Activities at Rivermead Care Home

A special church celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee was held yesterday at St. Peter’s Church in Norton Malton, and Rivermead residents were invited the service and then to partake in a truly royal tea party in the church.

Our minibus was full with residents from both our Westow and Malton communities, and there was a feeling of excitement as we walked slowly into the beautifully decorated church. Colourful pictures on the walls had been created by pupils at Norton Community Primary School. Bunting was hanging from the pillars and near the altar a brass band was setting up. The church was filling rapidly as we settled near the front, and then Reverend Jenny Buckler (who visits Rivermead monthly) welcomed us to a special service comprising the Queen’s favourite hymns, some with brass accompaniment! Her favourites included Praise My Soul The King of Heaven, The Lord’s My Shepherd, All People That on Earth Do Dwell, and Guide Me Oh Thou Great Redeemer. ‘These are the really good old hymns, aren’t they,’ said Brenda enthusiastically. ’Yes, we all know these!’ agreed Lena. The service ended with The National Anthem, but there was more to come: beyond the pews were many tables laden with scones, cream and jam, flapjacks and cakes of all kinds. Soon the residents and Norton churchgoers were sitting and tucking in to this right royal tea party! ‘It is marvellous to be back in church,’ said Richard.

After days of preparation and growing excitement among residents and staff – not to mention across the entire nation! – the big day came at Rivermead. After the maintenance team had prepared the garden, and the domestic team had polished and scrubbed the home to ‘as new’ condition, the residents were delighted to be getting into their best bib and tucker. Hats had been made, Union Jacks were flying, bunting was displayed indoors and out, and in the kitchens chef Sarah and her team were hulling strawberries and making enormous quantities of Pimms!

Rivermead Care Home in Malton marked the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day in style by throwing a 1940s afternoon tea party to remember.  The home was decorated in red, white and blue and residents and staff dressed up in their 1940s-inspired glad rags and enjoyed a day of reminiscing with a sherry morning and an afternoon showing of the 1987 film “Hope and Glory”.

Head chef Sarah Lightfoot whipped up a delicious 1940’s inspired selection of cakes and jam tarts, all washed down with pots of tea to mark the occasion. 

Sarah Jackson, General Manager at Rivermead said: “Many of our residents can remember the end of the war and we all know what it meant for our country so we wanted to celebrate the date and listen to our residents memories of the war and the experiences they lived through.”

We had a lovely time joining Graham Whitlock for an exciting virtual event to discuss his book ‘The Crystal Palace Chronicles: Star of Nimrod’.

Our residents were thrilled to find out more about the book and the fictional character Joe, who went on a rollercoaster adventure travelling back in time to the heyday of Victorian Crystal Palace.

Everyone had lots of fun during the virtual talk, as Graham took them on a clever and hilarious adventure. A great time was had by all.

We had a lovely time joining Henry Slator for an exciting virtual event to discuss his book ‘Conversations at the Pond’.

Henry had an unusual writing journey, which many of our residents found inspiring, he underwent chemotherapy in early 2020, which allowed him to rediscover his light-hearted outlook on life by imagining conversations with creatures in and around his large garden pond and adding buckets of fun.

The entertaining Conversations at the Pond, with its mass of colourful illustrations, took our residents along his journey, they felt inspired, cheered and loved hearing all about Henry’s experiences.

Our residents came together to enjoy an exciting virtual talk courtesy of the team at National Trust Talks Service.  The illustrated talk took us closer to one of Cliveden’s most famous families, the Astors. Our residents were able to discover what motivated William Waldorf Astor, America’s richest man, to purchase Cliveden in 1893 and how the estate became the centre of high society in the 1920 s and 30 s thanks to his son Waldorf and daughter in law Nancy Astor.