We were delighted to take part in the Newton Aycliffe pumpkin trail this year for all of the children who won’t get to go trick or treating. We decorated all of the windows in the home in the home that the children passing would give us a wave as they went by on Halloween.

There was some mix up's made in plastic pumpkin buckets for the children to pick up on the way past.  We hope you all had a happy Halloween and hope to see you next year for some trick or treats instead.

We had a wonderful morning doing our arm chair exercises at Rose Lodge and even took a little video of us having a bit of fun doing the YMCA dance with  Diane, one of our activity coordinators and one of our care staff, Leanne.  Imagine how delighted we were to hear that over 8,000 had watched our video and it had been shared over 60 times.  

We feel like lockdown has created some master bakers at Barnes Court.  

We have made cherry, treacle and choc chip cakes this month, along with spooky cookies and a delicious lemon drizzle cakes.  The kitchen smells amazing when they are in the oven and we all look forward to enjoying them with a cup of tea on our own floors and a catch up of the day.

There has been a lot of Halloween activity at Barnes Court in October.  We have enjoyed baking spooky ghost biscuits, dressing up and having our faces painted for the Halloween party and enjoying some delicious treats which were donated by out local Family Shopper.  Thank you so much.

We had a try at making our own flower arrangements at the home in October to brighten up the home with Autumn themes.  We used blocks of oasis to hold the flowers in place in a vase and then added roses and greenery to the display.  We were really happy with the results and Stacey, our activities coordinator, at the home told us all about when she used to be a florist and the displays she created for weddings and Valentine's Day which we are looking forward.  Next month, we are going to make our own Christmas wreath for the bedroom doors.

Many of our residents at Garden Hill used to be a dab hand in the kitchen.  Activities have changed quite a bit since lockdown but one of the residents favourite activities is home baking and they decided to make their own apple cake.  They mixed the ingredients for the base, chopped their own apples and made the glaze before our cook popped it in the oven for us.

We enjoyed the cake with a cuppa and a chat in the afternoon.

Food is an important aspect of any home and here at Field View your choice of breakfast is always served every morning whether it be a full breakfast, cereal or even kippers. 

When a resident requested kippers for breakfast twice a week he wasn't sure whether this would be a request we could help with but was thrilled when two mornings after the request he was served kippers for breakfast alongside our other choice's on the menu.

We are firm believers that charity begins at home and at Field View this is the ethos we live by.  On 23rd October residents and staff dressed in pink and donated money to Breast Cancer Awareness and raised £200 for charity.  The residents had a lovely day wearing pink and enjoying pink cakes and tea.

We had some fantastic celebrations over the Halloween weekend.  We started with a Halloween party on Friday and had a lovely time playing pass the parcel, pin the tail on the cat, apple bobbing and then the staff entertained us with Time Warp dance.  We had a good sing and dance and enjoyed some Halloween cakes.

We had lots of Birthdays at Earsdon in October including Millie who is celebrating her 88th birthday with plenty of cake with her friends in the home.