This is Buddy our new resident at The Westbourne. He has been living with us for a few weeks now. He enjoys singing and flapping his wings.

On this day our Kitchen Chef prepared a delicious Chicken Curry for our lunch today. One of the residents requested for another plate of it. It was very nice to have a rice meal like this once in a while. Thank you, Joey (Chef)

We all enjoyed eating Gluten-Free Oats Flap Jacks made by our very own kitchen chef. It was served with chocolates dip, colourful sprinkles and marsh mallows. Some other residents had time to decorate their own flap jack before eating it. It was fun and healthy day for everyone.

Annette, Barbara, Louvain and I was in charge of writing our Christmas cards which were delivered to our neighbours throughout the festive period. Community spirit is very important to us and this is one way our residents wanted to show support. Christmas is such a beautiful time of year when everyone comes together and even though we may not know all our neighbours we wanted to make sure they knew we are thinking of them.

As our home is set over three floors we had three beautiful trees to decorate over the festive period. Our residents selected a different colour theme for each floor and we picked the best decorations to fit and each tree had a hand made decoration on made by our residents and staff. Our trees were decorated by our residents and we made sure that it was how they would want it to be in their own home, obviously there were some tricky decorations for the top of the trees but these were put on safely by our carers.

We have a Reminiscence Suitcase full of lovely information about the Norfolk Broads from the local library. The residents enjoyed talking about their holidays on the broads, looking back at photos and giggling at the floral hats, yellow polka dot swimsuits and trying on sunglasses.

Christmas this year was a little different to planned, as we unfortunately had to close our doors to visitors.

Our Lifestyle team had to strip back the planned activities programme to make sure we were putting the health and safety of those living with us first. This did not stop us from making sure the spirit of Christmas remained, something which was integral to keeping up moral and boosting the wellbeing of those living and working here alike.

We all know how it’s been a struggle for so many this last 2 years. River View thinks is really important to not just look out for the people around you but further afield also. Age UK’s Dementia Café in Reading and Newbury were able to restart again in November. River View were able to offer a hamper as a welcome back to meeting gift and then again as a Christmas raffle and goody bags for each family to take home. Debi was able support the cafes event and served tea and had great conversations. December’s group was a Christmas singalong which everyone enjoyed.

Happy New Year from Windmill Court

River View welcomed the harmonious sounds of the Pangbourne Brass Band recently. Once again, we wrapped up warm to listen to their sounds in our gardens. They have some unique talents in the group, with several members having performed and the London Palladium only days earlier. We thank them all for their performance and look forward to welcoming them again.