Askham House and Askham Court – the winners of this year’s competition

We are pleased to announce that Askham House and Askham Court are the joint winners of this year’s Christmas decoration competition. Thank you to Michelle Barker and Richard Boorman for their efforts in ensuring a fair judging process which gave due consideration to the quality of the décor, the involvement of all staff and residents in the decoration choices, and the overall teamwork / Christmas cheer in each Home.

 

December – a busy month for Askham

This December was full of activities, everyone doing their best to ensure that the Christmas spirit is all across Askham and beyond it. We worked together to help with the toy donation for the Cambridgeshire Police Christmas Appeal which was a big hit for residents and staff alike.

We haven’t stopped there. The knitting club donated a large bundle of blankets to the RSPCA Block Fen Animal Centre. The residents went themselves to make the donation, they had a cup of tea and spent some time with the animals from the centre. To see more pictures from these two events, please have a look on our Facebook page.

As well as that, the Activities team did their best to make the residents enjoy this magical season by participating in a Christmas dinner in one of the local pubs in Fenland. Apart from this, the Fenland Church came to Askham for a Christmas special where residents from all units were invited. December was also the start of a new project that will become in 2020 a monthly event for the residents who would like to participate. They made the first trip to the dementia-friendly cinema where they enjoyed watching a film.

Not only residents celebrated the end of this year and the joy of Christmas. Staff were invited to a Christmas dinner and in order to ensure that all shifts are covered, the annual Christmas party took place over an entire week. This year was an important one for Askham and their staff members since the first year of the monthly training project came to an end. We made sure that staff received the necessary training so that the standards for working and caring are at their best. We tried to motivate our staff to undergo the training by offering vouchers for each of the monthly themes.  We are proud to say that our first generation of Assistant Practitioners have also started working for Askham after the training provided by AVC Training. We are happy to announce that 2020 will be received at Askham with more training projects that will make sure that the quality of our work is kept at its best level.

 

Askham Fayre and Askham Carol Service

The events that bring together the wider community were again a big success. The first one was the Askham Fayre which took place on 7th December. This event is the perfect time for staff and residents to spend some time with their families inside the Askham community. From the beautiful stalls where everybody could buy some handcrafted Christmas objects to the raffle and the minced pies, Askham was for one day full of people who shared joy, smiles and magic. The Carol Service was the second event where staff and residents have exercised their voices and have fun while remembering the importance of Christmas. Residents will end this month dedicated to the entire Askham Community by participating on 23rd December in the Residents Xmas Party.

 

Season Greetings

We hope you all had a wonderful year. Thank you all who made this year great and we promise to make sure that 2020 will be better than 2019. There is a lot more to say about Askham, but we kindly invite you in the next year to come and see why we say this is a community in every sense of the word.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Some pictures from Askham House:
Some pictures from Askham Court: