Activities at Hempton Field Care Home

Over the past few weeks we have been enjoying spending the afternoon's doing Art & Crafts.

We have done some Christmas Card making, as well as decorated ornaments to be placed on our Christmas Tree which was part of the St Andrews Church Chinnor Christmas Tree Festival! The theme for the festival was Pantomimes and Musicals, and we decorated our tree to the theme of Aladdin!

We had a great time when we played Christmas Bingo! Alongside playing, we sipped on some festive cocktails; Snowball's, St Clements and also some Baileys!

It’s that time of year, so we took a trip out and made a start on our Christmas shopping!

We headed out in the morning on the minibus and appreciated the beautiful weather over the Chiltern Hills on our drive, with the clear blue sky, bright sunshine and the autumnal coloured trees.

Once we had arrived we went straight to the shops, excited to look around and get into the Christmas Spirit! We spent time browsing all the shops and aisles, looking at all the Christmas displays and all the gifts on offer. We were very successful with our purchases and managed to buy lots of lovely presents!

After a tiring few hours looking in the shops, it was then time to refuel for the afternoon, so we headed to one of the local pubs and enjoyed a lovely warming meal.  

Once we had finished our meals, we popped to a few more shops to finish off our shopping for the day before heading home to warm up with a well-deserved cup of tea!

The ladies thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and were so pleased to see all the Christmas decorations around the town and all the gifts in the stores. They expressed how much fun they had and how it reminded them of previous years going Christmas shopping with their families.

When all the children went back to school, our residents and staff here at Hempton Field did too!

In the weeks leading up to our ‘Back to School’ day, we dug out old uniforms and accessories to really look the part. A few days before, Activities Coordinator Nina set the residents some homework in preparation for their reminiscent History lesson on the day! Their task was to think back to the time when they were in school and answer questions such as; ‘What was your favourite subject?’ and ‘What sort of uniform did you have to wear?’. The residents spoke with friends and family to recall their time at school as well as draw on positive and fulfilling memories.

When the day arrived, we put on our school uniforms and designated Elizabeth as our School Captain and Activities Coordinator Nina as our Headmistress! In the morning we had a ‘School Assembly’ gathered in our lounge, which we started with popular school Hymns. This was followed by our personal history lesson. This encouraged residents to reminisce on their past and their school days, and share with each other the differences in their school lives!

At lunchtime, a typical school dinner was served! Staff had decorated the dining room to resemble a dinner hall, with each resident having a lunchbox and glass bottle. Faggots were on the menu for those who were keen to have them, and the favoured dessert was Sponge & Custard!

After lunch the school bell rang and it was time for the residents to go to Home Economics class. Several of our residents used to teach Home Economics classes, so found this extremely nostalgic! The class decided they wanted to bake traditional bread pudding, and this was then shared out and enjoyed by everyone with a cup of tea to reflect on the day.

This month we said goodbye to our longest-serving member of the Care Team, Pauline, as she leaves to enjoy her well-deserved retirement! Pauline worked at Hempton Field for over 33years and worked in various roles over the years, working days and nights.

We gave Pauline a little send-off and spoke of all our memories and experiences at Hempton Field over the years. The wonderful team in the kitchen also baked Pauline one of her favourite cakes to enjoy. Pauline will be greatly missed by both residents and staff as a valued and well-loved member of the team.

On Saturday 22nd July we had the pleasure of being visited by the Launton Hand Bell Ringers!

This was a very special day as one of our residents, Rosemary, has been a member for many years! Rosemary was overjoyed to be able to play with her group again and loved seeing all her friends she's known for many years!