Black Swan Care Group Homes celebrate national arts in care homes day 2020

Today (24th September 2020) marks National Arts in Care Homes Day and we wanted to show some of the creative endeavors our residents have been taking part in throughout lockdown. 

All of our homes have a wide variety of activities, many of which include creativity and art.  The arts have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety and help people maintain positive levels of mental stability.  We wanted to show off the wonderful things all of our homes have been doing throughout lockdown which involve the arts to celebrate this special occasion. 

Belamacanda

At Belamacanda we have a lot of residents who enjoy taking part in art sessions, from decorating the home with dragonflies to creating vegetable gardens out of paper cutouts to create lovely displays – they take part in lots of artistic delights. 

We love to show off the amazing pieces our residents have created and we love the bright and colourful nature of the art our residents at Belamacanda created during lockdown to brighten up the home and spread positivity. 

Chiswick House

At Chiswick House our residents have been very involved in local and national art campaigns such as the Rainbow trail – where our residents decorated the conservatory windows with rainbows and positive messages to show people passing the home to keep their chins up during lockdown. 

They also handcrafted Easter cards for their loved ones to give them a unique present as they were unable to celebrate the occasion together, due to lockdown. They were beautiful and provided a lot of joy to our residents loved ones when they arrived.  

Drummonds 

Our residents at Drummonds have been doing lots of creative and fun activities throughout lockdown, from regular craft mornings where they explore drawing, colouring, painting and collage they’ve been making some amazing things.

Prior to lockdown they had regular pottery classes with our amazing teacher Shaun, who since lockdown has been running virtual classes so they can keep doing what they love. 

Our residents at Drummonds enjoy promoting positivity and having their say on things which matter to them, and they decided art was the way for them to share lockdown messages with their friends, family and the wider world through social media. 

Heathcote 

At Heathcote Care Home in Norwich our residents got creative to join in with the rainbow trail which aimed to promote positivity and show that care home residents were doing okay throughout lockdown, despite not being able to see their loved ones. When we began facilitating socially distanced outdoor visits, our residents families enjoyed seeing how they had decorated their windows. 

Kings Lynn 

At Kings Lynn Residential Home our resident have been using art to stay in touch with some of their favourite people. Our local school groups and Little Visitors from Friend in Deed have been sending in wonderful cards and letters to our residents to go on display within the home, and our staff have created a large art board to show all the well wishes our residents are receiving from the wider community. 

Laurel Lodge 

Our residents at Laurel Lodge love their activities and are always putting their all into everything they do, including the rainbow trail. Each resident who wanted to participate was encouraged to design their own custom rainbow for display alongside sunflowers, as part of Norfolk Constabulary’s ‘Grow Your Support’ campaign. 

The initiative aimed to put smiles on the faces of people living in Norfolk who decorated their windows with sunflowers, with police leaving donations of sunflower seeds for anyone living there to enjoy. 

Maitland House 

Our residents at Maitland House in Clacton joined in with a community art project during lockdown, which aimed to make connections with people living in the local area using painted rocks. 

The Clacton Rocks project is all about decorating stones with positive messages and images before placing them in a public place, with Maitland deciding to put them on the wall at the front of the home. The project then sees other people take the painted rocks our residents designed, before replacing them with their own decorated stones. 

Nightingale Lodge 

At Nightingale Lodge our residents have been covering their windows with sunflowers as part of the Grow your Support campaign, rainbows for the national care home rainbow trail, and messages of kindness and support for our frontline services. 

We have a very kind and generous group of residents at Nightingale and it’s lovely to see them promoting positivity and happiness to passers by, and leaving messages for the postal workers, NHS staff, pharmacy workers and Black Swan staff who take care of them. 

Park House

Our residents at Park House have been creating lots of beautiful pieces of art throughout lockdown, and one of their favourite projects was making 3d paper butterflies which they decorated the home with. Each resident who chose to take part made at least one butterfly and created a stunning display. 

Our residents and staff also created a giant art piece using a bedsheet, to create a king size piece of art which features the handprints of every resident and staff member around the words ‘Park House Family’. 

Potton View

At Potton View our residents have been making artistic notes to send messages to their loved ones, whilst normal visiting is not possible.

They’ve also decorated the home with them to spread positivity. We really love seeing the effort our residents put into their activities, and how much enjoyment they get out of them. 

Southwell Court

At Southwell Court our residents have been getting creative in a project organised by our amazing Little Visitors from Friend in Deed. For National shapes week this wonderful charity sent kits to care home residents to make faux stained glass window kites, to decorate their homes.  Our residents also enjoy drawing and colouring in, and get together to do this on a regular basis. 

The Beeches 

At The Beeches our residents have been doing something a little different when it comes to their arts and crafts activities, and trying to use unusual materials in their art from time to time. They created a wonderful collection of button pictures which are now on display in the home. 

They’ve also been using mindfulness colouring books as a form of relaxation and therapy. In a group they sit together and colour in their individual sheets whilst listening to music, and having a catch up together. 

The Lodge 

At The Lodge our residents have been doing lots of art which focuses on the theme of ‘home’. They’ve been drawing the houses they lived in before coming to live at The Lodge, or designing the house of their dreams.

They’ve also been filling their walls and windows with unicorns, and butterflies to make the displays beautiful and spread positivity and happiness throughout the home. 

Valentine House

At Valentine House in Silver End (Essex) our residents craft projects have involved knitting, since the formation of their Knit and Natter group. Our residents get together on a regular basis and have a chat and knit together, making various different creations – whatever their heart desires.  

Recently our residents got the chance to make dreamcatchers using rings and are still in the process of completing them. We cant wait to show them off when they’re done. 

Westfield House 

Our residents at Westfield House went all-out designing a beautiful display for their conservatory window. They not only decorated it with rainbows designed and coloured by each resident, but also added handmade messages with of support telling anyone who sees them to ‘stay safe’ throughout the lockdown. 

York House 

We have a very creative bunch of residents at York House in Dereham, and they chose to partake in a number of different creative projects during lockdown.  They took part in both the rainbow trail and Grow Your Support campaign in associated with Norfolk Constabulary, as well as doing a whole host of their own activities. 

Our resident Cynthia is a brilliant (and speedy) knitter who often spends her time making blankets for premature babies in local hospitals, and she recently dedicated her time to creating a blanket for our staff member who is going on maternity leave. 

We hope you enjoyed our feature for Arts in Care Homes day and seeing all the different creative activities going on across our homes.