British summer time is welcomed at Mellish House with lots of activities

We took residents for their first cinema outing since the pandemic, the local Quay Theatre do regular cinema showings which we were very welcomed to and well catered for. They have said to us they are hoping to be able reintroduce dementia friendly screenings in the future as well. We took residents to see the film 'The Duke' which they thoroughly enjoyed. It had residents laughing out loud and Grace T even singing out loud to the song at the end of the film. All residents who attended commented at the end how much they enjoyed it, how lovely it was to go out. Residents enjoyed a little arts and crafts session to celebrate 'don't step on a bee day' by making and decorating wooden bee gliders. They tried something new and sensory by creating bee sand art pictures as well. We celebrated National Chocolate day (definitely one that can't be missed for all our sweet tooth and chocolate loving residents!) We took a trolley full of chocolate treats round, played a fun and catchy tune called 'Chocolate Choco Choco' which residents and staff found very fun and enjoyed a fun dance with us as well as the treats.

At the beginning of the month, we had the very exciting new arrival of our Mellish House pets Rhubarb and Custard. Rhubarb and Custard are 8-week-old Guinea Pigs who now live at Mellish and regularly sit with the residents for our animal/pet therapy sessions. They have settled in well and enjoyed slowly getting to know the residents. The residents have also thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and have been so happy to have them snuggling on their laps, hearing their squeaks and nibbling on vegetables.

Once the heatwave had settled a little at the end of the week residents enjoyed a day out to the beach. We went to Clacton and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. residents started by enjoying a picnic on the sand whilst people watching, boat watching, seagull watching/feeding and chatting. We then enjoyed a little paddle in the sea and were pleasantly surprised by how warm the water was. Once we'd dried our feet and got our shoes back on residents enjoyed a walk to the end of the pier. This brought up so many reminiscence conversations of how much the pier had changed since they'd last been and what it used to be like when they were little. Residents were gobsmacked and amazed at all the rides ad enjoyed watching those "brave enough to go on them". After sitting at the end of the pier and enjoying the fresh sea breeze whilst looking out across the sea we all headed back and enjoyed chips and ice cream before heading home.