After the great success of the Talitha workshops we enjoyed earlier this year, we have been delighted to welcome back our friends at Talitha. We have thoroughly enjoyed six more excellent workshops jam packed with joyful creative experiences! Another activity which has been new to us at Dalemead and also very enjoyable is Tai chi lessons. We are always keen to try out new things and are enjoying keeping fit with the help of our instructor, Paul. Christmas was full of many festive activities; our friends of Richmond Community Choir treated us to a wonderful Christmas concert, “Partytime Productions” provided us with an excellent pantomime, we had a number of entertainers who sang us Christmas songs and we thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas party. It was brilliant to celebrate with so many of the resident’s family and friends. This year we were treated to a selection of carols from our recently formed Dalemead choir. We look forward to this becoming a Dalemead tradition! In addition to the Christmas activities programme, we had all the usual activities; John’s music afternoons, poetry readings with Valerie, Jigsaws and games with Teresa, current affairs chats with Phillippa, piano recitals with Dr. Higgins and music and movement with Serena. This provides us with a variety of activities which all residents and their visitors are welcome to join us for.
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We had a packed activities programme over the Christmas period and thoroughly enjoyed the festivities! We had a great start with a wonderful Christmas party, the residents invited their friends and family to celebrate Christmas with them. It was a super event with delicious food and lots of Christmas cheer and laughter.
We were entertained by Rietta and Kat; two talented singers who helped us get into the Christmas spirit. There was also a fabulous pantomime, this year it was “Jack and the Beanstalk” performed by “PARTYTIME PRODUCTIONS”. We were very impressed by the show and look forward to welcoming them back next year.
A high point of December was trips around Zone 1 to see the Christmas lights and sights of central London. We drove around lots of landmarks and enjoyed reminiscing, sharing fond memories of London and the festive season.
Valerie read us her and the resident’s favourite seasonal poetry and we made pomanders with Phillippa during our Christmas reminiscence workshop.
We had a fantastic carol concert held in our Orangery performed by our friends at Richmond Community Choir, this was a real highlight.
We have lots planned for coming months and New Year. We have already had a delightful concert provided by Live Music Now and look forward to our friend Brian coming to play the saxophone for us, farm visits and visits from the children who attend the local Beavers.
All the regular weekly activities continue, including Rock and Roll guitar with John, Music and Movement with Serena, jigsaws and games with Teresa, piano recitals with Dr Higgins and art class with Sadia. Fortnightly poetry with Valerie and monthly “News and Reviews” with Phillippa and concerts are also in our diary.
Here’s to a happy and active 2016!
It’s been an exciting time at Dalemead… In December, the brand new Orangery was completed. It is a wonderful space which residents and their visitors can enjoy the view of the garden. It also makes a great performance area for our musical activities. The Christmas party was the first extra-special event to be held in the Orangery. It was a lovely evening for residents to celebrate with their loved ones and staff. We had a packed activities schedule with trips to the centre of London to see the sights and Christmas lights, a performance of “Puss in Boots”, a super concert performed by Richmond Community Choir and Christmas poetry to name a few.
The New Year brought with it fantastic opportunities for us. In January we were treated to a concert at Dalemead, performed by Albert’s Band (The in house band at the Royal Albert Hall). We waved our Union Jack flags, sang along and sipped gin and tonics. A very good time was had by all. We were very lucky to be offered a residency from LIVE MUSIC NOW. We had eight fabulous concerts courtesy of the “Jacquin Trio” during January, February and March.
We were very pleased to be asked if we would be interested in a visit from Nick Grant. Nick is a candidate for the Labour party in our area. We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him and our question and answer session.
Watercolour Class … As well as doing Still Life we have been discovering the delights of Constable, Van Gogh and Monet.
The Easter bonnet competition was very enjoyable. Residents and staff imaginatively decorated bonnets. Residents also beautifully decorated papier mache eggs. Here are some of the results:
We continue to enjoy all the usual activities: poetry, art and craft, news and reviews, music and movement, quizzes, art class with Sadia and piano concerts with Dr Higgins.
We look forward now to the coming months when we can enjoy the sunshine from the Orangery, take trips to the river to feed the ducks/visit the ice cream van and have outside events such as the BBQ and cream tea.
Dalemead had a variety of activities of late, chances to socialise and enjoy ourselves.
We had wonderful trips to Kew Palace and Hampton Court Palace to revel in the talents of the Connaught Opera!
It was lovely to hear the music and watch all the fabulous costume changes with the historic backdrop of the Royal Palaces. We were thrilled to meet the Mayor of Richmond, Councillor Jane Boulton.
The National Dementia Strategy for England highlights the need to provide effective psychological and social approaches and person centred care practice to improve the well-being of people with dementia. Dalemead Residential Care Home is one of the homes that is participating in the WHELD (Improving Wellbeing and Health for People with Dementia) research programme. This is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-funded programme involving Kings College London, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, North East London Foundation Trust, North Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in Health (NWORTH)/ Bangor Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) and University of Hull.
The WHELD project will evaluate whether staff support and coaching to provide person centred care and effective person centred activities for people with dementia living in care homes are more effective in improving the mental health and well-being of residents compared to their usual care. During the next 9 months a research therapist will work with nominated members of staff (“Dementia Champions”) in the homes receiving the intervention, to provide training on person centred care, promote person centred activities and interactions and to provide care home staff and general practitioners with the latest best practice information regarding the optimal use of psychotropic medications for people with dementia.
The findings from the research will be shared locally through training events and articles and published in academic journals. If the WHELD approach is effective a further aim will be to develop a system to roll this out nationally.
Recently we were honoured to welcome Councillor Rita Palmer, the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames and her Consort, Adrian Palmer to Dalemead. We shared a wonderful afternoon with them. The Connaught Opera provided the entertainment and, as always dazzled us with an excellent show! The residents, staff and visitors were so pleased to talk with the Mayor and her consort after the musical programme.