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Thursday, December 31
Christmas at the Manor...
by
Zoe
on Thu 31 Dec 2009 19:21 GMT
What a lovely Christmas Day! My family used
to make a toast with a glass of sherry at 11:00 with my grandparents
and I feel very privileged to now be making the toast at Valerie Manor with all
of the residents and families. My mum and dad of course made it very special as
mum, ‘Robin’, dressed up as father Christmas and handed out all of the presents
to the residents which they thoroughly enjoyed. Mum then had to rush back
home to cook our family a traditional Christmas Day lunch for the evening! I
would also like to thank all of the dedicated staff who worked on Christmas Day
and over the festive period and helped to make the residents Christmas very special.
Thursday, December 24
Festive Week Summary
by
Zoe
on Thu 24 Dec 2009 15:37 GMT
 It is Christmas evening and the
residents at Valerie Manor are going to be having a restful day today watching
White Christmas following the enjoyable week they have had and in preparation
for our Christmas Day tomorrow..... Well, that’s while we enjoy the
special home made Valerie Manor Christmas Cake that Maria has been preparing
over the past few weeks for the residents!
 On Sunday 20th December
we all enjoyed having a mulled wine and a mince pie or two with our friends and
families at Valerie Manor. It was such a lovely occasion; I love to see the
residents with all of their families at this special time. We had a DVD of 2009
at Valerie Manor showing in the background along with Christmas music so that
the residents and their families could look back on what we had all done
together over the past year.
 On Tuesday 22nd December
Reverend Challis delivered a wonderful traditional Christmas Services to the
residents and staff in our lounge. What a lovely service that the residents
enjoyed with members from Reverend Challis’s congregation. We were also joined
by the Reverend's wife and daughter. Although his daughter was very shy she managed to
sing us Away in a Manager with her daddy which was lovely to hear. Following
the service we enjoyed a coffee with some homemade Christmas biscuits from
Maria – they also went down a treat!
Thank you very much to Reverend
Challis for giving a truly memorable service for us all at
Valerie Manor.
Merry Christmas to You All!
Wednesday, December 23
Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care?
by
Zoe
on Wed 23 Dec 2009 15:39 GMT
 I am sure
that many of you would have watched the recent two part documentary on BBC 2
with Gerry Robinson. Before the programme started I received several calls from
my family and friends to tell me to watch it which I managed to do last week.
The programme had also been talked about around Valerie Manor by staff and
relatives.
If you did
watch the programme you will understand when I say that it saddened me to see
some of the clips in the programme and I spent most of the time with tears in
my eyes as the programme was very dear to my heart through personal family
experiences of homes.
I have
already discussed the programme with some relatives and I do believe there are
always lessons to be learnt. We are already planning a menu and activities review in
late January / early February 2010 which will explore some of the areas covered
by the programme, including staff eating with the residents at meal times (which we tried for the first time this week!) and trying to enable
residents to become more involved in the day to day running of their home
if they would like to. I will keep you updated following the review and would
like to thank everyone that has talked to me about it already.
You can find out more about the program on the BBC website; http://www.bbc.co.uk/headroom/newsandevents/programmes/gerry_robinson.shtml
Tuesday, December 22
Brief Children in Need Summary
by
Zoe
on Tue 22 Dec 2009 15:41 GMT
Just a brief summary to say that our final total raised for Children in Need
was £415! Thank you so much to everyone who donated and supported the residents
and staff at Valerie Manor.
Friday, December 18
A Christmas Carol from The Towers Convent School
by
Zoe
on Fri 18 Dec 2009 16:17 GMT
 
There were tears in everyone’s eyes
including mine while the very talented girls from The Towers Convent School
sung well known Christmas Carols to the residents at Valerie Manor on Wednesday morning. It was so
lovely to see the residents singing along to the Carols and enjoying the
wonderful performance from the pupils. There were two spectacular solo’s and a
very talented violinist who I was told afterwards has already reached grade 8
which is such an achievement. I would like to say thank you to all the staff and
pupils for giving up their time and making a very special morning for the
residents at Valerie Manor.
Tuesday, December 15
Let’s Dance ! (Hassocks) Christmas entertainment at the Manor...
by
Robin Bates
on Tue 15 Dec 2009 20:56 GMT
Weds 9th & Sat 12th December
On Wednesday 9th December some Let’s Dance pupils
were rushing to their mums after school to be transported to Valerie Manor to
entertain. At the same time some adult pupils were jumping in their cars to do
the same !
Our ladies and gentlemen donned Christmas hats and most
enjoyed a tipple whilst waiting for the entertainers to arrive. The three
little ones stole everyone’s hearts performing Good Toes, Naughty Toes.. The
Puppet.. and Sing a Song of Sixpence. Slightly older pupils went down well with their costumes and make-up performing
Just Can’t Wait to be King. The adults shone with Lullaby of Broadway.. Shakin’
the Blues Away.. a Salsa number.. and December ’63. Jan entertained us with
three songs in between the dances. Her dresses were a delight... a different one for each song !
Everyone joined in with Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer with
our ladies and gentlemen using our hand bells.
Wanting to spoil everyone another group of dancers visited on
Saturday 12th.. this time we enjoyed Danny Kaye’s Thumbelina, Tommy
Steele’s Little White Bull an upbeat number from the musical Hairspray a ballet
number called ‘Wild Swans’.... variety being the spice of life the group
performed to Joseph and his Technicolor Dream coat finishing with singing Any
Dream Will Do whilst using sign language.
On behalf of Zoe and the Residents of Valerie Manor I would
like to say a very big THANK YOU to those lovely people for giving up their time
to entertain for us at this very busy, special, time of the year.
Robin, Let’s Dance ! (Hassocks)
You can view more photos from the events on our Picasa web album...
Friday, December 11
A Magical Valerie Manor...
by
Zoe
on Fri 11 Dec 2009 19:39 GMT
Christmas at Valerie Manor has
begun! I would like to say thank you to Sally–Ann, Marmalade and her
friends and family for spending the day at Valerie Manor on the 6th December
and making it come to life for Christmas! You can see from the photos that they
have done a fantastic job in making the home look very special and festive for the residents to
enjoy. We have lots going on throughout December and you can find the details
on our activities page.
Friday, December 4
Valerie Manor Canvas Number 2 - Poppies
by
Zoe
on Fri 04 Dec 2009 17:01 GMT
The residents with the help of volunteer Marmalade have recently completed their second
piece of artwork. I must say that we love ‘Poppies’ and it looks stunning in our
corridor and can be seen and enjoyed by everyone as they come down to the
dining room. Of course, Marmalade is already planning the 3rd
masterpiece but this one may take a bit longer as we have so much planned for
the festive season! I am very excited that the extension will be filled with
artwork that the residents and Marmalade have completed, what an achievement
for everyone.
Thursday, December 3
New friends...
by
Zoe
on Thu 03 Dec 2009 17:00 GMT
 We're very lucky at Valerie Manor
to have Lola, a beautiful black labrador, and volunteer owner Derrie come to visit us from Pets As Therapy. They visited for the first time on 26th November and have asked if they could come back
every week to spend more time with the residents. The residents
love their company and not only enjoy stroking Lola
and having the comfort of her being so close it also generates a lot of
conversation and memories for them all. Several residents had memories and stories to tell about dogs that they have owned in the past or have known throughout their lives
which was so lovely to hear about.
 Thank you to Derrie and Lola and we
look forward to seeing a lot more of you both at the Manor.
Pets As Therapy is
a national charity and is unique in that it provides temperament
assessed/vaccinated PAT Dogs and PAT Cats with registered volunteers to
hospitals, hospices, residential care homes, day centres, special needs schools
and many other establishments, providing comfort, companionship and therapy.
There are approximately 4,500 PAT Dogs and 108 PAT Cats bringing benefit to
more than 130,000 people of all ages every single week throughout the UK.
Find out more on their website at; www.petsastherapy.org
Wednesday, December 2
November Activities Summary
by
Robin Bates
on Wed 02 Dec 2009 17:03 GMT
 Hello again,
A very busy month was enjoyed in November. We tried to bring
a little sunshine to our day by watching the Maypole and Country Dancing from
the July Garden Party. On Remembrance Sunday everyone enjoyed watching the
Service and then singing along to our lovely Vera Lynn. A visit from the
Steyning Guide Company was really uplifting. Our ladies and gentlemen love the
younger generation taking time out to join us in thinking about those families
and friends that were lost in the wars.
‘Mind Benders’ took the shape of...Famous Couples, The
Alphabet Game and Closure Phrases to name but a few. Hoopla, Tin Can Alley and
Target Toss helped with movement.
We had three Themed Days......Indian Curry Day (pictured)......some
residents who chose to, enjoyed a Curry. During the morning Indian music was
played for our Exercises which involved Indian movements. Indian costumes were
worn by the carers and Bhindi’s and beads worn by everyone. Emma was enjoying
the music and movement so much we nearly had to forego lunch !!
Our second Theme Day was Thanksgiving where Roast Turkey was
enjoyed and ‘Hand and Feet’ Turkeys were made. Our last special day was
St.Andrew’s Day
A special menu again and The Edinburgh Tattoo and Scotland
from the Air was enjoyed.
The highlight of the month must have been the BBC Children in
Need Sponsored Activities... please see the separate reports;
Children in Need
Children in Need (update)
See you again soon.
Robin x
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