Inside Gossip - November 2012

GossipISSUE 27 | NOVEMBER 2012

Ashmere at the Great East Midlands Care Awards 2012

On Friday 19th October, Ashmere Derbyshire attended the Great East Midlands Care Awards after two members of staff were shortlisted for the awards.

Rose Wheeler, Senior Carer from The Firs was shortlisted for the ‘Dignity in Care’ Award for all her hard work as a Dignity Champion in the home. Kirstie Bowers, Activities Co-ordinator from West Hallam was shortlisted for the ‘Care Activity Organiser’ Award after the changes she’s made to the home after 8 months in her role at Ashmere.

The awards evening was held at the Belfrey Hotel in Nottingham which 500 people from the care industry attended to celebrate the positive changes that these people make to hundreds, even thousands of disabled and elderly people everyday. Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet & Eastenders, was the special guest presenter for the evening who seemed to be a hit with the ladies. Martin explained why he’d said yes to presenting the Care Awards as its something that is very close to his heart. His father in

Law suffered from dementia and although the media portray such a negative representation of care, he experienced nothing but an excellent service at the care home he placed his father in law in before he sadly passed away.

Before the award winners were announced, a 3 course meal was enjoyed by all as well as surprise entertainment from Britain’s got Talent finalists, ‘Faces of Disco’ which everyone enjoyed and had a giggle over.

Then, it was finally time for the awards! We kept our fingers crossed for Rose and Kirstie as the announcements were made. Sadly, they didn’t win but they did really well to get to the final 6 and we’re very proud of them. Both got a lovely award each for being a finalist which we will be displaying in the homes. Congratulations Rose & Kirstie! Everyone at Ashmere had a wonderful night despite not winning and danced into the early morning.

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE...

Which home has been getting busy creating Art?................................PAGE 9

Which home met the Mayoress at the Ilkeston Charter Fair?................. PAGE 2

Which homes have been filmed by the BBC?........................................... PAGE 3Inside

ASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | NOV 2012

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West Hallam go to the Fair!Residents at West Hallam enjoyed a trip to Ilkeston Charter Fair on the day it was opened by the Mayoress. She was kind enough to have a quick chat and a photo with us. It was a trip down memory lane for our residents on how things have changed at the fair which has been running for 860 years. It was a beautiful day walking around all the fairground rides and we all enjoyed a lovely pub lunch afterwards. Thank you

very much to Gill and Steve for helping out on the outing, our residents had a wonderful time!

Ashmere’s Christmas Card CompetitionIts that time of year where we run our Annual Christmas Card Competition. Staff, Relatives and Residents are all invited to take part in designing your own Christmas card. The winner will have their Christmas card used as the official Ashmere Christmas card and sent out to various associates, relatives and staff. Here

are the prizes:

1st - £100 donation to your home’s resident fund and your image on the front of the Ashmere card.2nd - £50 donation to your home’s resident fund and your image on the inside of the Ashmere card.3rd - £30 donation to your home’s resident fund and your image on the back of the Ashmere card.

Be as creative as you like. The only rule in this competition is to ensure the card is Christmas themed. The deadline is Friday 9th November and all entries should be given to the home’s Activities

Co-ordinator. For inspiration, here’s last years winners:

ASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | NOV 2012 ASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | NOV 2012

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Kidsley Grange’s Sponsored Singalong!

On Friday 19th October, all Ashmere homes took part in the Sponsored Singalong to raise money for their residents funds. Kidsley Grange Activities Co-ordinator, Ruth took advantage of the sponsored event by organising entertainment for the residents to sing along to and a buffet for all the residents

and relatives. Their sing along was a great success, lots of people turned up to enjoy a sing along and the entertainment provided. Each home had an award for the best singer, Irene Richmond was awarded the trophy at Kidsley Grange. She was absolutely chuffed! Brenda Tinsley enjoyed a dance to the music, maybe next year we’ll have to have a sponsored danceathon! Everyone enjoyed the huge buffet which was served for all family and residents loved choosing what they would like. They enjoyed it so much

that they have decided to have a buffet style lunch once a month for all to enjoy.

Ashmere Homes enjoy Singing for the Brain

By Mary, Codnor Park Resident

My name is Mary and we recently enjoyed a trip to Duffield and went to a monthly event called ‘Singing for the Brain’ which is organised by the Alzheimer’s Society. I enjoyed the singing, there was one lead singer. The scenery was very good on the way to the session, we all enjoyed it immensely. The BBC were there recording everyone for an episode of ‘Inside Out’ which will be shown in the spring. We sang a lot of songs and I was given a book with the song words in it. Some of the songs we sang were, ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘I do like to be beside the seaside.’ Overall, I liked it because they were old songs. After we had sang, we were given tea and biscuits before getting back on the bus and heading back to Codnor Park.


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NEIGHBOURHOOD NEWSWhat’s going on where you live?

KIDSLEY GRANGEWEST HALLAM

Our lovely hamper for harvest will be drawn on Friday 26th October at our fish, chips & bingo evening. If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning, please see Ruth if you’d like a

ticket.

Our residents have been enjoying Sally Goldsmith from the Arts Impact course on a Friday morning. So far we have drawn and written on each others hands to get to know each other and written a song about our likes. The residents have been having a lovely time and are really looking

forward to the next session.

The Sponsored Sing Along on Friday 19th October was a success with Joan Merriman singing her heart out & winning the trophy for best singer. Well

Done Joan!

*Our Halloween Buffet Tea will be on Wednesday 31st October starting at 5pm. All donations will go towards the resident’s

fund.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Autumn Fair. Everyone had a lovely time and the children enjoyed apple bobbing. Thank you to Sally, Pat and Mel for the beautiful cakes for our cake stall, Sue for Bric a Brac & Kate on Tombola. What a fantastic day raising over £200!

Well done everyone!

*We have a Christmas Panto booked on Tuesday 18th December at 3pm so come and laugh along with loved ones to Aladdin! Followed with a Resident/ Relative Christmas

Party afterwards.

Staff and Residents would like to welcome Brenda Roberts, Brenda Tinsley and Steve Miller to the home. We hope you’re all

very happy at Kidsley Grange!

Our residents have been getting involved in lots of bonfire themed activities, word searches, painting for the bonfire window display and

baking yummy cakes

We have a wide range of events happening at West Hallam. *On the 28th November, we have an auction. Viewing is from 4-6pm and the auction will start at 6.30pm. Tea, Coffee & biscuits will be served. Come and see if

you can find a little gem!

*We have a Clothes Party for our residents on Thursday 8th November starting at 2pm. All

are welcome!

Happy Birthday to Brian Martin who celebrated his birthday recently. The staff made him a beautiful cake! We hope

you had a wonderful day!

On Friday 2nd Nov, we are having a Cheese & Wine tasting evening with a bonfire quiz and fire lanterns. Residents will make a wish before letting them go. Everyone is welcome to join us!


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A huge thank you to Lily, Phyliss, Joyce, Doris and their families for raising in total £45.00 for the Sponsored Singalong and thank you to everyone who joined in and supported us with

singing.

Residents enjoyed a trip out to the Peak Village. Everyone enjoyed doing a bit of shopping, we had a giggle trying on different hats and had a nice

coffee and toasted teacakes.

CODNOR PARKWe’ve had a busy month of birthdays in October. A huge happy birthday to Margaret, Maisie, Dorothy, Peggy & Gwen Saxton. We hope you all had a lovely birthday!

KING WILLIAM

This month we have been busy getting into the spirit of Halloween, the home has been decorated with some spooky things. On the 25th it is our Halloween party from 6pm onwards, everybody is welcome to come along and join us, Kevin and Marie are coming to entertain us and we are looking forward to our families coming as we are also having a themed buffet including pumpkin shaped sandwiches, jelly with worms in (don’t worry they are sweets) and lots more. Staff will be dressing up to bring

a bit of fun to the day.

Everyone is welcome to join us for our Halloween Tea on 31st

October from 5pm.

The Arts Impact sessions at our home are going really well. The residents loved reading their poems out to the group and listening to one another’s poems. Our sessions take place every Thursday morning and the residents are really enjoying them. Relatives are more than

welcome to join us.

Happy Birthday to Ethel & Edna! We hope you have a lovely day!

We continue to enjoy a monthly visit for singing for the brain that Kayleigh, Activities from Codnor Park & Laura, Ac-tivities from The Firs now bring along a resident to join the fun. We are looking forward to the xmas themed session in December. We will be on the TV BBC springtime. Watch this space

for the Ashmere superstars!

Residents loved the Body Shop party, enjoying wine & nibbles and smelling all the soaps &

hand massage.Irene Hilton would like to say a big thank you to her son, John for buying her some lovely

perfume.

For Remembrance Day, we will be letting 24 helium balloons into the sky after residents have sent love to a missed one at 11am

during the 2 minute silence.

We will be holding our Resident & Relatives Meeting on the 1st November at 10.30am with tea &

cake. All are welcome!

We have been discussing bonfire night whilst doing our Autumn displays. Staff asked each resident what they thought of when they thought of autumn. Answers included being cold, fireworks, leaves changing colour, it also brought back a lot

of memories for the residents.


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SMALLEY HALLThis month, 2 members of staff brought in their pet Cockatiels. The residents loved having their company in the lounge and spent most of the day talking to them. They was especially popular with Frank as he used to have a canary. It also made the residents think about the birds they used to send down the mines incase of gas leaks. We will hopefully have them coming in again as they went down really well, and kept the residents talking all day!

This month, we held a film day in the lounge where we dimmed the lighting and put on an old movie called Carousel which is a favourite among many of our residents. Les sat right at the front & sang along to every song on it and thoroughly enjoyed it, he shed a tear watching it as it brought a lot of

memories.

We have a Pink Hamper to give away to one lucky winner. Come and buy your raffle tickets at £1 a strip, to win the pink themed hamper for breast cancer.

We are having a Clothes Party on the 12th November in the afternoon, they are coming with lots of Xmas & Winter woolies so come & treat yourself!

Our resident, Les is now the proud great grandad to two beautiful identical twins, we have been looking at photos together, which we have also printed off for him and put some on his bedroom wall.

We have been very busy baking. Les really enjoys getting his hands dirty & we have made Ginger sponge, Gingerbread biscuits, Jam Tarts, Lemon curd tarts & Coconut cake. We always discuss what worked and what didn’t work when we do

our taste tests afterwards!

All residents enjoyed the Sponsored Singalong. We raised £30 pounds in all which we were pleased with. The best singer award was given to Frank Bown as he sang along to every song without fail and you could hear his voice above the rest. He was very proud of his trophy but did say humbly, ‘what about our Les?’ We said Les had come next, which he was happy with.

Happy Birthday to Phyllis Beardsley who celebrated her 91st birthday on the 18th Oct. We hope you had a wonderful

day!

A huge welcome to Dorothy Woodlands from all the staff and residents at Smalley Hall who has recently moved into our home.

We had our Residents & Relatives meeting on 8th October. It was lovely to all meet up & discuss any issues at the home that need to be resolved. Our next meeting

will be in the new year.

We had Movement to Music visit us last month. Everyone had a lovely time playing all the little

games and dancing to music.

Kevin & Marie entertained the home on the 24th October with their Remembrance Day show. Everyone had a lovely time singing along to some old clas-sics & had a giggle at some of

their costumes.


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Come Dine At King William

On the 26th of September we held another ‘Come Dine With Us’ special, this time it was a French themed evening and we even renamed the dining room, “Le King William” for the night. For the starter, they could choose between Pate, Toast & Salad or French Onion soup with cheese & croutons. For the main, they chose between Coq Au Vin, or Beef Bourgignon, (the whole evening took some pronouncing) and finally for dessert they had the choice of Apple tart or Profiteroles. Lesley & I enjoyed being in the kitchen for the evening and got compliments for our cooking. We raised a fantastic £40 for the resident’s fund. Watch out for our next evening which will be themed around Christmas (Have your Christmas dinner cooked for you!) The date will be confirmed soon.

By Jessica Holmes, Activities Co-ordinator

THE FIRS

We’ll be having a Halloween Buffet at 4pm on 31st October. Everyone is welcome to join us.

We’ll also be having a Bonfire Night Celebration & serving Hot Dogs, Burgers and Peas. Come and join us from 4pm.

We enjoyed a lovely trip to Lit-tle Eaton garden centre near Derby. The residents enjoyed looking at all the fancy Christmas decorations and different plans & colourful flowers. We also looked at the fish & small animals. After all that walking around we had a lovely cup of tea and biscuits in

the cafe.

We have been very busy getting ready for Pink Day to raise money for Cancer Research on 26th Oct. Residents have enjoyed making lots of decorations and signs to make the home lovely and bright. We will also be busy baking lots

of yummy cakes for our stall.

Residents enjoyed a drive around with Codnor Park residents around Chatsworth and its gar-dens, Bakewell & Dovedale. The residents really enjoyed seeing

the Autumn Scenery.

Happy Birthday to Janet Gill & Jayne Gowland celebrating their birthdays this month. Have a

lovely day!

Finally,we’re currently planning a themed night on the 13th Nov for all our residents and their relatives. Keep an eye out for more information in the near future

We’ve been decorating the home ready for Halloween. The residents have enjoyed getting hands on and making decorations for our display and for our special evening. We’re having a Halloween special Bistro Night on 30th Oct. Relatives are all welcome to join us for a 3 course meal. Menus are available from a member of staff.

We are busy organising lots of events & activities for the Christmas period. We have a visit from a choir as well as Santa. We are also having a Christmas party & Panto. More information on these events will be put on posters around the home. Keep

your eyes peeled!

STAFF CORNERASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | NOV 2012

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The FirsHappy Birthday to Laura Adams! We hope you have

a wonderful day!

Codnor ParkHappy Birthday to Jo, Liz and Debbie!

We hope you have a lovely day!

CONGRATULATIONSWest Hallam

Congratulations to Louise Attewell on the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Kelsie.

WELL DONE!West Hallam

Well done to the whole of the West Hallam team for your hard work. We recently had the CQC visit to inspect the home, we’re hoping that the report

reflect all the effort the staff tirelessly put in!

King WilliamHappy Birthday to Casey Andrews & Jackie Fenn.

Have a lovely day!

Kidsley GrangeHappy Birthday to Lynda Bull, Rachel Breheney and Deanna Carlin! We hope you have a fabulous day!

West HallamHappy Birthday to Chloe Holland & Sue Brown.

We hope you all had a fantastic day!

WELCOME!

King WilliamCongratulations to Casey who is expecting a baby girl. Everyone at King William wishes you the best

of luck!

Kidsley GrangeCongratulations to Grace Mbugua on becoming a

grandma to a beautiful baby girl, 6lb 9oz.

Head OfficeHappy Birthday to David Poxton who celebrated his birthday last month. We hope you had a great day!

Valley LodgeWelcome to Janet Ellison who has started as Valley’s new Activities Coordinator. The residents can’t wait to start taking part in the activities

Valley LodgeCongratulations to Rosa Gregory who completed

the Great North Run for Meningitis UK

Meet Head Office’s newest recruit! This is Brian, a German Shepherd puppy who belongs to our partner, David Poxton. He’s always causing mischief when he’s visiting the office but he’s a pleasure to

have around!

ASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | OCT 2012ASHMERE INSIDE GOSSIP | ISSUE 27 | NOV 2012

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Since the last Mutterings I have been holding Roaming Art Workshops around our homes.

This picture is from Valley Lodge and as you can see we all had a lot of fun.

We set up a table with all-sorts of fun equipment from sponge rollers, stampers and copper pan scourers to pens and paint… then we get well and truly stuck in!

The residents have been decorating small painting canvases for door plaques. It has been astonishing to see the variations; I don’t believe any two residents have tackled the creative process in the same way.

It is a messy old project but aprons and hand wipes are always at the ready; all the residents seemed to stay pretty paint free…. just me as usual managing to get paint everywhere!

It was David Poxton who encouraged me to tryout the Roaming Art Workshop format, I think we can safely say it’s been a success and is here to stay!

I must thank Jessica at our King William Home for having the FABULOUS door plaques idea…. then along I come and pinch it for the workshops… Thanks Jess!

And MANY thanks go to Claire from Smalley Hall who comes with me on the workshops to help out... It’s proving to be such a popular event that I need the extra pair of hands to meet the demand.

As this is quite a new process we still have to sort out a programme to get around all our homes but hopefully I will get to see you all at sometime in the near future.

By Michaela Greensmith, Arts Co-ordinator

Art Workshops at Ashmere!

MICHAELA’S MUTTERINGS

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PUZZLE CORNER

Name........................................................... Home.............................................................

Fancy winning a special prize? Simply fill in your details below once you’ve completed the Crossword and hand it to your Activities Co-ordinator or Home Manager.

We’ll choose a winner on the Friday 16th November. Good Luck everyone!

Bonfire Night Crossword

Congratulations to Beryl Blackshaw from West Hallam who won last month’s Puzzle Corner.

Across1. The Monarch at the time when the Houses of Parliament were nearly blown up.3. The season that Bonfire Night takes place4. A loud noise that fireworks make6. He was arrested for treason9. Remember, remember the 5th of .................Down2. A small firework on a stick that you can hold in your hand4. You need a lot of wood to build this5. The opposite of day7. People shoot these into the sky to celebrate Bonfire Night.8. A type of firework, Catherine _________


PUZZLE CORNER

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Despite the changing weather, King William have been quite a few trips this month. We have enjoyed 2 trips to McArthur Glen as this is one of our favourite places to shop. On the 2nd of October, we had a look round the shops and then had a coffee in a cafe there. Whilst enjoying our drinks, Maisie told us all about the shop she used to own. We also went on the 18th with a couple of residents who didn’t get chance to go before. On the 11th of October we went to Peak Village near Matlock, which is very similar to McArthur Glen, we went for the whole day. Gwen and Minnie really enjoyed looking round the shops for some bargains. We also decided to treat ourselves to dinner in the restaurant, Minnie enjoyed lasagne and chips, whilst Gwen had a full pork dinner, we even decided to have a cup of tea and a cream cake afterwards. All that shopping must have built up an appetite. Minnie bought lots of new colouring books and some jumpers and Gwen treated herself to some slippers which she was pleased with. We are currently planning a bowling trip so let me know if you would like to come along.

By Jessica Holmes, Activities Co-ordinator

King William’s Adventures around Derbyshire

Ripley Infants School visit Codnor Park

Codnor Park residents and staff would like to say a huge thank-you to Ripley Infant school for singing their harvest songs to our residents at Codnor Park. They all sang beautifully and it made everyone smile for the rest of the day. We also really appreciated the lovely food hampers they brought in for us. Each pupil had a certificate from the residents to say thank you for their visit. Alan, one of our residents, gave out the certificates to them all. Residents are looking forward to seeing the school again at Christmas time.


Ashmere Derbyshire

90 Glass House HillCodnorRipleyDE5 9QT

Phone: 0845 602 2059Fax: 01773 749 259E-mail: [email protected]

care homes for loved ones.

Ashmere have been caring in Derbyshire for over 25 years. The business has been family owned and run across three generations.

We aim to provide the very best care for residents, providing a range of care from residential, nursing and to Dementia care in our extra care units.

In addition to long term care, we also provide respite care and day care to assist those who are still able to live at home.

If you would like any additional information about the company or services on offer, please contact Rebecca Jones using the details provided on the left or visit our website - www.ashmere.co.uk

POETRY CORNERWith Remembrance Day coming up 11th November, all our homes will be organising something for our residents to remember their loved ones. Here’s John McCrae’s famous Wartime poem in trib-

ute of those we have lost.

In Flanders’ Fields

In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses row on row,

That mark our place and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singling, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow

Loved and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders’ Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;To you from failing hands we throwThe torch, be yours to hold it highIf ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flander’s Fields.

By John McCrae

John McCrae’s poem may be the most famous one of the Great War.The day before he wrote, ‘In Flanders’ Fields,’ one of John’s closest friends was killed and buried in a grave

decorated with only a simple wooden cross. Wild poppies were already blooming between the crosses that marked the graves of those who were killed in battle. Unable to help his friend or other fallen

soldiers, John McCrae gave them a voice through ‘In Flanders’ Fields.’

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Inside Gossip - November 2012