After a busy festive period we began the New Year by asking our Residents their wishes for the New Year with the majority hoping for a peaceful and healthy 2017.

As usual our monthly Residents Social proved popular this month as we enjoyed a ‘fish and chip supper’ followed by a quiz which was enjoyed by all.  We also continued with our usual activities including card games, ‘name that tune’, parachute exercise, Bingo, crosswords, quizzes, hand massages and armchair exercises – which is proving quite popular amongst our new Residents.  Out Knitting Club and Book Club are still going well!

This month we held a Sir Ken Dodd day in celebration of his Knighthood.  We celebrated with a sing along to Ken’s music and we even had our own ‘tickling sticks’ whilst we enjoyed ‘jam butties’ and a drink of Sherry or Baileys.

We held a ‘Hot Chocolate Day’ with some marshmallows for our Residents this month which included a debate on the world today in comparison to the generations that our Residents grew up in.

Wednesday 25th January 2017 was ‘Burns Night’ and we celebrated this by gathering in the Market Place.  We also celebrated Chinese New Year by looking at our Chinese Community and Zodiac whilst enjoying a Sherry and eating fortune cookies.

Our activities during December started with us decorating our Christmas Tree which was then followed by Mabb Lane singing for our Residents in the Market Place.  In keeping with the Christmas spirit we also varied some of our usual favourites and enjoyed Christmas quizzes and crosswords.

During December we had lots of singing and dancing as Merseyside ‘Just Sing’ choir, St Vincent’s School Choir, Broughton Hall Choir, ‘Mood Swing’s and the Pastoral Ladies all came and sang for our Residents, we would like to say a big thank you to all for donating their time to come and celebrate the festive period with us here at Christopher Grange.

We also held our own Christmas Markets which was a huge success and some of our Residents attended a Christmas Lunch at the Suites Hotel where we enjoyed ‘name that tune’, Bingo and some entertainment.  Some Residents also attended the Philharmonic Hall for the Welsh Christmas Carol Concert.

We held a couple of Christmas craft afternoons this month which included creating our own Christmas Cards and Decorations and we also perfected our culinary skills by decorating Christmas Cakes – we held a competition on Christmas Eve which was judged by Paul our Chef who picked the Residents from Greenside as our overall winner!

Our annual Residents Christmas Party held in the Rehabilitation Centre was a big success this year.  Our Residents were welcomed with drinks before enjoying a three course meal and our Residents enjoyed the entertainment from ‘Dicky Tickers’.  The party was a successful occasion and all Residents thoroughly enjoyed their evening.

We ended the festive celebrations by enjoying various film afternoons which included films like ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘Its a Wonderful Life’.

On Wednesday 21st December 2016 the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) presented Christopher Grange with a cheque for £9,820.05 which we will use to purchase lounge chairs and sideboards for our Residential Units.

We would like to take this opportunity to give a massive thanks to the RVS for their very kind and generous donation and to thank all the volunteers at the RVS Coffee Shop who give their time and support and who provide a wonderful, social experience that our Residents and their families value and enjoy.

Thank you once again for this wonderful gift that has enabled us to improve the quality of the service we offer our Residents.

Also on the day, Josephine one of the volunteers at the Coffee Shop within Christopher Grange was presented with a medal for 25 years’ service with the RVS.  We would like to pass on our warmest congratulations to Josephine for this fantastic achievement.