Celebrating life at Barchester

Staff and residents at Darcy Gardens care home in [ were treated to the most wonderful talk with Lucy Worsley, courtesy of the Henley Literary Festival which runs from October 2nd to October 11th this year.
Organisers of this year's Henley Festival have generously made available a dozen different events from authors and celebrities as diverse as Eric Idle, Nigella Lawson, Theresa May and Michael Morpurgo and many more for care home residents to stream online. The talks cover a broad mix of history, literary tales, author sessions and celebrity interviews there is definitely something for everyone, all streamed straight to our cinema room.
Residents had a fantastic time listening to the fascinating talk by Lucy Worsley, who drew on her book Queens and Kings: An Unusually Personal History. She took residents through a thousand years of royal history, from Anne Boleyn to Princess Margaret, looking at both the pageantry and the pain of royal life, particularly for women. They loved the talk so much that they're already deciding which one to listen to next!
Angela said  "It was wonderful to see how much our residents enjoyed the talk, they were all transported to the festival and the huge variety of different sessions on offer. We're so grateful to Henley Literary Festival for making this content available for our residents to enjoy."
Senior General Manager, Aga said: "Our residents absolutely loved watching Lucy Worsley at this year's Henley Literary Festival, many of them had attended previously so it was a fantastic treat to be able to reminisce about past visits and access this talk from the comfort of our home."

There is still more to come. We're looking forward to:
•    Mary Berry, Saturday 10th October
•    Gyles Brandreth & Finola Burrell, Sunday 11th October
Our thanks to the Henley Literary Festival for making these events available to care homes and for bringing the festival to our residents.
 

We had a lovely trip on a lovely sunny day to Port Eynon beach, we went on the mini-bus singing to songs all the way there and then had a lovely little walk. 

We took residents for fish and chips by the beach, which they really enjoyed. The residents we took, one had been before and one had never been and they both said they had a wonderful afternoon and can't wait to go back again. We were very lucky with the weather, so it was nice to spend the afternoon outside by the sea.

We had a lovely trip on the bus to folly farm last week. We was very lucky with the weather and the residents we took had a fantastic day. We visited the zoo area, with the penguins being one of the favourites, with one of our residents enjoying giving them all different names. 

We walked around the zoo area and visited the Giraffes, Lions, Rhinos and meerkats. We also went into the farm area looking at the horses and rabbits, we even had a go at milking the pretend cow, Later we went on the land train around the whole farm to make sure we hadn’t missed anything which was lots of fun.

We had a lovely afternoon with residents enjoying a visit from Jimmy Elvis. We have a lot of residents who always request Jimmy Elvis so we like to book him regularly. Residents enjoyed having a glass of wine, and family members and friends came in too for a sing a long and a dance. 

One of our residents always likes to request her favourite Elvis songs, which he always encourages. Jimmy Elvis always interacts really well with the residents and we look forward to having him back in December.

Everyone loved meeting Rochelle and fully joining in with a sing-a-long and some seated dance moves! Amazing introducing new singers to everyone and fully seeing how wonderful it is. 

Music really does have a magical effect on everyone, acting as a powerful tool to unlock memories, reduce stress and fully improve emotional well-being. 

Thank you so much to Rochelle we are so looking forward to seeing you again already!