This week we brought a splash of colour into the lives of the Knights Court residents. We took out our colouring pencils and colouring sheets kindly donated to us by Morrison’s and threw ourselves into to this life enhancing activity. 

At Brunel House we are very lucky to now have 2 pianos for the people living with us to enjoy. Both pianos came from local homes where they were no longer in use and the family were looking to gain a little bit more room inside their houses.  

Thursday has become our regular out and about excursion day, which allows us to once again make great use of the Brunel House minibus.

Face painting for our Rio Carnival Day. We had a fabulous day starting with face painting the staff and residents, Yvonne, Leonard, Nicola and then the head dresses. 

Some of the pictures of the Rio Carnival, getting ready for the afternoon. Cocktails were served, Strawberry Daiquiri and Pimms, lemonade and fruit juices. Our carnival table preparations in the dining room and the conservatory ready for the fabulous buffet. Sandwiches, porkpies, sausage rolls, chips, quiche, taco's and Doritos etc. We also had a lovely fruit cocktail and fairy cakes for dessert. Followed also by the brilliant cake from Jo. 

Today we made salt dough and had great fun making shapes and kneading the dough. This is great for circulation and exercising the hands and fingers and can also be a cause for much laughter. 

At Hope Green we've really started to get creative and this week has been no exception. One of our residents has a particular flair for painting and even has her own work displayed in her room. As you can imagine, she doesn't need very much encouragement to pick up a brush and paint and this week chose to paint a gnome for our garden project. Other residents chose to make teapot crafts as we chatted about the benefits of chatting over a cup of tea with friends. A great time together. 

Smiles smiles smiles at Hope Green as our hairdresser has returned after many months! What a difference a day makes, and what a difference a hair cut makes too! Our hairdressing salon was extremely busy as many residents chose to visit and get themselves treated to a long awaited hair treatment. There was many smiles, conversations and compliments which was wonderful to be amongst. 

We love to keep active at Hope Green and Balloon Tennis is one of our favourite games to enjoy together. With music on in the background too we find ourselves singing whilst playing. Always with lots of laughter and smiles, it's a great way of keeping ourselves moving and building friendships. Fun and friendship is a great combination and very important to us. 

Residents have been busy making colourful shakers and masquerade masks for our Mardi Gras themed party scheduled for the 26th of May. The carnival shakers were made from loo roll, paper towel and Pringle tubes. These were then filled with dried rice, decorated with free wallpaper samples and embellished with feathers, flowers, coloured tape and gems. We had a donation of black masquerade masks which we painted with coloured glitter glue and decorated with bright feathers and coloured gems.