March 2023 Newsletter
St Anthony's Newsletter March 2023
March was a busy month in our care home including Nutrutuonal and Hydration Weerk, a birthday surprise for one of residents, farm visits and more! Here are our March highlights:
Nutritional and Hydration Week At St Anthony’s
Nutrition and Hydration Week has taken place every March ever since 2012 the purpose of this event is to bring people together to create energy, focus and to highlight and educate people on the value of food and drink in maintaining health and wellbeing in health and social care.
We started of by displaying posters, and information on the importance of good nutritional and hydration around our corridors . We set up hydration stations with orange juice, apple juice, lemon juice, blackcurrant juice fresh water, tea, flavoured tea, ice tea’s , coffee and milk with snacks in our open dinning space where our residents were encouraged to explore there taste buds, followed by a informative activity which our activities coordinator presented on a PowerPoint Presentation.
Happy Birthday.
A simple celebration, a gathering of family and friends; here's to wishing you great happiness and a joy that never ends.
May you be gifted with life’s biggest joys and never-ending bliss. Happy Birthday Michael what a lovely evening it was celebrating Michael's Birthday.
Happy St Patricks Day
What a wonderful marvellous St Patricks Day we had at St Anthony’s we always enjoy celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, and this year has been no exception. We decorated our home with Irish bunting. Our residents has the opportunity to participate in a variety of arts and Crafts activities. We had Irish themed intergenerational music sensory which they really enjoyed.
Happy Mother’s Day:
We hosted a special coffee morning for our lovely ladies and we couldn’t have asked for more of a special day for our ladies on Mother’s day thank you to everyone who joined us to make the day special it was so lovely to watch everyone make beautiful memories.
One of our lovely ladies, commented that what an amazing event it was me and my family thoroughly enjoyed it, we made some truly wonderful memories and enjoyed all the treats.
Thankyou very much for taking the time to read our monthly news letter. If you have any suggestions and want to recommend any future activities or even be part of an activity please reach out to us. you can contact us on 0121 373 7900 or email haseena@st-anthonys.co
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023
Wishing You a Happy New Year.
Welcome Everyone – We hope you had a wonderful and enjoyable new year.
There is nothing like one year ending and another year starting to remind us all At St Anthony’s that time moves so quickly.
Lets all take a moment to remember the joys the laughter, the success and the challenges the old year brought as it passes.
We take this beautiful opportunity to look around with gratitude at our beloved residents, family, and friends and remember with love and warmth the loved ones we have left behind.
The Proprietors, Managers, and all the staff at St Anthony’s residential Home would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. May this year be filled with new adventures and good fortunes for everyone.
Activities Galore
We have been very Busy at St Anthony’s this month as the residents took part in a wide variety of activities from Puzzles and games.
We introduced some new Jigsaw’s to our collection, our residents joined in a small group to complete the puzzle's. One of the best things about puzzles is how versatile they are everyone enjoyed taking part.
Scrapbooking
This month we have also been Scrap booking it has been a wonderful activity for our residents to stimulate and reminiscence as well as take them down memory lane. Residents who took part were given their own scrapbook and then encouraged to stick photos and images that remind them of their life. This activity was also a very useful tool to help our staff to get to know our residents a little more.
Exercise classes
However, it doesn’t just stop there our residents also took part in exercise classes to help boost there mood, improve strength and generally make them happier and more be more content. Everyone really enjoyed this and expressed how happy they were when taking part in such activities.
Poetry Club
The residents also joined in with the poetry club this month and the theme we focused upon was love and peace they really enjoyed this and reflected on the good times.
This newsletter is for the benefit of resident’s families and staff. We hope you enjoy reading it
November Newsletter 2022
Happy November
Lets start this months News letter off with a BANG
The care team at St Anthony's have been working extremely hard to make this Halloween and Bonfire night/ Remembrance day transition as easy as possible with a month full of joy and entertainment. come and have a look what we have been up to in November.
On the 5th of November we celebrated Guy Fawkes by arranging a small fire display to take place within St Anthony's Garden, where our residents and staff had a lovely evening whilst they watched our live display and sipped on a warm terry's hot chocolate which went down a treat.
One of residents commented " I have really enjoyed this evenings display it really has brought back some lovely memories from when i was a child".
However, the fun didnt just stop there, the staff at St Anthonys also organised a bonfire workshop where the residents were able to get crafty using items they found in the garden along with plenty of Glitter, plaint, fabrics and all things crafty to create there own pieces of art. It was a very enjoyable day with plenty of reminiscing. Please see below examples of some of the amazing work the residents completed within the workshop.
REMEMBRANCE DAY
At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – we will remember them.
Here at St Anthonys we made a great start to remembrance day where we decorated the whole home in memory off all those lives that was affected by conflict in World War 1.
Our residents really wanted to do something special and unique to pay respect to our fallen heroes, and with a number of our elderly residents having fought through or lived through the wars, we know it is a day close to their hearts.
Our residents began gearing up for Remembrance Day early by creating poppies to decorate the lounge. They spent the morning creating the display, before turning the home into a proper service to our fallen heroes.
A period of silence was held at 11am at St Anthony's to mark the day world war one ended, at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918.
Joanne our Registerd Manager said;
"It was a special day. Marking an occasion that means something to them brings back memories. It is a meaningful occasion and it was lovley to see that all the residents joined in various activies that was set out for them throughout the day.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
We recieved such a great response from families and friends in our last trip down memory lane edit that we have decided to carry on bringing joy and happiness to our readers by making it a monthly occurrence.
BRIDGET KIERNAN
This month Bridget spend time with our Care Manager Jessica Morris on a one to one activity where she shared her life experiences and reminisced about all the good times.
About me
I was born in 1934 my place of birth was Porthall hilford Dongal Ireland i lived with my mum and dad my Mothers name was Bridget Gallagher and my Fathers name was Joseph Gallagher who was a land manager.
I was the second oldest out of six children. My mum sadly passed away when i was eight years old, i left school when i was fourteen to look after my younger siblings.
I always liked to look my best, i loved nice clothes, bags and shoes , i always had my hair done weekly and liked to keep my nails short and painted.
When i was 20 i left Ireland to work in the singer sewing machine factory in Glasgow i sprayed the machines it was hard work !
I even had to work on Christmas day we had fish and chips for Christmas lunch.
I was a theatre nurse until sadly i watched a child pass away on the operating table.
I married my husband Joe on the 3rd of August in 1963 i was given away by my father Joe and Married a Joe.
We then had three children Theresa, Joseph and Siobhan.
Social Activities and interests
I went to mass at the Abbey Catholic Church in England in Erdington every Sunday and i regularly say my prayers.
I also enjoyed a girls night out and the chance to dress up whenever possible.
People who are important to me now.
Meet my beautiful children and their beautiful families, my family mean everything to me. A little message to my family :
"You all don't just mean the world to me, you are my world and i love you with all my heart"
If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see or hear about in the future issues, then please get in touch by emailing info@st-anthonys.co we always love to hear from you.
Thank you.
St Anthony’s Celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee in Style.
As the nation came together to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, St Anthony’s Residential Home Held a Platinum Jubilee Garden Party on Friday the 3rd of June 2022 . The team and residents at St Anthony’s were very excited to welcome everyone to the celebration.
The team planned and prepared amazing decorations and entertainment to make sure their residents enjoyed a weekend of red, white and blue including bunting, fantastic music, dancing, games and even a visit from the Queen herself who went around each person at the party to take a memorable selfie.
Our residents and their family members were treated to an amazing buffet lunch made by our wonderful staff team which included a variety of finger sandwiches, savory nibbles, and home-made sweet treats. We adapted the buffet to our resident’s and their family members’ dietary requirements to ensure nobody was left out. We were extremely lucky that the weather stayed lovely and warm so that our live singer Emma could perform and entertain us with a mix of songs from the decades. Some residents held hands with their fellow family members whilst tapping there feet to the music, some of our more energetic residents had a dance with their loved ones.
One resident recalled. It was such a memorable day it reminded me of when my husband and I arranged a street party, I would like to thank everyone who made it into a special day.
We wanted to thank the St Anthony’s team for putting in great effort and making this a special occasion and making our vision come true not only for our residents but for their beloved family members. We would also like to thank the family members for buying tickets and for making it a truly joyous afternoon.
We hope to have many more Garden parties here at St Anthony’s.
St Anthony’s Celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee in Style.
As the nation came together to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, St Anthony’s Residential Home Held a Platinum Jubilee Garden Party on Friday the 3rd of June 2022 . The team and residents at St Anthony’s were very excited to welcome everyone to the celebration.
The team planned and prepared amazing decorations and entertainment to make sure their residents enjoyed a weekend of red, white and blue including bunting, fantastic music, dancing, games and even a visit from the Queen herself who went around each person at the party to take a memorable selfie.
Our residents and their family members were treated to an amazing buffet lunch made by our wonderful staff team which included a variety of finger sandwiches, savory nibbles, and home-made sweet treats. We adapted the buffet to our resident’s and their family members’ dietary requirements to ensure nobody was left out. We were extremely lucky that the weather stayed lovely and warm so that our live singer Emma could perform and entertain us with a mix of songs from the decades. Some residents held hands with their fellow family members whilst tapping there feet to the music, some of our more energetic residents had a dance with their loved ones.
One resident recalled. It was such a memorable day it reminded me of when my husband and I arranged a street party, I would like to thank everyone who made it into a special day.
We wanted to thank the St Anthony’s team for putting in great effort and making this a special occasion and making our vision come true not only for our residents but for their beloved family members. We would also like to thank the family members for buying tickets and for making it a truly joyous afternoon.
We hope to have many more Garden parties here at St Anthony’s.