Activities at Rivermead Care Home

Is there anything better than hot chocolates with whipped cream, chocolate dusting and chocolate buttons on top when it’s snowing outside? Our Memory Lane residents think not. We had a lovely time this morning drinking hot chocolates, watching the snow and remembering what snow days were like back in the day!

Every week some of the residents from the Westow community gather around a well-worn table for another session of The Scrabble Club, the game for wordsmiths and readers of the dictionary, and this week’s has gone down in the annals of history by winner Vivien making the remarkable final score of 266, a worthy total anywhere on planet Earth! It was certainly a tense game and as the clock ticked by Viven suddenly mustered all her grey cells and came up with a word that sent a shudder through the crowd because it was worth… 69 points! There were shouts of ‘hurrah’, gasps and then applause when we realised that a small word for a type of Oriental cymbal had effectively won the game!

Vivien’s master-stroke was ‘zels’, which she had not only placed on a triple-word-score but also woven into other words! The broadside of brilliance decisively ended the match and as Vivien, gave an emotional thumbs-up and announced she was off to phone her two brothers – also keen Scrabblers – to tell them of her highest-ever personal score. Well done Vivien!

Here at Rivermead, we are so lucky to be surrounded by outstanding beauty. To the back of our home we have a horse field, train tracks and spectacular views. Today Brenda and Andy took advantage of this, and took a walk around the outside of the building with Vixx, topping up the bird feeders, checking the grounds are in tip top condition and enjoying the sunshine in January

Last week we celebrated Christmas jumper day. As here at Rivermead we are inclusive, we extended the Christmas Jumpers and made it so you could wear anything Christmassy.  The home is feeling extra Christmassy and everybody is in high spirits in the build up to Christmas this year.

Truffle-making was the work enjoyed by Rivermead residents yesterday after they had watched an online workshop. These were the chocolate truffles, however, not the kind sniffed and dug up by specially trained pigs, but the chocolate variety first created by bon viveur Louis Dufour on Christmas Day in 1895 in Chambray, Normandy, and much appreciated around the world ever since.

Sleigh bells were ringing and we were listening here at Rivermead this afternoon.  We were treated to two individual performances this afternoon by the wonderful Eva Long Productions and we had a large turnout of residents ready to get their best singing voices on!