We’ve been musing on the nature of what living a balanced life in a care home means in recent times – we’ve spent a lot of time talking about keeping active and mobile for as long as possible – at our recent Residents & Guests meeting we introduced our ‘wiggling your toes’ initiative to promote the idea that doing so will enhance the quality of life including for those already struggling to get up and about. We are having regular toe wiggling events in the coming weeks to test out our theory about the value of wiggling!

We have said a fond farewell to the last 4 of our Trainee Nursing Associates – Sue, Lauren, Stacey and Natalie have all returned the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital to conclude their training to then advance to registered nurse training in the autumn – we wish them well for the future – its been brilliant to be part of this national initiative – we suspect the opportunity to play outdoor chess in the future may be limited however! see Sue and Lauren battling it out on the right.

On the topic of ‘We Can’t Stand Still’ we have been very impressed by one of the latest Care Quality Commission inspection reports for Shelley Care Home in West Sussex – they were awarded 5 green stars in their recent report – we had 2 stars in our Outstanding report but you can’t do better than 5! -we are looking on with admiration and are aiming to adapt examples of great care based on the view that learning from the best is about not standing still -even when we have Outstanding status already.

Well done Shelley Care Home. https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-121496882

We’ve had a flurry of hectic goings on in recent weeks at Pottles including several sweepstake (and accompanying Pottles Cup wins for a variety of our folk) – Barbara and Dot celebrated wins in the ladies and men’s Wimbledon tennis extravaganza fortnight – Barbara seen below emulating a pretty worthy Novak Djokovic serve. We had Fred and Ron re enacting a series of world cup games with an alternative version of the amazing achievement of England reaching the semi finals – with England pipping France in the final 11-0 !!. Our annual Cream Tea method review – Devon (cream first) versus Cornwall (cream on top) saw yet again a resounding victory for the Devon method – no bias just science.

We are so thrilled and flattered to have had a special mention and thank you from the national Independent Age organisation after helping them produce another of their excellent guide booklets -‘Settling into a Care Home’ – this is one of several we regard as essential reference for anyone considering 24/7 care in the future – many other topics are addressed – so do check out their work.

A final few mentions here:

1. Our marking Mick Jagger reaching 75 yrs included some mixed opinion about his contribution to our ‘my kind of music’ debating – we tried out a selection of the Rolling Stones hits – but saw more fingers in ears than grooving around the living room !
2. Our annual ‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ (follow a footy team) draw took place – with a spontaneous rousing rendition of’I’m forever blowing bubbles’ at the point Doreen picked West Ham United!
3. Fred’s visit from his new great gran daughter Eva with his grandson all the way from Sheffield was a really popular occasion with Eva quickly becoming a huge hit with everyone
4. We had a smashing time remembering The Beano on its 80th birthday too – how many of our 6 carefully chosen characters can you identify – no cheating now!

Final word – The Annual Pottles Court Fete is on 18th August – all welcome – afternoon from 2pm – lots of this and that going on – we might even have some bunting workshop recruiting and hope to hold a paper aeroplane making contest -(we are seeking anyone able to make a decent paper plane to get in contact urgently!!!)

That’s all of our news until next time