It’s been a marvellous March here in the Home and you could say we had a flipping good start with Pancake Day falling on 1^st March! As residents from the Cookery Club whipped up pancakes for their friends, staff member, Rachel was working up an appetite as she ‘Cycled-A-Social-Care-Shift’, raising an amazing £642.55 which will be put to good use covering the costs of a resident-orientated music event later in the year.  

The fundraising theme continued when Lawrence became our very own Caped Crusader, raising a mighty final total of £145 for the very worthwhile charity ‘Young Lives v Cancer’, by barbering his beard and losing his locks!  The event drew quite a crowd as residents gathered to show support for their friend.  This is an annual event as each year Lawrence braves the clippers to raise funds for his chosen charities, what a hero!

We have resumed our regular ‘Walking Football’ sessions which are facilitated by the local football club, Stirling Albion.  Residents and staff enjoy their games and we are fortunate to benefit from the guidance and advice of the club’s coaching staff.  Although it’s still early in our season, early indications are that we have some star players emerging!

Our outdoor adventures continued with a terrific trishaw tour around the Helix Park in Falkirk to view the astonishing sculpture of the Kelpies up close, thanks goes to ‘Cycling Without Age’ for facilitating this fantastic trip.  Friends spent an afternoon of close encounters within Deep Sea World and through conversation they uncovered a shared love of fishing which will lead to further excursions out and about.  The ladies went in search of the early signs of spring and happened upon a ‘country store’ where they stopped to browse and enjoy a well earned cuppa!

Residents were treated to an evening of live-streamed classical music with a special Care Homes concert by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.  We were also treated to live music, lunch and dance at the monthly Stirling4Community Tea Dance, which is fast becoming a favourite fixture in our monthly calendar!

We brought March to a rockin’ good close as we ended with our annual Fifties Week themed event.  This year we brought in the Bikers, with the Stirling Castle Section of the Vintage Motorcycle Club (VMCC) who spent an afternoon chatting with residents and sharing stories of their biking adventures. 

The café was converted into an American 50’s style diner for a ‘burger and fries’ lunch and the finale to the week was a visit from none other than The King of Rock n’ Roll himself! The ‘Rat Pack’ tribute which followed finished things off rather nicely and to paraphrase Sinatra himself… ‘we did it our way!