Arts & Crafts

Our residents got their paint brushes out recently at a specially-organised arts and crafts day, culminating in a wonderful display of works.

The day of sketching and painting, on our beautiful balcony terrace, was organised by our Activity Co-Ordinators Tina Carrick and Penny Court in response to research that shows the wealth of benefits that art projects can have on the health, especially for older people and dementia sufferers.

Recent studies suggest that for the elderly and people with dementia, art can create a sense of accomplishment and purpose whilst providing an opportunity for self-expression.

Getting creative has many other known benefits such as increased cognitive skills and intellectual stimulation, building social and communication skills, improving motor skills, helping to alleviate pain and ultimately relieving stress and depression.

Artistic inspiration was in huge supply from the stunning views from the balcony of our wonderful grounds.

There was something artistic for everyone to get involved with, as more capable residents got to grips with pencil sketching and then painting with acrylics on canvas boards, while those with greater needs made works of art with shapes in aqua-painting.

At the end of the day, our lounge was transformed into an art gallery to display our residents' work that was created. This provided everyone the opportunity to admire and discuss the different pieces, and gave our wonderful artists a real sense of pride.

Tina said: "We had such a lovely arts and crafts day. The residents and staff really enjoyed it and we ended up with some really outstanding pieces of work. It was a joy to see our residents pride when they saw the gallery."

"There are many benefits of art for our residents and creative activities can be easily tailored to those that require more help. Drawing and painting of any form is so beneficial to our residents and creating art can actually help prevent the onset of dementia in elderly patients."

"Our residents really enjoyed the sunny day on the terrace and we look forward to continuing to explore their artistic abilities as part of day-to-day life."