A group of elderly care home residents have fulfilled their wish to visit a local ice rink and experience ice skating for the first time.
The gang of four residents from HC-One’s Oakhill House care home, in Horsham, Surrey, were accompanied by care home staff and relatives in a minibus to Worthing Ice Rink, where they took to the ice on their wheelchairs.
The rink had been reserved for an hour just for the intrepid crew to enjoy themselves, and although it was a chilly experience the four skaters were wrapped up warm and well taken care of.
The residents - Joy Twaites, Stella Worboys, Lesley Rattenbury, and Margaret Shipton - absolutely loved the experience of gliding across the ice, something none of them had thought they would ever be able to do.
After their skating session they warmed themselves back up with hot drinks from the onsite café.
Margaret Shipton, one of the four residents who took part in the trip said:
“It’s been a lovely trip, and best of all was getting on the ice and skating around. I’d always wanted to go ice skating before and now I can say I’ve done it!”
Angela Bollans, Wellbeing Coordinator at Oakhill House said:
“What a wonderful time we had! We had a great response and managed to get a smile from everyone we met.
The highlight of the day was that our residents tried something different and that they thought they would never do. They were very brave, and we are grateful they trusted us to look after them so we could share this wonderful experience with them as well.”
Elga Ekonomi, Home Manager of Oakhill House, said:
“The residents had a fantastic time and have been telling us all about it ever since. It’s great when we are able to provide these opportunities for our residents to try new experiences.
We also want to also thank Worthing Ice Rink for helping facilitate their trip.”