Activities at The Cedars Bourne Care Home

Celebrations have been in full swing at The Cedars Care Home as one of its residents reached his 101st birthday this week.

Ronald Priest was joined by staff, relatives, friends and other residents as he celebrated his landmark birthday. A special lunchtime celebration was held at the home and guests enjoyed a special birthday cake made by the home’s chef Gee Jowett.

Ronald Priest served as a rear gunner in the RAF, flying twenty five operations with 149 Squadron from RAF Lakenheath, in a Stirling Aircraft during World War Two. During his six years of service during the war he had many life changing experiences- including a crash landing; dogfights over the North Sea and witnessing a plane crash.

In 1947 he joined Nationwide (then called the co-operative permanent building society). He worked in London, Portsmouth and Chester; before becoming branch manager in Peterborough before retiring from in 1884.

The birthday boy said that he had a lovely day with his family and loved spending time with his daughter Angela, who he describes as the most important part of his life.

Ron was then visited by the chairman of the Bourne and District branch of the Royal British Legion, where he was presented with a letter thanking him for his service to both the armed forces and the Royal British Legion. Ron said he was ‘honoured’ by the visit.

We are really getting into Easter celebrations here at The Cedars with another visit from our favourite furry friends of Michelle's Petting Party. Our residents really enjoyed seeing the baby and older rabbits, guinea pigs, cat, dog, canary and hamster, and all got a chance to cuddle and feed them. Residents were visited in the Garden Lounge or in their own rooms to make sure that no-one missed these adorable visitors.

Residents and guests at The Cedars Care Home in Bourne enjoyed an afternoon of music and fun with a live concert performance that took place at the home. Local vintage singer Alan Jackson performed a selection of popular songs from the 1920’s to the 1990’s including Mr Bojangles, The Young Ones and Delilah in the Garden Lounge.

Residents joined in with the singing, and were invited to put in their requests. Resident Janet Hawker was serenaded with ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ on one knee! Guests and residents laughed along with Alan’s wonderful anecdotes and comedic interjections.

Happy St Patrick's Day! We had so much today finding flowers in the sunshine, before celebrating St Patrick's Day in style. Residents were given a themed activity book with information about the history of the day, before being treated to an afternoon of potato bowling and Rainbow Sparkle Smoothies. We were also treated to a live concert from our online partner Oomph and vintage singer Alan. It was so much fun!

Today our home was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and balloons in recognition of Mother’s Day and all the mothers in our home.

Over the weekend, we arranged individual flower deliveries for all of our female residents and a bookable afternoon cream tea with prosecco. We enjoyed discussions about our own families and the role of motherhood, whilst taking advantage of the weather to make a start on our new sensory garden area.

There were smiles all around the home.

Today we had a wonderful afternoon of nostalgia and musical reminiscence from the wonderful duo at Stonestreet Sounds; who entertained us with a nostalgic look at South Kesteven through photos and video. The beautiful images were projected onto a 5 foot screen; and were accompanied by a selection of music from the 20th century, including "The White Cliffs of Dover", "Singin' in the Rain" and "You are My Sunshine". As a finale, residents were then given the opportunity to request a song, which was displayed on the large screen along with their names.

Residents said they really enjoyed the chance to reminisce. John Clingo said it 'brings back memories ' and Brian Hicks said it 'was wonderful'