STAFF at a care home in the district have been working hard to make this Christmas special for their residents.
Care staff at Down Hall Residential Care Home in Bradwell-on-Sea have organised a range of festive activities in a bid to make Christmas "extra special" for their residents.
Lots of activities have been arranged over the festive period to keep residents entertained.
Louise Simon, activities coordinator at Down Hall, said: "Everyone gets very exciting on the run up to Christmas.
"We’ve had fun decorating the Christmas tree, crafting homemade Christmas cards for the residents to send to their families, and making festive table mats to use on Christmas Day.
“The group activities are a lot of fun and residents sit and chat while they’re crafting, so it’s a very social occasion.
“We also make sure to spend some quality time one-on-one with residents.
“Resident Lillian is very creative and loves making things from scratch.
"Care assistant Claire helped her to make traditional Christingles, an activity that brought back lots of fond memories of past Christmases.
“This week, I sat down with Lilian, and we made Christmas wreaths to hang around the care home.
"We baked slices of oranges to use on the wreaths, so everywhere smelt divine.”
Down Hall is a 36-bed residential care home in Downhall Road.
Karen Johnson, care manager, added: “Our residents love the festivities at this time of year, and we wanted to make sure they didn’t feel left out due to the restrictions.
"All of the staff have gone out of their way to make it extra special for our residents.
“Making sure that everyone feels included in the celebrations is so important, as it can have such a huge impact on their wellbeing.
“By arranging lots of activities over the Christmas period, we help to keep our residents entertained and spread some festive cheer – something that’s much needed this year!”
On Christmas Day the festivities at Down Hall usually start with Father Christmas and his elves handing out presents.
Everyone sits down together for lunch, including the staff on duty, and residents enjoy a glass or two of Bucks Fizz, wine or sherry.
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