Welcome to our

Winter 2012 Newsletter

events the home enjoyed during autumn

Olympic Moments THE SENIOR OLYMPICS Our recent trip to the Senior Olympics was a roaring success; we managed a more than respectable 4th place, thanks to all the residents who came along and tried so hard and thanks to Moira for doing whatever was needed. THE olympic TORCH RELAY As you can see we had a great time watching the torch come through loanhead, both sides of the street were packed but thankfully everyone made way for us when they heard where we were from! Millie even got a hug from the official torch bearer.

Our Spooky Hallowe’en Party Witches galore, spooky tunes and dooking for apples!

As you can see from these photographs we did participated in every Halloween activity this year. Pumpkin carving, telling ghost stories, baking Halloween shortbread, spooky arts and crafts decorations, making a guy (thanks to all those who donated their pennies) even “dookin” for apples! Everyone got it to the spirit of things wearing witches hats or monster hairdo’s for our Halloween reminiscence session. With all involved happy to share their own recollections of how they’ve marked the occasion in the past. The general consensus being that it’s an American thing and just about companies making money! Many thanks to all those who got involved to make this day a little different.

outings the home enjoyed during autumn

One Voice

A day of fun and song - and pink “hen party” hats! Many thanks to the activities coordinators at Archview Nursing Home in Dalkeith for inviting us, along with several other nursing homes from Mid Lothian, to take part in a singing event they organised called “One Voice”. An excellent afternoon of musical entertainment including bag pipers, dancers, a Shirley Temple impersonator, and solo spots from the more talented attendees including a 10 minute acapella yodel! What more could you want? Even an appearance from everyone’s favourite McBear!

The organisers of this event really put a lot of work into it and we were very grateful for being invited along. The Pine Villa staff were a little suspicious when we returned though, as we were all wearing bright pink hats with “Hen Party” written across the front. Apparently the hats had been kindly donated to the event by a local business, and we strenuously deny accusations that we were sat in a pub, (although the event was held in a pub - Dalkeith Miners Club, we were just there for the singing!)

Messing About on Boats With the help of The Seagull Trust A truly great experience, gently sailing down the Union Canal on an old canal barge being served cups of tea and chocolate biscuits, could there be anything quite so relaxing? The Sea Gull Trust, a voluntary run organisation, operates two fully equipped barges solely for people with mobility problems. They also have very experienced staff who made our residents feel very safe and well looked after.

birthdays and celebrations

Birthdays in the Home Lots of birthday celebrations over the past month or two, many happy returns to Celena Hall, Isa Campbell, Cathie Millar, Millie White, Nancy Whiteman and Ivy Wallace. Thanks to staff and fellow residents alike for joining in with the families to make these celebrations really special.

Cathie Miller celebrating her birthday on 12th of October

Millie White celebrating her 90th birthday on 21st of October

home activities

Animal Visits Everyone here at Pine Villa loves animals, and over the past few months we’ve been very grateful to a professional dog walker for kindly bringing in an array of fury little friends for us all to dote over! Heres some pictures of a visit from coco, a very friendly dog, who was also quite determined to get under the counter and into the kitchen!

A Spot of Gardening Ivy and Millie keeping themselves active by helping to sweep up the autumn leaves in the garden.

Remembrance Sunday Poppies Thanks to all those generous folks who helped us to raise a few pounds by picking up one of our hand made poppies. All monies raised are used for future activities/trips etc. If you have an interesting idea please come and tell a member of staff and we’ll try and make it happen.

Dominoes A great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Not only does it pass the time but it’s great for helping the brain stay active!

general home news

Work Experience Many thanks to Athier from Lasswade High School who was with us for a week in November. Such a professional attitude for someone so young, only 15 years old. He previously had no interest in the health care sector and had originally applied to complete his work experience with an IT company, no doubt looking forward to spending his week sat in a nice warm comfortable office messing about on the internet. Luckily for us he took to the role like a duck to water, getting on well with all the residents, families and more importantly getting on with our manager. Athier also survived the compulsory sign language lesson from Ivy. Good luck with whatever it is you decide to do in the future from everyone at Pine Villa.

Home Refurbishment Many thanks to all those concerned, for their patience whilst we finish our refurbishment. Disruption has been kept to minimum and we now have the lounge and conservatory almost completed, the residents have been a great help deciding how the rooms should look.

Millie has strong views on the choice of soft furnishings and flooring during the refurbishment

Ivy Wallace also helps out with the flooring choice ably assisted by Stephen, our activities coordinator

events we’re planning this winter

There are quite a few dates on the Advent Calendar we are looking forward to this December!

8th December Christmas party Our Christmas Party at 1pm. Live entertainment, raffle prizes, lucky dip and home baking! All welcome to join in the festive fun!

12th December Christmas Concert We’re looking forward to a night out to the Christmas concert at Loanhead Library which starts 7.30pm, playing will be local bands Loanhead Brass Roots and Loanhead Brass Youth.

21st December - Carol Service Come along and join in the fun at our carol service at Pine Villa at 2pm on Friday 21st December. Gather with us round the Christmas tree with a mince pie and a glass of sherry. Not being able to sing is not an excuse for not joining in!

And In The NEW YEAR… New Year’s Day Forget about the mountain of debt you’ve accumulated over Christmas - instead join us at Pine Villa on New Year’s Day afternoon and relax with a glass of wine! JANUARY We’ll be celebrating Burns Night with poems, haggis for lunch and traditional pipe music. FEBRUARY Romance comes to Pine Villa in February as we celebrate Valentine’s Day with love poems, romantic music and themed arts and crafts.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year! from all the staff and residents at Pine Villa We hope you enjoyed reading the first of our newly styled newsletters. We plan to issue one 4 times a year, in line with the seasons. If you need to get in touch with us here at the home, please feel free to contact us using any of the methods below. PINE VILLA 4 Hawthorne Gardens Loanhead EH20 9EE Tel: 0131 440 3324 Fax: 0131 448 0866 Email: [email protected]

www.mansfieldcare.co.uk