Mini Police at Longlands

We received our first 20 letters from the Mini Police at Longlands. They were hand delivered, although we originally planned for the children to meet our residents in person, but they couldn’t due to Covid-19 restrictions.

However, the children still introduced themselves in the letters and the residents thoroughly enjoyed reading these.

The Mini Police are a programme run by Thames Valley Police; they operate in other areas within the force, but Blackbird Leys in Oxford is currently the only place where they have Mini Police. It is interactive volunteering which gives the children an opportunity to introduce them to a positive experience in policing and gets them involved in the local community. The children are from Pegasus school in Oxford and are in year 5, aged between 9 to 10 years. They are also about to enrol 20 children from Orchard Meadow’s school too.

Violet's pen pal

Whitefriars resident Violet had a lovely surprise when she received a letter as part of our pen pal scheme, organised by Shelly, Home Manager. Violet enjoyed writing her letter, with some support from Sue, the Activities Co-ordinator, about times in her life and fun occasions. The letter brought back some lovely memories and we are looking forward to future letters.

Rose's surprise visit from granddaughter

Resident Rose had a wonderful surprise just before Christmas. Granddaughter Rebecca showed up one chilly morning with her work colleagues from Smeg alongside representatives from Jack FM, the local radio station, as part of a mince pie marathon! The visit was arranged as a surprise by Kelly, our Head of Care and Rebecca at Old Station House.

Rebecca said: “What a pleasure it was for myself, my colleagues and the team at Jack FM to hand deliver some mince pies to the residents. The night shift was tough, but it was so worth it to see my lovely nans face light up when she saw us. She did however mistake Scott Quinnell for my husband! (She's only known my actual husband for 8 years, easy mistake to make of course!)”

“Whatever pastry they used; the mince pies we delicious!”

Leslie's farming life

Leslie from Whitefriars received a lovely gift of model tractors from his daughter Bronwen. Leslie was so pleased with them and enjoyed reminiscing with Sue, the Activities Co-ordinator. The grey and white tractors are the first models, Leslie drove and ploughed the fields when he lived in Wales. He went on to tell lots of stories about his working life on the farms and becoming a Farm Manager at Burghley Estates.

Bird feeders at Edwardstow Court

Residents at Edwardstow Court have been making bird feeders for their garden this week, they hope it will attract some new birds over the winter months!

Barney’s books

Having read nearly every book here at The Poplars, Barney has re-joined the library service with help from Activities Coordinators, who renews and orders books online too! Happy Reading Barney!