This is Abingdon Court's take on Valentine's Day.

The residents enjoyed creating their very own Valentine's Day cards, which were given to loved ones and others in the home. 

These were then hung in the garden outside, sitting beautifully for all to see.  

We enjoyed a trip to the local pub this month at Willowdene Care Home.  

It was Friday afternoon and the people who live with us fancied a trip out to one of the local pubs called the Dun Cow in Sedgefield.  

We ordered a taxi and went to the pub for lunch picking our favourite things from the menu.  

Everyone had a great Friday afternoon, and we went back to the home, tired and sleepy from a lovely lunch but not too full we couldn’t enjoy a cup of tea and cake when we got back.  

Our Brambles unit has started the Just Bowl competition for the home this month and staff and family members enjoyed getting involved in the competition with the people who live with us.  

The plan is to have a competition in the Brambles, Hollies and Lodge and the top two winners come together to see which unit becomes the Just Bowl winners for the quarter.  

There was lots of laughs and suggestions at how to bowl the top score from relatives and staff but ultimately it all comes down to skill and our lucky winners are excited to be in the home finals.

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon in January playing the parachute game.  

Not only do the people who live with us love the game, but it also encompasses our “More” programme which embraces all elements of mind, body, and soul.  

We always play their favourite songs which always encourages singing and lifts the soul and then hand coordination engages the mind and movement the body.  

This month we enjoyed getting back out into the local community and went round to the local PCP to grab a cup of tea and some biscuits.  

Before COVID our residents went to various activities at the PCP including garden club, coffee mornings and craft events and it was great to get back into the community and enjoy some tea and treats with the team at the PCP.  

Who doesn’t love a slice of lemon drizzle cake?  During one of our coffee mornings, we chatted about favourite cakes and a few of the people who lived with us mentioned home-made, lemon drizzle cake.  

One of the ladies remembered a recipe her gran taught her so we thought we would give it a try and see how it turned out.  

We mixed the butter, flour, eggs, and sugar together before grating the zest of a lemon and adding it to a loaf tin.  

Charity has always been close to the heart of staff and residents at Field View Care Home and this year is no exception.  

We have started collecting for the Hartlepool Baby Bank Charity, a local charity close to Field View who are collecting nappies, clothes, toiletries, bed pads, baby gates for the charity as well as supplies for the new mums.  

Each year the home nominates a charity which means something to either the staff or residents and to benefit the local community .  

We were delighted to start up our coffee mornings in February and in preparation, our Chef Moira baked the most glorious carrot cake.

The people who live with us and family members met to enjoy a cuppa, cake, and catch up and chatted about what was happening in the news now and future events our lifestyle team have planned this morning including Valentines Day and Shrove Tuesday.  

We look forward to more people coming next time to our coffee morning and joining us for one of Moira’s gorgeous cakes.

The people who live with us were delighted to welcome Zante fox and friends to the home with their owner Steve. 

We met the gorgeous TJ his white rat, Valentine the Dove, Freddy the corn snake and Sapphire the barn owl before the star of the show Zante the fox. 

Such a wonderful visit and our residents loved meeting all of Steve’s animals, many wanting to keep them.

Last month our lifestyle team, Jay, and Aimee, thought they would repurpose an old medication trolley and make their very own musical tuck shop which they could take around the units here at Astor Care Complex.

First, they decorated the outside to create something more vibrant and livelier for the residents and then they stocked the inside with flavoured coffees, crossword puzzles, sweets, chocolates, and toiletries and added some music to the trolley and some funky shades.

The people who live with us loved it and everyone wanted a turn of the shades.