It was great to connect residents at Ashby House Care Home in Milton Keynes with local celebrations for the Hindu festival of Diwali. Maya Care, whose volunteers offer a befriending service for elderly people in the Milton Keynes community, delivered a zoom demonstration of traditional activities including sweet making and creating colourful Rangoli designs. Rangoli are traditional signs showing that visitors are welcome, and they made one for resident Rose. Thank you very much to Manjiri and Abhay Joshi and their daughter Mahi from Maya Care.

On Remembrance Sunday we decorated the Ashby House lounges with poppies and Union Jacks. We used our projector to show a Remembrance Service with words to read along to. It was a heartfelt service and Bertha said it was just like being at the church from her home town. Everyone really appreciated being able to take part and felt it was a fitting way to remember the fallen.

On Bonfire Night we had a virtual fireworks display at Ashby House. Fiona and Briony in the Activities Team have bought a new projector and screen for all our virtual activities and the fireworks looked amazing on the big screen. The accompanying music was great too and our kitchen team provided sticky sausages and cake which everyone loved. It was an evening at the pictures with a difference.

At Ashby House we celebrated World Food Day on 16th October, thanks to kind donations from Asda and Morrison’s in Milton Keynes. Activities Coordinator, Fiona, collected world foods from both stores, along with a few pumpkins. Our own Chef, Jay, also made a selection of tasty treats from Spain, Greece, Italy and Mexico, and all the food was set up on a trolley so everyone could try some new and different tastes. The Spanish tortilla, nachos and dips were very popular. We even tried seaweed crisps. This was a great sensory activity and led to people recalling holidays they had taken abroad and the food they ate there. Residents also discussed about the meals they used to cook at home and which dishes were their families’ favourites.

This week we celebrated the annual Barchester Care Awards. We couldn’t have our usual awards dinner for nominees so the announcements were held on Zoom which we showed on a TV in our reception area for staff to see during the day. We are proud that Ashby House had two nominations. Nellie, one of our Senior Carers, was nominated for Carer of the Year by the family of a resident, for all her hard work and dedication. She was presented with a Certificate of Recognition here at Ashby House and was quite emotional to have been nominated. The whole Ashby House team was also nominated for ‘Team of the Year’ and each staff member received a certificate. We all feel very honoured to have been nominated.

A few weeks ago we heard that Busy Bees nursery in Oldbrook, Milton Keynes, had chosen Ashby House to be part of their Harvest Festival. Families of children attending the nursery have kindly donated food over the last few weeks to make three harvest hampers – one from each year group (babies, toddlers and pre-school). Each box was generously filled with an assortment of foods. The Ashby House Activities Team met some of the staff and children this week to say a big THANK YOU and collect the hampers. Some of the food has been shared among Ashby House staff and some we will donate to our own MK Food Bank collection for distribution to families all over Milton Keynes in time for Christmas. We are all very touched that Busy Bees did this for us and it shows just how wonderful it is to connect with other members of our community.