It's certainly been a summer of unpredictable weather and perhaps you have had plans cancelled or changed due to sudden stormy conditions? The marvellous community behind Embracing Age Isle of Wight did not let heavy rain dampen their spirits at their recent Vintage Afternoon Tea Garden Party fundraiser, pushing on to enjoy a wonderful afternoon and raising over £3,000! Incredible! The money raised will help bring companionship and joy to more care home residents without family and friends or those that are particularly isolated. Rebecca Savage, Isle of Wight Co-ordinator, fills us in on this very special event: The event was held in the beautiful garden of our Island Champion for Embracing Age, Barbara Sargent, and her husband, Alan. Set overlooking the countryside with sheep in the fields and the most beautiful pond adorned with ducks and moorhens who were certainly enjoying the weather more than we were. But despite not being able to enjoy the garden in its full glory, a good time was had by all. Each person was served an afternoon tea on vintage china including sandwiches, three small cakes, a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and a pot of tea to share. Additionally, Pimms and prosecco were available for a donation from the camper van served by volunteers Steve and Snoopy Dog. All-time favourite songs from the 1940s onwards were sung by our fabulous solo artist, Alan Wood (who unfortunately did not play a full set due to the rain), and mime artist Ivan Rendell also entertained the guests. Luckily a few hats resisted the wind to stay in place long enough for the Best Hat Competition, which was judged by our Ambassador, Lady Sally Grylls. This was followed by our Auction led by our fantastic auctioneer, Andrew, and the raffle with lovely prizes generously donated. One of the guests commented, "What a lovely happy party!" and a volunteer helper said afterwards, "I really enjoyed it, what a wonderful event. I'm usually in the kitchen but I really enjoyed waitressing." It's always risky thanking people by name for fear of accidentally missing anyone! However, here are a few people we would particularly like to mention:
You can find out more about Embracing Age Isle of Wight here. We have lots of different ways to get involved as an individual or an organisation and for a range of time and skills, and we would love to welcome you into the team to bring joy and companionship to more isolated care home residents across the island.
0 Comments
By popular demand, we held another summer quiz last week, which dare we say it was even better than last year's!
Around 84 people joined in and it was lovely to see people who had come on their own being welcomed so warmly into teams. Sean Carey, a writer for The Chase, was again an excellent Quiz Master, setting the balance perfectly between questions that were hard enough to be interesting but not impossible. Huge thanks to Sean for agreeing to come back and deliver such an enjoyable quiz. We are so grateful to our volunteer fundraiser, Sarah Ricketts, for organising this fundraising social for the second year running and making it a truly fun evening. One guest sent this fantastic feedback: "I just wanted to personally thank you and your colleagues for what was a great Quiz night on Friday. I am a member of a Quiz team and we try to go to all of the local charity Quiz nights. We all said that this was one of the best we have been to." Special thanks also goes to:
And of course huge thanks to everyone that came along and made it such a fun evening, and supported us so generously! Overall the evening raised a fantastic £1,115 - which will make a huge difference to our projects befriending care home residents and supporting informal carers. A huge success, a highly enjoyable evening and one we are keen to repeat! If you'd like to hear about upcoming events, you can sign up for our quarterly newsletter here.
Huge thanks and congratulations to everyone who is helping us to bridge the generational gap - this award is for you! In particular, many thanks and congratulations to:
- all our volunteers, whatever their age, who give their time to visit residents or bring joy through cards, knitting, and so many other ways of support - the babies and young children of our volunteers who bring so many smiles when they come for visits too - Embracing Age Isle of Wight, pioneering projects with the local girls' brigade making cards for care home residents - Let's Go Outside and Learn for their partnership with us in bringing together schools and care homes through wonderful intergenerational gardening projects - our incredible Schools Liaison volunteers in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames bringing schools and care homes together through other community connections If you'd like to know how you get involved in our intergenerational work, please check out our opportunities here or get in touch. We have opportunities for all ages across the country! You can read GranndNanny's blog on the Awards here. To mark World Kindness Day, we’re sharing the special story of singer-songwriter Amy Faith Morley’s series of care home visits arranged by Embracing Age Isle of Wight this summer. Amy, who lives in Liverpool, generously gave her time to spend a week visiting and performing in care homes along with her husband, Josh, acting as her roadie. We previously shared Amy’s story of blessing older care home residents by gifting them copies of her album “Abide with Me”, which she recorded during the first lockdown, as a gesture of kindness to bring residents hope and to know someone out there was thinking of them. Sharing her music in-person has always been a joy for Amy and she has special memories of playing in care homes over the years. So when Rebecca, our Embracing Age Isle of Wight co-ordinator, got chatting to Amy about the care homes on the island, Amy excitedly agreed to visit the island to support Embracing Age and entertain care home residents with favourite songs and old, well-known hymns.
There were so many special moments during Amy’s visits - below are some highlights. The daughter of one resident was visiting during Amy’s visit and said of her mother, “she does not usually join in the activities but I saw the poster and she does love music. She has not smiled for some time but today I saw her smiling. She has really enjoyed it." Tears were brought to this lady’s eyes as Amy sang one of her favourite songs "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. One gentleman was overjoyed when Amy led the room in singing Happy Birthday to him and Amy gave him a personal copy of her CD "Abide with Me". In one care home, there was a lady who apparently never goes into the lounge, but moved ever closer down the corridor towards the music and by the end she was at the door and fully engaged singing and dancing in the corridor. Her favourite music is by Abba and Amy played some requests especially for her. When asking if the residents would like to pray at the end, they answered with a resounding ‘Yes!’ Another resident told Rebecca, "This is wonderful. I have never seen [the other residents] enjoy themselves so much."
The care home staff were also so appreciative of the visits and Amy’s uplifting music, which is a real gift of kindness to them after the challenges they have been facing, and the pressure they continue to be under. One manager said, “thank you to Embracing Age Isle of Wight for being able to offer such events to care homes on the Island - we are very grateful!” and another, “the residents and staff absolutely loved the music in the afternoon. We were able to put some videos of it on the facebook page for families to see. It was a great success and we would very much look forward to Amy visiting again if possible." Rebecca summed up "It was a privilege to enter into some of the stories of the residents' lives as we spent time talking to them, enabling them to share the tears and the joys of life after each singing session." While on the island, Amy also enjoyed the Lionheart music festival and attending the Elim Church on the Roundabout, led by Tony and Sally Murphy, where she and Josh both shared their testimony and Amy got to sing. Amy says “some of the young people there particularly liked the original song “Once Upon a Time”, which is a new song to be recorded this year!” Reflecting on the week, Amy said "Thank you so much to Embracing Age and a special thanks to Rebecca who has worked hard to organise these visits! It's been a privilege as we have laughed, cried, sung, danced, played tambourines and waved flags with very precious residents this week. My heart is so full!" Amy works with some local care homes in Liverpool where she and her husband reside. She works together with activities co-ordinators offering sing-alongs of various themes for residents, including easy listening, war time songs, country and western, crooners and modern rock and pop, seaside themes and soon to include christmas carols. Residents enjoy joining in on tambourines and shakers, flags and singing. It is so inspiring to hear how such acts of kindness of sharing time and talents can make such a huge impact on the lives of older care home residents. If you have a skill to share with care home residents or time to visit a care home to bring joy and companionship, please see our website for ways you could get involved or contact Sarah to find out more.
|
News CategoriesAll Care Homes Carers Equipping Churches Events Hampshire Isle Of Wight Richmond Volunteers |
Reg. Charity No. 1160400
© 2024 Embracing Age
|
Quick Links |