Do you know which nine ingredients are in a haggis? Or what a spurtle is? Or where to keep your sgian dubh and how to tell the bairns to be quiet? These were just some of the things the residents of The Field House Care Home discovered when a small team from St John’s Harborne, Birmingham, ran a two-day ‘Holiday at Home’ recently.
There was opportunity to choose your favourite tartan, make a Scottish flower arrangement or a Scottie dog greetings card and even to stroke a real live Shetland pony. Everyone enjoyed singing some Scottish songs, and there was much foot-tapping, clapping and laughter as the staff danced to some reels.
Catriona Foster, Pastor for Older People at St John's, writes: 'We were delighted at how enthusiastically the residents participated in various games, quizzes and activities, and on both days they heard of God’s love for them through a short thought for the day.'
'For the past eleven years we have run a much bigger Holiday at Home event in our church building, attracting about 55 older people from the congregation and surrounding community. However, we were not able to do that this year as we are about to embark on a major building refurbishment, so this was an ideal opportunity to experiment with running such an event in the context of a care home.'
'St John’s already has good links with this particular care Home, not least because a small group from our toddler group visit once a month, so this Holiday at Home event provided a great opportunity to build on relationships and to simply give time and love to the residents.'
If you have staged a Holiday at Home this summer and have news to tell us of your theme – and photos of how it all went with permission to share more widely – do drop us a line at annachaplaincy@brf.org.uk.