Our home is located opposite the Manchester City Etihad Stadium, which means the parade passed right past the home. We have a few residents who are City fans and really wanted to see the players as they went by, so we made this happen for them!
Our residents explored the Portland Basin Museum in May. This was a social history exhibition and it featured a life-size model house and a traditional fish & chip shop. The museum also has a 1920s street where there are lots of room sets.Some you can go in and touch things. Some have models of people in them. It truly felt like taking a step back in time
We celebrated St George’s Day in the sunshine this year whilst enjoying games and music. This years tournament was ‘It’s a Knockout’ Andy, Dan and Cheryl, who are all part of our Activity Team, dressed up for the occasion. The house Band and Gerry our Therapeutic Music Tutor also performed for everyone in sun. The residents enjoyed the day of activities and loved celebrating St George’s Day. The day ended on a high with everyone enjoying cream cakes!
This month a groups of our residents visited a number of different art exhibitions. These included; Picasso pieces, The Great Wave and Bob Dylan. We started off with the Picasso Exhibition and whilst there unexpectedly discovered an art exhibition for our residents long-time idol, Bob Dylan. On another outing we visited the ‘Beneath the Great Wave’ Exhibition, exploring the art of Hokusai and Hiroshige, two visionary artists whose images have shaped how we see nature, landscape and everyday life. In the home we have regular craft groups in the communal areas for all residents to get involved in. We recently celebrated Mardi Gras by creating some fabulous carnival masks. It was wonderful to see so many of our residents getting involved. Additionally we honoured International Women’s Day by crafting mixed media portraits of inspirational women.
Daniel works in the woodwork room and the garden with our residents. They have recently been hard at work preparing our garden for spring. Over the past month they have refilled all the allotment beds in anticipation of planting, cleared the woodland area and are making everything look fantastic. Also, Ian prepared the greenhouses for spring, while snowdrops began to bloom along our woodland walk. 2 of our residents below, Garry and Nick, have been hard at work creating some amazing handcrafted items in our woodworking room. Recently, they constructed birdhouses for our woodland walk area, along with a bug hotel! We can’t wait to see how it looks in summer.
This week the Activity Co-Ordinator and the Catering Manager spent time in the Bistro with some residents baking soda bread. Residents enthusiastically participated in the baking process, creating a variety of flavours. In the end, all the residents and staff had the pleasure of taste-testing the results!
On 11th December we celebrated Christmas Jumper Day. All the residents, staff and family members were invited to put on a Christmas Jumper or T-shirt and take part in the competition. We had 2 family members that picked 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the residents and they received a small prize. We love taking part in Christmas Festivities and had a lovely afternoon celebrating. Our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners below!
Every year we get invited to Loreto College for a Christmas Dinner and celebrations. This is something we look forward to and appreciate so much. Our residents love it! Above are a few snapshots of the afternoon. We play games, dance and enjoy a lovely dinner.We already can’t wait for next year!
Every year we organise afternoon’s out at Blackpool. The residents enjoy the Christmas lights and food. We do multiple trips over the weeks it is on, so all our residents have the chance to go. This year there was a major Wallace & Gromit exhibition, “Wallace & Gromit: In A Case at the Museum”. It was held at The Harris in Preston from September 2025 to early January 2026. A group of our residents spent the afternoon out enjoying the exhibition.
On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour, we gathered to observe a two-minute silence in honour of the fallen soldiers of both World War’s. Our resident below, led the commemoration with a reading of ‘In Flanders Fields’. As veteran of the British Army on the Rhine, our resident below proudly shared his experiences serving. He was stationed in Heamer, Germany for 3 years. Followed by another 3 years in Woolwich and 6 years in Dortmund. During his service, he completed 2 tours in Northern Ireland, 1 in Belfast and the other in Armagh. He expressed that he enjoyed every moment of serving his country and would do it all over again.
