Last week at Walstead Place Care Home in Lindfield, our colleagues and residents all got in the Olympic spirit with our very own ‘Walympics,’ a week of exciting games and challenges put on by our fantastic activities team.
On Monday, we sorted everyone into teams, Australia, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, France and Ireland, and started with our opening ceremony, parading with our flags and torches and lighting the Olympic flame to kick off the week of fun.
We set up our running track and obstacle courses in our garden and the teams all competed in a variety of outdoor games including egg and spoon race, wet sponge race, shot put and wellie wanging. Everyone got involved whether they were competing or cheering on their team, and it was great to see our residents really getting into the competitive spirit.
We had seated and indoor games for our less mobile residents such as archery with soft arrows and nerf gun shooting, hitting a target to see how many points they can get for their teams. One of the highlights of the week was indoor sitting volleyball, with a volleyball net set up in our lounge and a soft ball for residents to play with.
Our ‘Walympians’ were awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for each game and pulled together in their teams to achieve the most wins. We declared our winners at the closing ceremony on Friday – it was a close one, but the trophy went to Australia!
Congratulations to our Walympics champions, Team Australia, our runners up, France in 2nd and Spain in 3rd and everyone else for taking part and making the week so special! Our fun-loving residents knocked it out of the park with their teamwork and our activities team really went the distance to make the week a roaring success!
Home manager, Jacquie Ferguson commented “We love the Olympics and what better way to join in but create our own Walympic games! We never knew just how competitive both residents and staff were, even those in wheelchairs wanted to have a go and we were amazed at how the residents really got into the spirit of things. To see them clap and cheer on their teams was truly magical. At Walstead, we include our residents in all aspects of activity – there is never a dull moment!”
Walstead Place provides residential care on a permanent or short stay basis. If you are looking for a care home and want to find out more about our home call freephone 0808 223 5543.
