Sandalwood Court
We have had various entertainers, including James Le Bec, Zing and Jenny Simmonds, Tom from G-Fitness has also been in for our monthly exercises and we have had fun with Tin Can Alley, Coconut Shy, Hoy, Beat the Clock, and Coloured Yahtzee. We've also had quieter times doing jigsaws and playing dominoes as well as autumnal crafts for Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and Remembrance Day.
Friends and family joined us for our Halloween Party. Lots of fun was had by everyone!
What a busy couple of weeks we have had here at Sandalwood! We welcomed on board a new activity champion Tracey, who faced her initiation ceremony with the help of James Le Bec (who came to entertain us) and the residents, by doing the birdie song. Bob Ward has also been along to entertain us with his saxophone and clarinet. We have been enjoying ourselves making autumnal crafts, playing games including the big cheese and basketball, we have learnt a new game called Coloured Yahtzee and have also enjoyed music bingo, lego, jigsaw puzzles and bingo. Then added into the mix of fun we celebrated Joyce's 100th birthday with her family and friends.
We had a lovely afternoon being entertained by James Le Bec and then Steve O and enjoying cream teas with our families.
We had hoped to be in the garden but although the weather was nice it was rather breezy, so we enjoyed ourselves inside with the door open.
Thank you to everyone who came along to support us.
We had a lovely afternoon with James Le Bec (Sing along Jim as he is fondly known to the residents).
Singing many songs from the 1930's and 1940's as well as a music quiz where the residents got all 10 tunes right well done.
Towards the end of the afternoon we had a rendition of Land of hope and glory and flag waving followed by the national anthem. Then ending the whole afternoon with songs by the forces sweetheart Vera Lynn.
We have had different craft sessions where we made forget-me-nots for Dementia action week, then began work on a canvas to create a button tree. We had bingo and time to chill, we enjoyed some music whilst we were with family in the garden. We have also had a visit by a childminder and had great fun playing with the balloons and basketball.
Jenny Simmonds came to entertain us all with a big sing along waving our flags for VE day, then Jess came to sing and play the guitar for us and brought along her son Sonny who very much stole the show!
A lovely day at Sandalwood Court yesterday, celebrating our long service awards. 145 years combined! Thank you to everyone who attended and joined in with all the fun.
Lyubka is from Bulgaria and we decided to celebrate Orthodox Easter with her and sharing in some of the traditions.
We began by using the greeting "Hristos voskrese!" ("Christ has risen!") then the response was "Voistina voskrese"! ("Indeed, He has risen"), then we tried some traditional sweet bread called "Kozunak" and Lyubka shared some of the ingredients that she could remember to make it.
This was followed by the traditional Egg Tapping competition, which meant tapping each other's brightly coloured hard boiled eggs and the egg that did not crack was the winner.
Our final was between Agnes and Barbara and our lucky winner was Barbara.
Everyone said they really enjoyed sharing in this celebration and learning something new.
The residents of Sandalwood joined other groups from Corby, for afternoon tea, with bingo and a raffle and entertained by Elvis.
Agnes, Alec, John, June, Kath and Susan said they had a wonderful afternoon, and it was lovely to share with some family members as well.
Minnie Hodson's 100th birthday celebrated at Sandalwood Court with all of her family and friends around her. Minnie has been a life long Leicester city football supporter and received a card from the football team, her love of the sport was shown in her 100th birthday cake made by Julie. Minnie also received a card from King Charles and Queen Consort which Minnie cherishes as one of her favourite programmes is the crown and she loves the Royal family. A piper also attended Minnie's party where she enjoyed listening along with another resident Lizzie who is also 100.
Each of our lovely ladies received a flannel made into a Teddy Bear with 2 soaps, which were made by Janet one of our activity champions. This was to celebrate Mother's Day.
We also celebrated a birthday!
Residents and family joined together on Saturday 9th March to celebrate Lizzie's 100th Birthday, entertained by John O'Donnell.
Lizzie said she had a wonderful day, and couldn't believe she was 100 years young.
She was very proud of the card she received from the King and the Queen Consort, jokingly saying, this is the King, but I don't know who the woman is because I am the Queen.
Lizzie said she was thankful for such a lovely day and said she had a wonderful day.
Our St. David's Day craft and our lovely display.
We made daffodil bunting, leeks, welsh love spoons, welsh lady bunting, and salt art daffodils. Sandalwood Court would like to say Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus. Happy St. David's Day!
The residents were busy with crafts making some beautiful decorations, then Lizzie drew the winning staff valentine's hamper raffle and the lucky winner was one of our kitchen assistants, Gemma.
We had a lovely afternoon singing with the children, and then a game of number bingo where the children helped residents to find their numbers, the children then helped to give out prizes to the resident before collecting theirs and taking them home.
We were busy creating our own Tartan by paper weaving, then created our version of a haggis using wool and paper and then made our Scotsman, all to create our lovely Burn's Night Display.
The residents of Sandalwood enjoyed reading Christmas Cards, that had been kindly hand written, sending seasons good wishes by students of Brook Weston Academy.Happy New Year to you all.
We enjoyed opening presents on Christmas day following a lovely Christmas dinner.
Then we really enjoyed Hogmanay with father and son pipers Ian and Ian Hildreth playing the bagpipes wishing everyone a Happy Hogmanay, and sending the greeting "Lang may yer lum reek!"
Here at Sandalwood we wish all our family and friend a very peaceful and prosperous new year.
We have done various Christmas crafts recently including table decorations, tree decorations, potato printed snowflakes, and we made and decorated gingerbread men for tea-time.
We had carols from a youth band and have been entertained by James Le Bec! Residents also enjoyed a Christmas sing along and music quiz, then Lesley Ann and Katie Rose helped us celebrate at our Christmas Party.
St. Patrick's Primary School Choir visited us today and sang some beautiful Christmas carols to us.
After they finished singing they came around and chatted with the residents about what they would like for Christmas and asked the residents about their Christmases and the sort of things they used to get for Christmas.
Miniature donkeys, Tallulah and Freya, came to visit us and they brought along their handler Helen, but only because she brings the treats!
The residents enjoyed coming to make a fuss of the donkeys and John and Jean, recreated the nativity scene by dressing up as Mary and Joseph.
Sandalwood Court residents enjoying the piper Ian Hilldreth remembering St. Andrews Day.
Our Halloween celebrations began back in the summer when we started to make Halloween decorations, we have continued throughout autumn, then put it all together to make a display. We also had a poetry corner, where we gave our thoughts of Halloween and re-jigged the words to create a poem! A game of Halloween bingo was played, then with the help of Neil Richardson to entertain we had a wonderful Halloween party, with plenty of singing and dancing and spooky cakes, hot dogs and spicy soup to eat. The staff helped to make the day extra special by dressing up.
Our activity champion at Sandalwood Court, Janet, wrote to Buckingham Palace to inform His Majesty of how much the royal family meant to Minnie and the joy her visits with her family to Sandringham brought her.
A letter was received from the palace and Janet read the letter with Minnie, she was overwhelmed that they had sent good wishes to her.
Alec, Betty, June and Jean from Sandalwood Court, took a walk to the local pub, and stopped off to see the Haunted House opposite. We then enjoyed a drink in the pub, and met the coven of witches who live there!
The residents of Sandalwood said a sad farewell to Father Anthony who has led us in worship every 2 weeks for many years, they made him a card and a collage and bought him a mug to remember us. We welcomed Helen and Tricia who will be leading a communion service until a new vicar is in post.
We had our Autumn Fayre last Saturday.
A lovely day was had by all and the weather was beautiful.
A big thank you to everyone who came and supported us here at Sandalwood.
We have had a fun filled weekend at Sandalwood Court...
We started off with some Abstract Art using pompoms, everyone loved getting crafty.
We had a game of Hoy, and then Steve O came to entertain us!
On Sunday morning we made some music (nicknamed Sandalwood's Sunday Sounds), followed by an afternoon cabaret with a new comer to Sandalwood, John O'Donnell.
Residents at Sandalwood Court have been busy recently...
We enjoyed an afternoon in the garden listening to Bob Ward the Saxophonist, then we made some chocolate krispie cakes for teatime! We've also been busy making necklaces for a forth coming fayre and have enjoyed a game of basket ball.
Residents have been busy doing jobs around the home for the Role Swap Day at Sandalwood Court!
Cooking, cleaning, gardening and even manning the phones! Everyone had a great day joining in with the Role Swap Day.
Sandalwood Court had a lovely pamper morning having there hair and nails done. This was followed by a fun afternoon making some pizzas! The following day we had a visit from some of Lodge Park Academy students and their teacher who has been delivering newsletters to us about the history of Corby!
Our residents at Sandalwood court enjoyed making marble paper using shaving foam and food colouring followed by a sing along! We also enjoyed a trip to the local pub for a drink and chat followed by a lovely visit from G-Fitness!
Our herb garden which was set up by our resident Albert Morgan and his daughter, Alistair who is pictured and can be seen with Paula (senior cook) cutting some herbs ready for Paula to use in her cooking.
Residents, family, friends and staff of Sandalwood Court enjoyed a coronation party fit for a King, entertained by Neil Richardson, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.
Our residents were very busy last week getting ready for the coronation by doing crafts, making a wall hanging depicting important items for the king and creating their own stamps with the kings effigy. In between their hard work they managed a game of bingo and a game of basketball.
Our ladies enjoyed an afternoon of delicious food, free games of bingo and raffle and entertainment by Barbarita Music Group. Jean had a lovely surprise meeting an old school friend and enjoyed some chat and catch-up time. Jean, June, Joan, Pauline, Kath and Rose said they had a wonderful afternoon and it was a lot more than they expected and send a big thank you to Corby Lions Club.
We started off by making Easter Chicks, Bunnies and Eggs to create the pretty Easter scene! We then got busy making Easter Bonnets, whihc we proudly showed off.
Sandalwood Court residents enjoyed drawing the Easter raffle this morning and eating the Easter cupcakes! A massive thank you to our staff members Alanis, Gerri, Linda and Janet who all took the time to organise and collect donations... also a big thank you to everyone who donated the lovely gifts and hampers! An EGGstrordinary amount of over £800 has been raised for our residents social fund!
Scooby Doo came to visit the residents of Sandalwood Court, bringing his owner Joanna with him. Scooby Doo is a 4 year old Great Dane and the residents really enjoyed making a fuss of him and talking to his owner. He shook hands with residents and even tried to sit on the lap of one of our ladies! Scooby really enjoyed the fuss and attention this afternoon and the residents just loved having him visit. We can't wait for him to come in again next month.
We have been busy preparing for St. Patrick's Day! We've had craft sessions in which our work is now displayed on the finished boards around the home. We have also enjoyed a game of St. Patrick's Day bingo mixed in with some singing of Irish songs.
Tom from G-Fitness visited Sandalwood Court recently, it was very enjoyable and amazing how the residents responded to his class.
They all said they had a really good time and can't wait for Tom to visit again.
Sandalwood Court celebrated International Women's Day - We began last week by making a banner, then our cook made some lovely lemon and chocolate biscuits topped with a women's day logo on them.
We spent time looking at pictures of iconic women in history and discussing what impact they had on our lives. One of our residents, Joan shared with us that Amelia Earhart inspired her to become a pilot and she flew planes across the Atlantic Ocean, another resident, Kath remembers going to school with Margaret Thatcher, (who was a couple of years older than her) at Huntingtower Road Primary School in Grantham, she also recalls very fondly of buying sweets from Roberts corner shop (the birth place of Margaret Thatcher owned by her father Alf Roberts).
We also discussed how important our late Queen, Elizabeth II had been an inspiration too so many people, during her long reign, this led to a discussion of longest reigning monarchs and finding out the three longest reigning monarchs were all female, Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II.
Sandalwood court celebrated St David's Day. Todays activities included arm chair travel with Wales as the topic. The residents enjoyed making the daffodils and participated in painting the displays.
Sandalwood Court residents celebrating Valentine's Day. Each resident received a red rose from Lisa Burder our hairdresser.
Sandalwood residents thoroughly enjoyed receiving their Christmas cards from Hazel Leys primary school this morning.
Elf day at Sandalwood Court today to raise money for Alzheimer's Society, we had Elf Bingo followed by singing and dancing with James Lebec. Also a big thank you to Jprint ltd for the lovely banner which is displayed outside the front of our home wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!
We have been busy with different crafts here at Sandalwood court. Firstly we did some aboriginal dot painting, just using paint and cotton buds, then we painted a pumpkin bunting for the foyer and made bats for the bat tree for Halloween. We also enjoyed an afternoon of fitness with Tom, we had fun with our singers Lesley Ann and Katie Rose, and enjoyed the piano man Chris. When Chris had finished playing, Patrick and June entertained us with their piano skills, then we ended the month with some Halloween bingo fun!
Fantastic to see Lizzie and Sarah from our Sandalwood Court service in the Northants Telegraph. They have been recognised for their outstanding contribution during the past year after being nominated for the annual Shaw Star Awards 2022.
Read the full article here:
https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/people/wellingborough-and-corby-care-home-workers-nominated-at-shaw-star-awards-3887765
Our Alzheimer's coffee afternoon at Sandalwood. It began a couple of weeks ago, with residents helping to create the information board, by making forget-me-not flowers. They enjoyed a hot drink and a cake made by our kitchen.
Residents enjoying the sunshine and enjoying a lovely lunch in the garden
Residents at Sandalwood enjoy a variety of games and activities at the home
Residents at Sandalwood Court are making full use of a new piece of innovative technology that has been purchased following a year-long fundraising effort.
The residents have been very busy with spooky arts and crafts to decorate the home ready for Halloween
This October, the Sandalwood Court team go together to celebrate the long employment service.
Sandalwood Court has received two fantastic five star reviews on google.com.
A few of the residents at Sandalwood Court care home in Corby feature in a short silent movie exploring responses of older residents, in Winchester and Corby, to original archive footage from their local area.