Last week, Residents from HC-One’s Grampian Court Care Home in Peterlee, County Durham, took a trip to Orchard Cottage at Beamish.
Inside the cottage, the Residents sat around a large table in front of a range fireplace before they toasted some bread on the fire. Ivy Cooper soon remembered how to toast bread using the toasting fork and it wasn’t long before everyone was all enjoying a slice of toast with butter and jam that had been made on the farm at Beamish.
Ivy commented:
“Toasting bread on the fire brought back so many lovely memories.”
Tanya, a member of staff at Beamish, brought out the story suitcase and passed each item along. By the time the suitcase was empty, the Residents had created a story about who the suitcase belonged to, where they were going and why and what kind of person they were. Everyone found this activity really amusing and it got everyone’s imaginations going.
One of the volunteers then took her place at the upright piano and engaged our Residents in a sing-a-long; in true sing-a-long style, this also incorporated the tambourines and bells to shake.
Enid Watson commented:
“The lady playing the piano at the sing-a-long reminded me of my Mam as we had an upright piano at home.”
Julie McClurey, Wellbeing Coordinator at Grampian Court, commented:
“This was our first visit to Orchard Cottage at Beamish and it was a fantastic morning.
The staff were really welcoming and the activities that they did with our Residents were great.”