We would like you to meet John, who is our Resident Ambassador at Westwood House. John is often the first person new residents are introduced to and he is very welcoming to anyone new and introduces them to the other residents.

John has lived with us for many years and is a real part of the family at Westwood. He often also meets new staff applicants when they come for an interview and then gives us feedback from his point of view. Today he was making sure everyone had glass of sherry and some chocolates and roses to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

On Thursday 28th January, we celebrated the tastiest day of the year: Chocolate Day! Much fun was had tasting lots of treats, like fruit, marshmallows and bananas, dipped in the gorgeous melted chocolate.

Despite is being after lunch, everyone had a good appetite and had lots of laughs dunking the treats on skewers into the chocolate fountain. Ruth, our new Activities Coordinator, and Robert, our Host, both made the afternoon very successful.

There was lots of laughter and lots of people with chocolate around their mouths whilst trying to maintain some dignity.

We celebrated National Storytelling Day by having a group discussion with some of our residents about their favourite stories whilst growing up and later into their adult life.They also played a game whereby one person starts a story and then the next person carries on. Ruth facilitated this session for those who wanted to take part and they all really enjoyed the activity.

Every Friday since the 6th November, we have been very lucky to be invited to join in the weekly school assembly at St James the Great Primary and Nursery School.

Residents John, Jean, Phyllis and Stella (General Manager) and Joanne (Home Administrator) all joined via Zoom.

St James children have been sending us pictures and cards throughout the lockdown to cheer us all up and have been keeping us all in their prayers.

We were very honoured to be able to participate in this special assembly, which was to commemorate Armistice Day. The assembly was attended by Fusilier Cpl Dan Yiannadji and his colleague who read out a very moving poem to the whole school. The Head Teacher Mr Andrew encouraged the children to ask lots of questions of the soldiers and we were all very impressed by how well behaved and how thoughtful the children all were.

We were all very pleased at how many certificates  were awarded to the children during assembly too-the children obviously all work very hard and make great efforts in their school work.

We thank Mr Chris Andrew (Head teacher), Mr Martin Ruddy  (Deputy Head) and Mrs Nicole Mezzela for arranging this amazing  opportunity and for arranging all the cards and pictures for us too.

Nicole Mezzela & Barbara Parfitt delivered a huge amount of goodies to us this week from  the children who raised money to but the goodies, We were showered with biscuits, chocolates, some beautiful poinsettias for each floor and a beautiful handmade Christmas card for every resident in the home. We are so grateful for this lovely donation-everyone was  truly delighted.

Thank you again St James and we look forward to joining you all again very soon.

On Thursday 3rd December, our visiting suite was in use for the first ever time. The first visit was very successful, with lots of really positive feedback. The family really enjoyed their visit with their daughter and complimented us on how well the appointments were managed, how easy the booking system was to navigate  and how the suite was so welcoming on their arrival. Overall, a very positive visit!