Celebrations for St David’s Day were in full swing at The Willows Care Home recently as the team organised a family tea party, inviting relatives and friends to join them too.
The occasion also provided the perfect opportunity for everyone to come together and enjoy some time as a family, without masks and PPE hiding the smiles on people’s faces. Across the Excelcare group, mask-wearing for team members and visitors has been compulsory for the last 2 years to ensure the people living in our homes remain protected. However, with restrictions eased and more people protected against coronavirus, we recently changed our policies so visitors and team members would no longer need to wear a mask*.
Relatives were especially excited about this change and the St David’s Day tea party was the first official event hosted by The Willows since the guidance change.
It was wonderful to see so many smiles on the faces of the visitors and the people living at The Willows on the day of the tea party. Because people had become so accustomed to wearing masks, there were comments from many about how ‘weird’ it felt entering the home without a mask, but also, how happy they were that they didn’t have to wear them!
This sparked conversations about the lockdown and how challenging that time was for everyone, but also the appreciation for people who worked on the frontline in care homes, hospitals, and other essential roles.
In the afternoon, the kitchen team brought out a Bara Brith for everyone to try. Made by Chef John who is Welsh, the Bara Brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread that is filled with dried fruits and spices. Lots of people hadn’t tried this before but said it was the perfect accompaniment to a cuppa'.
It was a wonderful afternoon spent socialising and celebrating the patron saint of Wales. The team at The Willows looks forward to hosting more family afternoons in the coming months.
*Mask-wearing is compulsory for team members and visitors during a Coronavirus outbreak.