won! I must add...the staff enjoy playing as much as the residents! On Wednesday we enjoyed quite a few rounds whilst enjoying afternoon tea and cake!

Finally...

The 'stained glass' effect art that the residents worked on with our volunteer Marideah last week is now on display on our dining room window-I'm very impressed! I can't wait to see what our budding artists create next - I hear Marideah has many more tricks up her sleeve!

Volunteer Marideah brought out the creative side of our residents this afternoon when she brought in a selection of paints and art supplies.

The artwork will be displayed in the dining room soon!

The residents finished off their afternoon with a few rounds of Dominoes...

Sunday morning saw Valerie Manor veiled in a blanket of snow. A chilly start to April, but the grounds and surrounding countryside looked beautiful. By the afternoon the snow had mostly cleared (depriving the staff and residents alike of their chance to build a snowman!). Quite a contrast with the same day last year, when sun-seekers packed Brighton beach!

PCSO Knight from Sussex Police in Adur is our most recent volunteer. Bringing a spice of variety to the Manor, Marideah (also known fondly as 'Marmalade') can usually be found playing scrabble or getting her hands dirty doing arts and crafts with the residents. A lovely addition to Valerie Manor.

Today we took a few more of the residents 'out and about'. Being such a lovely day we decided to head straight to the sea front and then return to the Manor via the lovely and picturesque neighbouring village of Bramber. Let's hope that the Spring brings us more days like these!