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Friday, September 30
September Activities Summary
by
Robin Bates
on Fri 30 Sep 2011 18:14 BST
Hello
again.
Busy,
busy, busy...that is the order of the day at Valerie Manor.
For
those who wish to participate there is so much on offer. The lovely staff
are co-ordinating the Activities Menu
plus many extras on offer from Local Organisations. Weekly flower arranging and the regular scrabble sessions with Marmalade continue to prove popular.
We
started September with one of our ‘ Mind Benders’ sessions with Opposites and
Requests we also offered The Apple Quiz, Famous Couples and Do You Know your
Flags.
Our
Theme Day this month was Mexican Independence Day where the dining room was
decorated, a Mexican Quiz was enjoyed along with traditional Mexican Music and food.
A
‘Flight over the Grand Canyon’ and Line Dance DVD’s were enjoyed and listening
to Gershwin made everyone really happy.
We
have had some lovely Exercise Sessions on Mondays with many of our ladies and
gentlemen joining in...I have my little ‘groupies ‘ now which is great.
We follow our stretching exercises by singing along to various artists whilst still moving a little faster in time to the music. At the moment
everyone’s favourite is Billy Cotton so much so we enjoyed his music two weeks
running !
 We
still have our Reminiscence chats after the Exercising and singing. One
week was the anniversary of MOT Tests being introduced in 1960 it spurred us on
to talk about cars that had been owned or driven in when we were younger.
Among those remembered were...a 1962 small Ford, A dark blue Austen 7, an
Austen A 40, which was grey, a Chevrolet, a dark blue Audi, a car that
was mentioned was one I had not heard of...an open top two seater Clino.
At
this session a lovely daughter and grand daughter of one of our ladies joined
in...the little girl spoke of her 2 big wheeled and 2 stabeliser Fairy cycle
and how she loved to ride a horse called Sarah and her sister rode one called
Pickle. Her Grandmother years ago enjoyed a ride on a Camel and
Elephant. It was really lovely once again seeing the generations enjoying
time together.
One
of the most funniest mornings we had was when we had our ‘Rhyming Slang’
session after exercising. Carers and residents came up with some
beauties. One Carer...who I thought would be too young...knew the answers
to many Rhyming Slang phrases. She said her dad had taught them to
her. We were all most impressed with one lady who got nearly all of the
rhymes right.
Various
Outings have been enjoyed but they are covered separately by Zoe...do
have a look.
I
hope you enjoy the ‘Indian Summer’
See
you next month.
Robin
Saturday, September 24
Harvest Festival
by
Zoe
on Sat 24 Sep 2011 14:22 BST
We were
delighted when Reverend Challis invited Valerie Manor to the Harvest
Festival Service and for refreshments afterwards. The residents were thrilled,
so we started planning prior to the day to ensure we could manage to get everyone
ready in time for the service at 10am. The evening before I visited each resident who was going, to plan
a morning schedule as it meant early breakfasts and getting ready earlier than
normal for most. I started the day in the kitchen at 7am to ensure everyone
received their breakfast prior to getting ready and then staff came in early to
assist the 10 residents who were going. We had two jalopy journeys and one
resident went with their daughter who also attended the service.
 Reverend
Challis and his congregation made the morning so special and St Peters Church
looked spectacular thanks to all their hard work. We then enjoyed refreshments
in the Church Hall and some of the residents met with people
who they had not seen for some years, which was so lovely to see.
A big thank you to
Reverend Challis, members of his congregation and all the staff involved for making this
possible for the residents at Valerie Manor.
Friday, September 16
Outings
by
Zoe
on Fri 16 Sep 2011 20:18 BST
 The resident’s outings continue to prove to be very popular
not only with the residents, but also the accompanying care staff. Recent
destinations include The Old Barn Garden Centre, Shoots Garden Centre, Clayton
Windmills – suggested by a resident who used to take frequent walks along the
Downs, and a very pleasant drive along the coast from Shoreham to Brighton
Marina.
We have also been invited to attend the Harvest Festival
service at St Peter’s in Upper Beeding led by Reverend Challis next Friday 23rd
and this has generated a lot of interest from the residents. Watch this space
for photos of the service.
We are always looking for new destinations so if your have
any suggestions, please let us know.
Friday, September 9
Congratulations Thandi!
by
Zoe
on Fri 09 Sep 2011 19:12 BST
I would like to say a huge congratulations to Thandi, one of
our care assistants who has recently completed her NVQ level II in Health and Social
Care. I am delighted that Thandi has been working on her NVQ as her newly gained knowledge
will now underpin the high standards of care that she already gives to the residents
here at Valerie Manor – well done Thandi, we are all very proud of you!
Friday, September 2
August Activities Summary
by
Robin Bates
on Fri 02 Sep 2011 20:18 BST
September
already, how time flies !
I
do hope you are enjoying the Summer.
I
think we have been lucky that most of our ladies and gentlemen have been able
to enjoy the lovely outside space at Valerie Manor over the last couple of
months. As well as just sitting and enjoying the views and having a
chat, some have been gathering fruit and vegetables, playing games and on
many occasions enjoying their lunch ‘al fresco’ !
The cheese and wine evening was a great success, as was the surprise visit from two Alpaca's one Monday afternoon!
Our
‘Mind Benders’ in August included The Alphabet Game, Chicken or Egg and Closure
Phrases. A Nautical Quiz accompanied our Cowes Week theme with a
decorated dining room.
Physically
we still exercise from our chairs on a Monday morning prior to our popular
reminiscence sessions.
Zoe
has organised that every resident receives a weekly Activities Menu of what is
happening with the time and place for those who wish to participate in what is
on offer. A great idea as not everything suits everyone and individual choices can be made.
We
had a ‘ride’ on the Orient Express and enjoyed listening to Matt Monro
and watching the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. We planned a Day’s Menu and
decorated fairy cakes.
Talking
of cakes...there is a separate item regarding The Great Tea Party which was
held for Charity but John and I would like to congratulate everyone on
putting on such a lovely event. The cakes were AMAZING...well done Chris,
a great raffle with many donations and the ‘Guess the Weight’ cake was
beautiful. One of our ladies daughter gave up her time to raise funds by
Face Painting...the children loved it please look out for the photos. It
was wonderful for the residents to be a part of everything that was going on
and to bring the different generations together really makes everything even
more special. One of our ladies had a visit from her daughter who arrived
with her daughter and two great grand children who had flown in from New
Zealand...four generations taking tea together ! Dear Marmalade was there
beavering away as usual selling raffle tickets and making everyone smile.
 Our
Reminiscence Sessions continue and one had to be on ‘Your favourite Holiday
Destination’ We had Cornwall, Greece, France, Sussex, Wales, the New
Forest and Thailand. Some enjoyed going on Cruises, another favourite was
sailing along the coast and a ride in a helicopter. It is great to get
everyone discussing their favourite/not so favourite subjects. We had a
good old moan about the recent riots...our ladies and gentlemen are definitely
on the ball agreeing that a stint of discipline in the forces would not go a
miss !
See
you in September.
Robin
Thursday, September 1
Valerie Manor's Blooming Great Tea Party!
by
Zoe
on Thu 01 Sep 2011 12:31 BST
We had a fantastic day last week at Valerie Manor's 'Blooming Great Tea Party'. We were so lucky with the weather and had a great turn out.
I am absolutely delighted to say that we have so far raised over
£600 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
 This is the most that Valerie Manor has ever raised for
charity so I am absolutely thrilled – there's still time to raise more though and if
you were unable to attend you are still able to donate online, or send a cheque
to us for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
I have to say a huge thank you to all the staff who assisted
us on the day and made it so special for the residents and our guests.
A special thank you to Chris, our chef who made all the cakes
and scones for everyone to enjoy during the day and take home with them.
Another special thank you to Sarah Watson Saunders, one of our resident’s
daughters who donated her time for the afternoon for face painting by ‘True
Colours’ – this attracted a lot of interest with the children and
adults alike.........yes, I had to have the Valerie Manor ‘V’ on my face as well!
For those who did not see the cake, a picture is above; Truffles in Steyning kindly donated the cake for our ‘guess the weight’ competition. It was
made by one of our carers mums – Spectacular!
I also have several thank-you’s for relatives who donated raffle
prizes and local business’s who were so generous with their gifts for the
raffle. Thank you so much to all who donated;
Alison & Clive Barrett
Barry Budibent
Jan Wilson
3663 Catering Supplies
Beeding News (Upper Beeding)
Bunce's (Steyning)
Calico - Creative | Print | Marketing (Hurstpierpoint)
Nisa Local (Upper Beeding)
The Old Tollgate Hotel & Restaurant (Bramber)
Roberts Butchers (Steyning)
Swains Farm (Henfield)
Truffles (Steyning)
Whites Restaurant (Steyning)
Thank you again for your support for this great cause. You can view photos from the day in our online Picasa album...
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