This Month
| December 2010 |
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
Thursday, December 23
Merry Christmas!
by
Zoe
on Thu 23 Dec 2010 19:20 GMT
I
would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year. 2010 has been an exciting and challenging year for us all at
Valerie Manor and I would like to thank all the staff, families, friends,
volunteers and local businesses for their continued support throughout the year
– I am sure that everyone will agree that the team at Valerie Manor are a team
to be extremely proud of and we wouldn’t be where we are now without the
support of everyone..... not forgetting my wonderful partner and fantastic
family.
Merry
Christmas to you all.
Wednesday, December 22
Extension News #13 – Completion Date
by
Zoe
on Wed 22 Dec 2010 19:19 GMT
 
I
am pleased to say that we have been given a completion date of the 18th
February 2011** and we are now starting to accept reservations for the new nursing wing.
We will have 11 spectacular new bedrooms, 6 of which have patio doors
overlooking the South Downs and 5 overlooking the
gardens which will be landscaped. I’m sure you will all agree that seeing the
conservatory go up is a very exciting time and must mean we are nearly there!
We have been busy recruiting staff over the past few months and have several
local people waiting to join the award winning team at Valerie
Manor..... what an exciting year 2011 will be – thank you for your
support and patience while the work has been taking place during 2010.
**UPDATE (Feb 2011): Please note the anticipated completion date is now 8th March 2011.
Tuesday, December 21
Christmas Service
by
Zoe
on Tue 21 Dec 2010 19:17 GMT
Another
huge ‘thank you’ to Reverend Challis and his family for visiting Valerie Manor
again this week. On this occasion it was to conduct our Christmas Service and
provide Communion for those who wished to take part. During the service we all sang
our favourite Christmas Carols and other Christmas songs with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a firm favourite.
Friday, December 17
Towers Convent School
by
Zoe
on Fri 17 Dec 2010 19:48 GMT
A
special note of thanks goes to Heidi Grey and the girls choir that visited us
on Wednesday, from the Towers Convent School, for a Carol concert. This is the second
time this year we have been lucky enough to have the choir perform at Valerie
Manor, and it was very easy to see how much the residents enjoy the afternoon.
One said that it made her feel 10 years younger.
We
are very fortunate to have so many wonderful volunteers/groups who are willing
to spare time and visit Valerie Manor, and everyone at Valerie Manor really
does appreciate their efforts.
Wednesday, December 15
Let’s Dance - Hassocks
by
Zoe
on Wed 15 Dec 2010 19:46 GMT
We were very lucky last week, having 2 groups from Let’s Dance Hassocks
entertain us! – last Wednesday afternoon Robin’s adult group danced and sung for
the residents.  The dances included the Charleston,
Tap and some wonderful Country dancing - they were topped off by some beautiful
classical songs, and on Sunday Robin’s Children’s group wowed the residents
with their own dancing and singing. It is so nice to have the children perform
throughout the year, but especially so at Christmas, it brought a few tears to
the eyes of the residents. We were very pleased that so many members of the children’s
families were able to attend – Well done to all involved, and thank you from
all at Valerie Manor.
Tuesday, December 14
Farewell Ann Marie
by
Zoe
on Tue 14 Dec 2010 20:46 GMT
Our lovely Ann
Marie has now left Valerie Manor to go and live in America with her family. Ann Marie’s husband has got a job in America and all the paperwork has now come
through so they will be leaving in just one week.
We would like to say
a huge thank you to Ann Marie for her dedication and commitment while she was
at Valerie Manor and wish her and her family all the best for their new start
in America.
Friday, December 10
Welcome to Chris and Denise!
by
Zoe
on Fri 10 Dec 2010 17:03 GMT
I
would like to welcome Chris and Denise to the team at Valerie Manor. We are
extremely lucky to have them join the team, both local ladies who have a wealth
of experience and are already settling in well with the staff and residents.
It
feels like they have been part of the team for a long time already,
they both know some members of staff from years ago which is so nice adding to
the real community feel at Valerie Manor.
You
may be aware that we are in the middle of a large recruitment drive at the moment for when the
extension opens and some of the new staff who have already been offered
jobs to begin in the New Year will be joining us for a friends and families get
together for Christmas which will be lovely for them to meet everyone.
Welcome
to the team from the residents and staff at Valerie Manor!
Thursday, December 9
Christmas Decorations!
by
Zoe
on Thu 09 Dec 2010 17:02 GMT
Our
lovely volunteer Marmalade and her wonderful family and friends spent the
afternoon at Valerie Manor last Sunday decorating it for Christmas to make it
look truly magical for the residents – how kind of them all to give up their
time for Valerie Manor – we all really appreciate it and thank them all very
much for helping to make Christmas so special for the residents.
 Derrie
and Lola, our pets as therapy volunteers are also so kind. They arrived this
week with a lovely Christmas flower arrangement for the residents to enjoy in
the dining room. It really is spectacular and the residents have already been
commenting on it and enjoying it while they have their meals.
It
brings such a smile to my face that there are so many kind people out there who
do so much to brighten up the lives of the residents at Valerie Manor; words
really are not enough to thank them.
Friday, December 3
November Activities Summary
by
Robin Bates
on Fri 03 Dec 2010 19:50 GMT
Hello to a very wintery end to November !
Many ‘mind benders’ were enjoyed during the month.
Triads, Famous Couples, poor Richard’s Almanac and the Alphabet Game. The
Sensory Identification went down well with the smell theme... everyone sniffing
different sauces and spices. Disney’s Fantasia was first shown on 13th
November 1940 so we celebrated by watching the film.
 Everyone thoroughly enjoyed watching the Remembrance Day
Services. Physically, as usual we enjoyed our Monday exercise and
sing-a-long. We had a special Indian Curry Day where we did
movement to Indian music and Cath and I dressed up in Indian costume. Those who wanted it enjoyed a mild chicken curry for lunch. Giant Snakes
and Ladders, Score a Goal and Hoopla were also on the programme.
We celebrated Thanksgiving and St. Andrew’s Day.
The highlight of the month must have been The Sponsored
Paper Chain Making for the BBC Children in Need Appeal. Everyone had a great time and raised money for charity too. Thank you to everyone who
came to join them on the day and for Zoe’s wonderful staff who always work so
very hard on these special occasions. Unfortunately I could not attend as I was busy with my pupils
with our Sponsored Tap Dancing sessions. We had one in the afternoon for
3 years old upward which was a one hour fancy Dress Session and one for my
older pupils and adults tapping for two hours in the evening. We were
pledged in excess of £1500.
We also had a visit from
Reverend Challis, lovely Marmalade and Derrie and Lola.
Regarding our Reminiscence Sessions we enjoyed talking about
old currency... our ladies and gentlemen remembered Farthings and that they had
a Wren on them. One gentleman remembered
that a 6d was called a ‘ tanner’ another lady remembered that a shilling
was called a ‘bob’ - we also tried to remember how many sides a three penny bit
had. Do you remember the florin, half a crown, guinea ? Our ladies
and gentlemen certainly do... oh and a ‘pony’ was £25 !
The manor will be decorated soon for Christmas. Again
a lovely band of volunteers come forward to help... where would we be without
them ! Thank you very much everyone.
John and I look forward to seeing you at the
Families get together on 22nd December.
Very best wishes
Robin
Thursday, December 2
2010 Great South East Care Awards
by
Zoe
on Thu 02 Dec 2010 13:42 GMT
 Members of the Valerie Manor care team
had a wonderful evening at the South East Regional Care Awards after
being selected as finalists for the Care Team of the Year Award. Unfortunately
we did not win but enjoyed the evening and were absolutely thrilled to be one
of the five finalists from the region.  It was lovely to meet Sally Gunnell OBE who presented the
awards and is of course local to us living in Steyning. As always I am extremely proud of the team and it was a pleasure to enjoy another memorable evening with them.
>View more pictures on our Picasa web album
|
|
