The latest Elmfield house newsletter can be found below.
PDF version click here: May 2018 newsletter
Recent events
May has been a lovely month weather wise with unseasonably warm weather. This has meant that we have utilised our lovely garden.
Many residents have spent afternoons in the sun watching the birds, socialising, playing skittles, eating ice cream or ice lollies and watching the world go by.
We have quite a sun trap in the garden!
We have had daily visits to the duck pond in small groups with staff and residents using wheelchairs who were unable to walk.
We celebrated the Royal Wedding mid- May. We watched the ceremony and build up on television. We painted and colored pictures of the Union Jack flag, the Queen and Royal Guards.
In the afternoon we had an afternoon tea party which was enjoyed by all residents.
Some of the residents spoke about the Royal Wedding for days afterwards.
We had our eggs delivered at the end of April and watched them hatch into beautiful fluffy chickens.
This was enjoyed by all residents and on a daily basis we enjoyed holding the chicks and watched them develop their own personalities.
We had four in total as sadly two did not hatch.
We had two yellow chicks and two yellow and black chicks.
We were very sad to see the chicks leave and some residents at their departure.
One resident even told off the lady who came from the farm to collect the chicks accusing her of stealing our birds!
We have had the lovely ladies from Bisley church to do their monthly church service and communion. It was well attended and enjoyed by all.
Our fortnightly outings to the Hen & Chicks remain a highly anticipated event. We all look forward to our lunches over there and we are made to feel very welcome and enjoy delicious meals.
With the warm weather we have been able to attend the Community Café at the Village Hall. Small groups go across to the café and enjoy tea and biscuits or cake.
Tina from ‘High Kicks and Heels’ came to do her monthly show and she was as wonderful as ever. Her melody of popular songs has changed to incorporated new songs into the mix.
A group of residents spent an afternoon planting our herbs in the wooden troughs purchased.
We have 10 herbs growing as well as a tomato plant and two small vegetable gardens.
It is surprising how many green- fingered residents we have.
At the end of May, the first ‘Teas on the rec’ commenced on Bisley Pavilion. Unfortunately, the weather was not nice enough for our residents to go as they feel the cold. These will run from May until August and we will be aiming to attend as many as we possibly can. Each week the money raised goes to a different charity. Last year sometimes excess of £1,000 a week was raised which is a wonderful achievement for such a small village. The ‘Teas on the rec’ is very well attended by all age groups.
Upcoming events
We have the ‘Strictly come dancing’ tea dance on the 6th June. We have hired the mini bus to take us there. This I another very popular event and many residents look forward to the quarterly tea dances at H. G Wells in Woking.
We have been invited to the Parish Garden Party at the Rectory in Bisley on Saturday 16th June. There will be a BBQ, stalls, the Almac band and displays by the local schools.
We have a show in June by Troubadour productions who did a series of shows last year. They bring props, costume changes and their shows tell a story.
Staff and resident changes
We welcome two new staff members:
Vanessa Watson who has joined our bank staff. She has worked in care before and has started her induction.
Samantha Heathcote has commenced induction as a housekeeper.
Sadly, we lost Marion Houlton who has been resident at Elmfield since 2014. She bravely battled with her illness and passed away peacefully in the home on 25/05/18. She is deeply missed by all.
Birthdays
We celebrated Colin Chaldecott’s 89th birthday on 16th May. He enjoyed lunch out with his family and afterwards a birthday tea party with everyone at Elmfield.
Other news
We have some of our DOL’s (Deprivation of Liberty) requests processed recently which we submitted due to having the Digi-locks on our front door and some residents use bedrails to prevent falls out of bed. However, this is restricting liberty of movement therefore we have to inform social workers who assess our justifications and conduct a mental capacity assessment.
Employee of the month
Employee of the month for May has been awarded to Sharon Heywood as she has covered lots of extra shifts when we had staff sickness.
She has also almost finished her level 2 diploma and has progressed very well especially considering that she was offered compassionate leave from her studies whilst grieving.