Over a third of the people who live at Aliwal Manor Care Home are local to Whittlesey. Because of this, you often hear them bonding over Whittlesey and the people they once knew. With the festive season upon us, the conversation has turned to Whittlesey at Christmas.
Recently, everybody has been reminiscing over the Christmas lights in Whittlesey town and how beautiful they are. This got Lifestyle Co-ordinator Sarah thinking of what she could do to brighten everyone’s day.
One night, Sarah went out in her own time and spent the evening taking pictures and videos of the lights in Whittlesey this year. Then the next day, she brought them back to the home to show the people living at the home. Everybody was incredibly grateful when Sarah told them what she had done, and they all enjoyed looking at the pictures and videos, noting how festive everything looked.
This led to conversations about the Whittlesey Lions Club, where Santa and his sleigh would go around Whittlesey collecting money for various charities. They found out that it is still happening this year, but unfortunately Santa will be unable to collect money in person. Instead, there is a Just Giving page for people to contribute to.
As well as looking at this year’s decorations, Sarah showed everyone a picture that was put up on the Whittlesey Facebook page, taken in the early 1980’s. Residents enjoyed looking at the picture and it gave Sarah a new idea, centred around “Bringing the outside in”. There will be more to come about Sarah’s new idea soon…