Socially-distanced celebrations

Encapsulating lockdown

Customers and staff at Pathways, our supported living scheme in Bexhill-on-Sea , marked the past few historic months in their own special way.

Staff and residents at Pathways in Sussex wanted to find a positive way to commemorate this unique period of human history. They created a time capsule and buried it in the garden for someone to find in the future.

They all filled in an information sheet which asked questions such as “what are you missing?”, “who are you keeping up with and how?” and “what will you do first when lockdown is over?”. They added them to the capsule alongside items of interest, including: • a Bexhill Happy Stone • a bottle of wine (it’ll mature with age!) • a photo of the team • an NHS rainbow • letters from Downing Street, the Pathways manager and

Peabody Chair, Lord Kerslake • plus a coin, stamp and newspaper!

They then wrapped the box up safely to weather-proof it and buried in the garden. Hopefully one day someone will find it and be able to learn first-hand how the Covid-19 pandemic affected everyday life in the UK.

Bernard Brett staff thinking outside the box

Bernard Brett is a scheme in Colchester for young people to support them to find independent accommodation, the staff there have been thinking creatively about ways to engage the tenants and keep the mood light, they baked banana bread for all tenants and left them on their doorsteps. After taking part in a 10-day drawing challenge, customers and staff took to the pavement with chalk to bring more colour to the scheme.

Dave’s dominoes

Dave Sams, Support Worker at Pioneer House, Essex works with customers with a learning disability. He found using dominoes helps to demonstrate how social distancing works: "I placed six dominoes in a row as if they were people. I spoke about the virus and how it is passed on then I pushed the first domino piece which knocked down all the others. Then I stood them up again but removed every other domino. This time when I knocked the front one down the others didn’t fall, showing that the extra space helps the virus to stop spreading.”

Marking VE Day 2020

Marjorie, a resident at Arthur Bliss House in Sussex, celebrated her 110th birthday on 1 August. She was born in 1910, which makes her a supercentenarian (anyone over the age of 110) and one of our oldest residents. While it’s a shame that she couldn’t have the big party that 110 definitely deserves, the team at Arthur Bliss made sure she still had a great day. She received lots of flowers and was visited by her family, as well as getting a telegram from the Queen. Marjorie still loves socialising, and is living proof that you’re never too old for a birthday party, or for birthday cake! Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May marked 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe. Like many others, our staff and customers found ways to safely mark this special occasion.

Residents at Prescott House, a care scheme in Sussex, joined staff for afternoon tea in the garden where they enjoyed plenty of cakes. They also had a sing-a-long to some of their favourite war-time tunes. Lisa Peters, Scheme Manager, said: "Although we were observing social distancing, it was lovely to see everyone putting aside their current worries, even if it was for just a couple of hours."

Meanwhile at Pioneer House, a supported housing scheme in Essex, residents took the opportunity to dress up for the occasion.

While at Avalon House in Grays, Essex (left), customers cooked some special VE Day treats.

We've shown here just a small selection of the activities that took place but we're pleased to say that a good time was had

Meet our ‘Supercentenarian’

by all!

A taste of home

Leander Court and Lomond House in South London received a delivery of patties for our Caribbean elders amongst others from a local group, ‘The Caribbean Social Forum’. The forum was started by “the matured children” of the Windrush Generation in 2015 and currently has over 600 members mainly from the Caribbean and neighbouring countries. The offer of patties was a complete surprise and very well received by the tenants.

We're still celebrating

Our staff and customers have been finding new and creative ways to safely celebrate birthdays during lockdown. Pauline Willson, one of our team members at Here to help Havering, Essex, celebrated her 60th birthday in May. Her team didn’t want her to feel like they’d forgotten, so they went to hold up banners outside her house, and dropped off flowers, cards, and wine. They also sang happy birthday while keeping a safe distance from one another, and even her neighbours joined in!

A magical time at the zoo

Staff and customers from Pioneer House went to Colchester Zoo to boost their wellbeing and celebrate friendships that have blossomed during the lockdown. On the morning of the trip, customers met in the communal lounge of Pioneer House. Cheryl Edwards, Team Manager, was all prepared with a picnic for everyone. Megan Kirkham, Support Worker, agreed to be the map director for the day. As they made their way to Colchester Zoo, customers were asked which animals they would like to see. Anne wanted to see elephants, Lee wanted to see monkeys and Teresa really wanted to As if that wasn’t enough, they also organised a collection to pay for a special afternoon tea to be delivered to her. Pauline said: “What could have been a quiet celebration due to the virus turned out to be a very special day.” This photo was taken

by her son when the afternoon tea arrived. There were also birthday celebrations at Avalon care home in Thurrock. see the lions and tigers the most. They were able to feed the giraffes and elephants in our group of five. The customers loved this and said it was their highlight of the day. Cheryl Edwards, Team Manager said: "What a magical day we all had and the weather was on our side, I'm sure we will never forget the giraffes and elephants - that was truly a special moment we shared together." Everyone took lots of photos throughout the day and before leaving the zoo, they visited the gift shop to get souvenirs. Anne got a little Colchester Zoo magnet, Lee got a leather necklace and Teresa got a lion mug and a tiger necklace. They really enjoyed themselves and have Over at Darwin Court in Southwark, one of our residents, Gladys, turned 102. The staff had attended her 100th birthday two years earlier, and were keen to still do something to mark this occasion. Gladys can’t eat gluten so the staff clubbed together and tracked down a gluten free cake which they delivered to her (while maintaining social distancing and wearing PPE). Gladys is pictured here with Ola Dada, one of the

scheme managers. been talking about their trip to other support workers. Anne Dill said: "I had a very enjoyable day!. It was great to go out with my friends. Thank you Cheryl and Megs for arranging this." Teresa Hipgrave said: "I had a brilliant day. I mostly enjoyed feeding the giraffes and seeing the tigers." Lee Rolph said: "I had a great time at the Zoo with my support workers. It was lovely to see all the animals. love days like this at Pioneer House." Megan Kirkham, Support Worker added: "I had lots of fun with my customers. It was lovely to see them having a good time, truly an amazing day."