Residents celebrate Jane Austin Day
Residents at a specialist dementia nursing home in Yeovil took a break from festive preparations to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of celebrated author Jane Austen yesterday (16 December).
The team at Chestnut Lodge decided that some Austen-themed activities would make an engaging change of pace for residents, including designing and wearing Regency bonnets in honour of the ever-popular author.
Gary Shackle, activities co-ordinator, said: “Many of our residents used to be keen readers, and some had mentioned that they’d liked reading Jane Austen’s books, so we thought this would be popular with them.
“Even those who weren’t declared Austen fans enjoyed the activities - and they loved wearing the bonnets.
“Our Jane Austen Day activities provided a brief change of pace, but we immediately got back into the swing of our festive activities, which everybody seems to love.
“We’ve already had candy cane creations, Christmas tree designing, pass the pudding and Christmas poems.
“And still to come are carol singers, Christmas bingos, quizzes and games, entertainers singing Christmas songs.”
Chestnut Lodge is run by award-winning dementia care provider Camelot Care who also runs homes in Bridgwater and Taunton in Somerset, and Holsworthy and Plymouth in Devon.
