Activities at Westvale House Care Home

To mark World Photography Day, staff and residents were treated to a live streaming photography masterclass courtesy of top professional photographer, Damian Bailey.

A professional photographer since 2003, Damian has won Wedding Photographer of the Year and is listed as one of London’s top wedding photographers, having photographed over 700 weddings.  Damian travels all over the country shooting weddings, events and families and loves to help people create memories by capturing wonderful images that will be passed on from generation to generation.

Damian’s talk explained how he goes about capturing special moments and what makes a great photo in terms of technique and composition.  From landscapes to portrait photos, Damian shared his hints and tips for getting the best shots whatever the subject matter.

We celebrated International Youth Day virtually with English National Ballet’s youth dance company, ENBYouthCo and their Creative Director, Richard Bermange.

We had the opportunity to watch A Comedy in Long-shot, participate in a chair-based creative dance workshop and observe an open rehearsal where Richard and the young dancers created a performance inspired by our childhood memories.

It was a wonderful experience, enjoyed by all.

We had a lovely time joining V&A Dundee curator, Kirsty Hassard, as she introduced us virtually to the history and design of night clubs and the club culture from the 1960s to present day.

We explored the evolution and development of night clubs around the world, from Italy to America, and closer to home, looked at their importance as cultural venues and designed spaces.

This current exhibition celebrates night clubs at a very important moment, as we all look to a brighter future where everyone can come back together, to dance and to enjoy nights out once again.

We all enjoyed the virtual talk.

Residents and colleagues at Westvale made the most of the beautiful weather, as they took to the homes beautiful gardens to  enjoy an Hawaiian themed beach day. As we couldn’t go to the beach, the beach came to us!

We enjoyed dipping our feet in the pool, had fruit cocktails & lots of fruit to keep us hydrated in the sun and enjoyed live music with Elvis back entertaining us!

We enjoyed a wonderful virtual introduction to the world of robots with V&A Dundee Curator, Kirsty Hassard.

Kirsty talked us through the history of robots and their early beginnings, the presentation traced the fascination of all things wired and wonderful and considered what the future might hold for our relationship with a multitude of mechanical machines.

It was absolutely thrilling to learn what robots can do now and what they might be able to do in the future.

National Simplicity Day was started by Henry David Thoreau. The day advocates a life of simplicity and recognises the life of Thoreau. This week residents reminisced about simpler things in the past and what they used to enjoy doing as children, some shared stories from books they have read and playing outdoors with friends.

Residents throughout the home have been enjoying the simplicities of life, by taking it easy, by enjoying lots of pampering and relaxation sessions. We had lots of fun learning Tai Chi. We will definitely be trying out Tai Chi again, as we found it so relaxing.