Black Swan Care Group’s Festival of Love
14/02/2020
Love was in the air across all of our homes on Valentine’s Day – and we’ve got a run down of the celebrations!
Laurel Lodge & Chiswick House
Laurel Lodge and Chiswick House residents attended the Friend in Deed Valentine’s intergenerational dance. They went to Hellesdon community centre for the special do – which saw children from as young as 1 year old meeting and greeting our residents, as well as the children who regularly visit our homes.
They were pampered in the morning with our staff doing hair, nails and makeup for the ladies, as well as assisting our men on picking a gentlemanly outfit for the special occasion. Each of our residents who attended were provided with a single red rose to give out to a special someone at the dinner dance as well as Valentine’s cards they had made on a previous Friend in Deed visit.
They had a brilliant time at the dance and we cant thank Friend in Deed’s founder Kelly enough for organising the event which they’re all still raving about!
One of our resident’s Jack gave his rose to a wonderful little lady Sybil – she was so excited. It was lovely to see her reaction and to see how happy the event made Jack himself.
Park House
At Park House in Great Yarmouth the staff were surprised at the start of their shift with a wonderful letter from their manager Sara. She created individual messages for each of the staff working throughout the day, with each of them getting a chocolate rose to say thank you for their hard work.
To start the day residents were each given a Valentine’s card to write and give out to another resident who was special to them. Here we can see Barbara – she was over the moon when she received a card from a secret admirer!
The residents were treated to an extravaganza throughout the day featuring romantic singalongs with entertainers, a banquet style lunch with all the trimmings, and a home decorated to the nine’s and fit for Cupid himself!
They weren’t going to miss a trick and encouraged our residents to share their views on love with a number of our residents reminiscing about their own love stories from throughout their lives. Here’s what they had to say!
Staff at The Beeches planned ahead for their Valentine’s by asking their residents for the greatest love stories of their lives. It involved staff looking through photographs of resident’s in their younger years and reminiscing with them about the wonderful relationships they’ve had throughout their lives.
As well as being a wonderful reminiscence activity for an afternoon, it enabled staff to create a ‘sweetheart tree’ featuring photographs and anecdotes which our residents shared with us. It features the sweethearts of our residents from husbands; wives and lovers, all the way to friends and even pets!
Norfolk County Council also had representatives at The Beeches on Friday, celebrating Norfolk Care Week as part of their ‘Together We Care’ campaign. You can read all about the initiative by clicking here.
Our staff took part by taking selfies in the Norfolk County Council selfie frame which was then shared via social media.
It had to have been a busy day in East Harling because as well as doing all of this, it was also one of our residents birthday’s! The wonderful Valarie – our very own St.Valentine – celebrated her special day with a cake and some cuddles!
Maitland House
At Maitland House staff decorated the dining room with decorations hand-made by our residents. They held a special floristry workshop just before Valentine’s Day to ensure that the resident’s hard work was put to good use – with their bouquets becoming the centrepiece for their romantic lunch.
The residents were taught how to create the bouquets by local florist Sara who also held a seminar about how to create the perfect display piece. The resident’s seem to have taken her brilliant lesson to heart because they made some beautiful bouquets.
The Gables
There was a lively atmosphere at The Gables for their Valentine’s lunch after a messy but fun visit from their little friends. The wonderful group of children and their parents who volunteer for the assisted our residents in some arts and crafts before the big event.
Children and residents worked together to create a collection of beautiful Valentine’s cards ahead of time, coming up with some beautiful designs that we cannot help but show off!
Heathcote Care Home
At Heathcote they wowed residents with multicoloured roses decorating the home, a Valentine’s themed lunch with specially made heart shaped finger sandwiches and chocolates for everyone. They put in a really big effort to give our residents a very special meal, and encouraged our residents to talk about their love stories throughout the day.
Everyone had a brilliant time and here are some amazing photographs from the day:
Kings Lynn Residential Home
At Kings Lynn our residents were treated to a unique Valentine’s dining experience. Not only did they have the romantically decorated tables with roses and centre-pieces, but they chose to order in their supper.
Residents were treated to a fish n chip supper and enjoyed a lovely time dining together and chatting. Here’s a few photographs of our wonderful residents celebrating!
We had many more amazing activities happening throughout the Valentine’s weekend and we’ll be updating this article with more images and videos as time goes on.
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