Activities at Lucerne House Care Home

Continuing our summer of outings our residents got a "pizza" the action, in Exeter, as they enjoyed a lunch at Pizza Express.

We had a lovely time, chatting and taking in the sights of Exeter Cathedral whilst enjoying our pizza's. We even managed to box up our left overs to enjoy when we felt hungry later. Each of our residents have told us of places they wish to go. Our mission, is to ensure, where possible, each resident is able to fulfil that ambition in the coming weeks and months.

What an amazing time we have had recently at Lucerne House as we have started our summer of outings.

Whilst some of our residents were enjoying a Holy Communion service with Reverend Mike Partridge from St Michael's Alphington , Roger, Mick and Brian, who was joined by his friends, took a trip to Bridge Motorcycles and cafe 53. They had an excellent time, with coffee, cake and a browse of the showroom. All of the men were completely taken by the motorcycles and, in particular, the display of the 1953 Vincent Black Shadow.

That afternoon, whilst some were playing Countdown, it was the girls turn to venture out, with a trip to Exmouth Sea Front. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon, basking in the sun with a delicious ice cream.

We have got lots more trips planned for our residents over the next days, weeks and months.

To celebrate Chelsea Flower show, which started this week, residents have been making posies to decorate our dining areas.

We have had a great time, creating all sorts of arrangements and discovering that some of our residents have a real talent for flower arranging.

To cap things off, in honour of national donut week, we all enjoyed hot drinks and donuts whilst admiring our creations.

On a sunny May afternoon, residents at Lucerne House had a lovely time at our high tea. We enjoyed mini éclairs, cucumber sandwiches, macaroons, cream slices and more.

The event was made extra special with our special visitors, Jacob and Matilda Petersen, children of our Head of Activities, Alex Petersen. Together they have been sharing stories from school, chatting to residents and helping to serve. Matilda was responsible for taking the drinks orders and Jacob was on food duty, even popping in to see residents who were relaxing in the comfort of their rooms.

We have all had a lovely time and Jacob and Matilda are looking forward to coming back to Lucerne, in the summer.

This month, as chosen by Roger, we had another cultural evening, this time celebrating Scandinavian countries.

To prepare for this, Roger and Vera took a trip to IKEA today.

Our first order of business was lunch, so we had to sample the famous, Swedish meatballs, followed by Daim cake with cream. It was very tasty and a dish we will look to incorporate into our evening.

We then spent time following the "endless" arrows around the showrooms. There were some amazing displays on show and some lovely items that caught our eye.

We finished with a some shopping in the food market, where we have grabbed some of the essentials, ready for our cultural evening.

A real highlight for Roger was having a go in the revolving door. Which he found so entertaining he went around, about six times, much to the entertainment of himself and the on lookers, waiting to go into IKEA.

The next week, it was time for our Scandinavian culture evening.

To kick things off, residents and staff have been creating flag decorations, to place around our room, ready for the evenings events.

Then, in the afternoon, Roger, the producer of the Scandinavian culture idea, has been busy making smorrebrod which are open top sandwiches with different toppings.

We made:-

Beef with red cabbage, pickle, carrot and horseradish.

Chicken with lettuce, peppers, cucumber and mayo

Prawns with lettuce, cucumber and mayo

And so many more that were all trayed up and displayed for all to admire as they arrived this evening.

We followed up our Smorrebrod with a choice of either Daim cake or cinnamon rolls, served with ice cream and a whipped cream topping.

Everyone has said how lovely it all looked and tasted and we thank Roger for coming up with and helping to produce such an amazing event.

We have had a great time over the Coronation weekend, with many residents, visitors and staff all cheering and praising His Majesty, King Charles III.

On Friday morning, residents, staff and visitors enjoyed, refreshments, cake and a singsong of famous British artists, finished with a recital of God Save the King. In the, we have been putting our culinary skills to the test, making coronation chicken sandwiches. These were delicious and will be shared around the home, for tea this evening.

Saturday was all about raising a glass, waving a flag while watching the proceedings on TV in our communal lounges.

Then, on Sunday, we started with a trip to St Michael's Alphington for their Coronation service. Thank you to Reverend Mike Partridge, Bev Jordan and to Alphington community for inviting us to contribute to today's event.

In the afternoon, our attention turned to our own Coronation celebration. Residents, staff and visors, were tapping their feet and singing our hearts out with Sounds Easy all whilst enjoying refreshments and cake. Then we all enjoyed a fantastic BBQ.

Thank you to all of our wonderful family, friends, relatives and loved ones who have joined us today, to our amazing kitchen team for their amazing efforts with the food, to Ron’s Kitchen Delights for another amazing cake, which was a real show stopper and to our teams, over this weekend, in the home, for all their help and support, helping our residents to have an amazing time, celebrating His Majesty, King Charles III, Coronation.