Young Hearts Of Kindness Cheer Dementia Care Home Residents

Kind-hearted children at a special needs Scout group have lifted spirits at a Winchester dementia care home.

Nine members of the Osborne Scouts painted around 50 colourful pebbles as sensory gifts for residents at Colten Care’s St Catherines View.

The children, who all attend the Osborne School in Athelstan Road, decorated their stones with acrylic paintings of rainbows, faces, flowers, butterflies and other designs.

Members of the St Catherines View Companionship Team received the pebbles in a socially distanced handover from Scout Group Leader Lisa Massey and her son Barnaby Pearce.

Colleagues then placed the pebbles around the St Catherines View garden, giving residents the opportunity to pick them up and discuss their feel, weight, shape, size and colour.

Companionship Team Member Laura Sheldrake said: “Our residents are enjoying seeing the brightly coloured pebbles, some of which are hidden away in little corners of the garden.

“They are a nice talking point and a prompt for activity, including hiding games.

“It’s so lovely to know that the Scouts have been thinking about us and wanted to do something practical.”

Lisa said the idea was part of the Scouts’ #Careforcarehomes initiative which aims to see Scout groups across the country carry out 10,000 acts of kindness for care homes.

Lisa added: “St Catherines View is the care home closest to where most of our group live.

“They understand that care homes have had to restrict visitors because of lockdown and so they were keen to spread a bit of joy.

“They like the fact they are doing something for somebody else.

“This is a lovely link for us and hopefully once the pandemic is over we can visit in person, meet the residents and talk about the pebbles.”