I hope you enjoyed the sunshine….our ladies and gentlemen were well looked after with drinks and ice creams by our wonderful Staff!

A very exciting June for all of us. John and I would like to give a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS! To Zoe, Alan and all of the wonderful Staff for receiving their very well deserved Awards last month….see separate article. 

A very exciting time when 20 of us travelled to the London EXCEL Centre by train or mini-bus to attend the Care Home Awards.

A beautiful sunny day awaited us,  lovely lunch and drinks all topped off spectacularly with winning not one but TWO Awards.

Everyone had such a lovely time….thank you Zoe and Alan for looking after everyone so well as always! …the Valerie Manor ‘family’ were on great form really enjoying the lovely experience.

Regarding our Monday sessions we chatted about holidays enjoyed….remembering visiting Austria and seeing the ‘Sound of Music’ favourite flowers….Edelweiss…apparently they were greyish in colour with fluffy leaves, Egypt and the Nile was a favourite as was Venice and travelling on a Gondola.  Again what is so lovely is the visitors join in not only with the exercising but the Quizzes and Reminiscences too.

We really enjoyed a laugh when I played some Rod Stewart ‘swing’ music…one lovely gentleman remembers him being called…Rod the Mod…I certainly do, do you?

Walking in Carnaby Street was another memory…for some reason we got onto talking about Moth Balls as well!…..variety is the spice of life.

We enjoyed some ‘Mind Benders’ ….Opposites…e. g. Up and Down…Requests Heard in the house…e. g…Go make your own bed! To name but a few.

Another Game was ‘Name a Song by’…..we had, Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, The Batchelors, Rolf Harris, Perry Como……residents, staff and visitors manged to cover every artist out of 20 given!

Finally I must mention our Let’s Dance!(Hassocks) Show which raised  a massive £3,400  for The Little Princess Trust. Again as we have our Valerie Manor family we also have our Let’s Dance! family.

Dear Alan was our Compere….Sally-Ann choreographed most of the routines involving pupils from 3 years old to adult….I had a few routines with my Adults too….one of which has a family member at the Manor!

I shall arrange a Monday DVD showing of the Show for those who would like to see it….possibly when the weather changes in the Autumn.

That is it for now….looking forward to seeing everyone at the various events coming up in the Summer.

Robin