Embracing Age Hampshire

We love receiving feedback about the difference the Cards of Kindness make and seeing the smiles and joy that the cards bring to the residents who receive them.

We have more residents and more care homes who would really benefit from receiving regular cards across Hampshire. If you are able to help make, write or deliver cards and could offer an hour a month to get involved we would love to hear from you. We welcome help from individuals and groups and all ages!

"Not Hitchin a Ryde "-Fundraiser in memory of volunteer Maggie Molyneux.

I am sure those of you that attended our Afternoon Garden Tea Party Fundraiser in July last year will have many memories of that amazing event , not least of all for the delicious cakes which were baked by the late Maggie Molyneux who was a valued volunteer member of our fundraising team . Maggie sadly passed away in the Autumn of last year to bowel cancer .

In her memory her husband and three children are doing a sponsored walk of 113 miles over 5 days starting on the 13 th August . Maggie and her husband John moved to The Island in 2016 from Hitchin in Hertfordshire .Walking to The Island from Hertfordshire represents a journey the family did on many occasions by car and feel it will be a lovely way to remember her whilst raising money for the hospice where she was cared for in Hitichin and Embracing Age on The Island , the charity she supported and her husband John continues to raise money for in different ways .

The family aim to complete the walk on 17 th August which would have been Maggie's birthday .

If you would like to sponsor Maggie's family and donate to Embracing Age please follow this link and scroll down to " Not Hitichin a Ryde "

https://www.embracingage.org.uk/donate.html

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
It's not too late to register to take part in our Care Home Olympics challenges and play along as you watch the sporting action from Paris.
Download our free resource pack from https://www.embracingage.org.uk/care-home-olympics.html

Care homes and members of the community are all invited to take part in our Olympics challenges. Please like and share our post to spread the word too!
You can download our handy activity pack free from our website, which sets out everything you need to get involved!
https://www.embracingage.org.uk/care-home-olympics.html
There are 12 challenges based on Olympic sports, designed for a variety of ages and abilities, and you can join in with as many or as few of the challenges as you wish. There will be medals and certificates awarded too!

We have received referrals for residents in several care homes in the Wi******er area who would really benefit from regular befriending visits. If you are able to help please email [email protected]
And please could you share with any people or groups who may be
able to help us too

We invite you to join in with our Care Home Olympics challenges. Medals and awards to be won! All care homes, individuals, families and community groups very welcome to take part. Please invite others you know to take part too. Please visit www.embracingage.org.uk/care-home-olympics for more details.

A big Thank You to all our incredible volunteers who regularly visit older care home residents. Your time and company makes such a huge difference to the residents, as well as helping the hard-working care home staff feel supported. We're so grateful to you all for your dedicated service 💚

If you can spare an hour a week and would like to spend time visiting your local care home, we would love to hear from you! You can get involved in a number of ways - simply chatting to a resident, joining activities, taking a resident for a walk, reading aloud to a resident, offering hand massages or other sensory care, gardening together and much more. The need is high so please get in touch with our area co-ordinators today in Richmond, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight if you'd like to bring regular joy and companionship to a care home resident near you.

https://www.embracingage.org.uk/get-involved.html

Wonderful to see how much joy the Cards of Kindness bring. Thank you to everyone in Hampshire who helps us with making, writing and delivering cards to make such a positive difference to the residents in our local care homes. We are so appreciative of your support.

We're sending a big Thank You to all our amazing Cards of Kindness Volunteers - last year you collectively sent an incredible 2636 cards to older care home residents!

These monthly gestures bring the residents so much joy to receive, as shown by this care home's recent feedback.

If you love making or writing cards, or could help deliver them to a local care home, please get in touch with our area co-ordinators today in Richmond, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight as we'd love to get cards out to even more residents, many of whom have no family or friends.

https://www.embracingage.org.uk/get-involved.html

If you have not already completed this survey, we would be really grateful if you could please do this. And please share this with other churches you know. Thank you so much.

We want to draw up a picture of the links that churches across the UK have with care homes. If you could fill in our short survey to tell us about your church, then we would be very grateful. https://forms.gle/fw947DJSaP87opGm6

NEW BOOK!

Words of Hope is now available!

For Dementia Action Week, we present to you another book!
In this book, Tina English collected Inspiring Bible verses to bring hope to people with dementia. Designed with vibrant images and large print to make reading enjoyable to everyone.

Get yours now for only £4 at https://www.embracingage.org.uk/resources.html

If you would like to bulk buy these to give to care home residents please email us at
[email protected]

Lovely to see the sun out and the sunflowers being planted. Good luck to everyone taking part in the Sunflower Growing Competition.
Not too late to take part - please contact us if you would like to get involved.

Our Spring flower project was about bringing the outside in, but with the weather set to warm up later this week, we would love you to plant some seeds and grow some sunflowers in your outdoor space and join in with our sunflower growing competition. Please spread the word to others who may be interested in taking part. All ages welcome - individuals and groups.

Bringing the outside inside......
The spring flower project has been such a success.
Residents have really appreciated receiving the beautiful posies of craft flowers over the last few months - so far we have gifted over 120 arrangements and by request we will be continuing to gift more going forward for residents birthdays and to brighten more rooms.
So many different styles, materials and so many of the flowers look just like they are real!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has helped by making flowers - it has been such a team effort across the generations. We are really grateful to you all for your contributions.
Here is just a small selection of the flowers which have been delivered to care homes for residents to enjoy.

Are you feeling creative this weekend? Make some art, write some poetry, snap a photo or capture a video to share what Joy in Ageing means to you!

Huge thanks to our poetry judges Pam Rhodes, Dave Bilbrough and Andrew Pratt; our art judges Paul Hobbs, Karina Phillips and Wagner; and the Embracing Age multimedia judges - they can't wait to read your submissions so make sure you submit your work by 30th April.

Shortlisted poems and artwork will be published in an anthology in October to celebrate Older People's Day.

Please do share widely with anyone who might be interested, and together let's create a powerful reminder that ageing is a journey filled with laughter, love, and continued discovery.

Entries can be submitted by post or email. Full competition guidelines and details on how to submit your entry are on our website or can be requested by phone to Tina on 0203 778 0035

https://www.embracingage.org.uk/joyinageing.html

So wonderful to see the smiles the Cards of Kindness bring. Thank you to all our volunteers of all ages who make, write and deliver cards to the local care homes across Hampshire. We are so grateful for everything you do.

Wishing all the mothers, and all who mother others in a variety of ways, a very happy Mothering Sunday.
We are so grateful to the wonderful crafters and local groups who have made such beautiful floral posies for care home residents. We have delivered some for residents for today and others will be gifted for Easter. Thank you all for helping us bring joy and brightness.
Here are some pictures of some of the beautiful creations. More photos to follow over the next few weeks.

We welcome these beautiful knitted fish to their new home at Snowdrop Place Care Home - Barchester Healthcare! Welcome also to Nemo who has been made from a pompom which the residents at Snowdrop Place created in their Knit and Natter group.
Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for us to put together this lovely sensory aquarium for the residents for their new Namaste sensory room.
Thanks also to the Eastleigh Mens Shed for making the lovely wooden lid to enable us to attach the fish and to Grange Aquatics and Water Gardens for kindly donating the colourful stones.

This beautiful poem was shared by one of our new volunteers. Such true words... A smile really does cost nothing but gives much and enriches the lives of others in so many ways.

Launching our Cards of Kindness Award Scheme today on St Valentines Day in celebration of all the wonderful cards made by members of the local communities which help bring friendship to older people living in care homes. Thank you to everyone who helps make homemade cards and please get in touch if you would like to get involved too. All ages welcome to take part to earn BRONZE, SILVER and GOLD awards. Please email [email protected] for more information and for a copy of our award scheme chart.

The selfless act of brings meaningful connection to those in our communities, because it is....

Well done again to Sylvia and your Dream Team! Enjoy your prize!

Congratulations to "Sylvia's Dream Team" who won the Embracing Age Hampshire Big Christmas Quiz 2023.

Sylvia and her family scored 120 out of a possible 165 marks 🥳

Sylvia and her family are looking forward to their trip to Costa for a delicious treat.

We love seeing posts like these! We are thankful to everyone who is involved in spreading joy to care home residents across Hampshire through our project.

Thank you 🙂

Well done to "Sylvia's Dream Team" who were the winners of the Embracing Age Big Christmas Quiz! The team consisted of Sylvia, a resident in one of the care homes we support and members of her family - 4 generations in total! The winning score was 120 (out of a possible 165 marks), just 4 points ahead of joint second place teams. The prize couldn't be more apt as Sylvia loves a Costa coffee and the family are looking forward to taking her to the local Costa and enjoying a treat together there.

Thank you to all the individuals and teams who took part. We hope you enjoyed the quiz. If you would like a copy of the answer sheet please email [email protected] and we will gladly send you one.

We are thrilled to announce that we raised an incredible £550 through sales of the quiz sheets which will enable us to bring companionship to more care home residents in the coming year. Thank you for your support.

Almost 1,000 care home residents on the Isle of Wight and across Hampshire received personal, handmade Christmas cards this year thanks to our incredible volunteers, community groups and others who got involved in Embracing Age Hampshire and Embracing Age Isle of Wight's Cards of Kindness projects!

What might seem like a simple gesture means so much to these residents, helping them know they are valued and thought of by their local community, and giving them something special to display in their room, especially for residents who rarely leave their room.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been part of these projects - we are so grateful for you giving your time and creativity!

We have plans to grow this even further this year so if you'd like to get involved in making, writing or delivering cards, please check out our website: https://www.embracingage.org.uk/get-involved.html

We want to say a massive THANK YOU to all the children, families and visitors from who made a wonderful selection of cards for our project! They will be greatly received by care home residents in Fareham.