Flower Power Energises 60s Festival Vibe To Make Jo’s Wish Come True
Team members at a Winchester dementia care home staged a colourful 1960s-themed garden festival in response to a resident’s wish.
Festival goers at Colten Care’s St Catherines View in Stanmore Lane spent the afternoon ‘groovin’ to the sounds of live music amid a riot of flower crowns and tie dye outfits.
Laura Sheldrake, Companionship team leader, said the idea of having a festival theme came directly from a discussion with residents.
Laura said: “We were talking about things we might have wanted to do in life but hadn’t and one of our residents, Jo Gough, said she had never been to a festival but had always wanted to.
“Jo loves music and flowers so we decided to put on our own garden festival for her and all the residents to enjoy.
“We went with a 60s theme, got some clothes and fabric and started our own homemade tie dye process.
“The residents got really hands-on and loved using the bright colours.
“We rinsed and washed the fabrics the following day and the patterns were amazing.
“The residents loved all the colour combinations and Jo especially loved her top as we used her favourite colours of blue and green.
“We turned some of the tie dye material into beautiful bunting and also made some flower crowns to make sure we got the theme as authentic as possible.”
On festival day, staff went out early to decorate the garden with the bunting and other decorations.
They even made the festival food as colourful as possible. On offer were macaroons, vegetable crisps, pastries, sandwiches, brownies and carrot and cucumber sticks with hummus dip.
The music was provided by Companionship team member Naomi Rides who played a range of 60s pop hits on her clarinet including Beatles favourites.
It was enough to get Jo and her fellow residents up dancing in the sunshine. Jo said: “I loved it. It was a really different experience but great. It was so colourful and I couldn’t believe what we were wearing.”
Senior team members were in full support of the event. Home Manager Vanda Baker and Clinical Lead Hayley Geddes both danced, acted as hostesses and served food and glasses of Pimms.
