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Even though care homes and their staff have been brilliant in supporting the needs of the people they look after holistically throughout the pandemic, we were concerned that some care home residents who we knew could be at risk of increased isolation and loneliness without visits from our team each week.

We wanted, in particular, to thank Nicky Reynolds who has written to residents every week since the start of the lockdown, as well as everyone who signed up to our Pen Pals virtual volunteering scheme, too.

A regular volunteer with us, and a former activities coordinator, Nicky knows all too well the value of company and connection for older people living in care homes, particularly those without any family of next of kin.

Although she was unable to visit with the new guidelines, Nicky decided to keep up contact by writing every week to residents at Lester Hall and Harley Grange (both on Elms Road in Leicester) who she used to visit weekly before lockdown.

We also put out a request for other people and received interest from scores of volunteers keen to write to those in care homes. Thank you to everyone who took part.

Although it was tricky, especially if residents were unable to respond directly, we are grateful to everyone who took part in this writing activity, and for those who continue to do so. It is not the same as visiting in person but it continues to remind some of our most vulnerable people that we are still thinking of them whilst we are apart.

At Learning for the Fourth Age, we are proud to have been working on a small project to try and connect a care setting in Leicester with well wishers around the world.

Ashlands Care Village started receiving post from strangers in places as far away as New Zealand, Botswana and Canada in March 2020. Since then, hundreds of people from all over the world have sent their thoughts via letters to care home residents in Leicester.

Residents of Ashlands on Ratcliffe Road have appreciated feeling recognised and thought of in this way during the covid 19 pandemic – a time that has been particularly tricky for everyone living and working in care homes, as well as family and friends, particularly when they have been unable to visit.

People living at Ashlands have enjoyed getting postcards from different places all over the world, such as Switzerland, South Africa and the USA, which has also prompted numerous conversations about holidays, wildlife, weather and lots more too.

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Above are just some of the post that has been received so far – staff have created a special display in the home to celebrate the way in which so many people thought of Ashlands at this time.

Thank you to everyone who sent a postcard, and to everyone who asked loved ones across the globe to contribute too.

At Learning for the Fourth Age, we have had to change how we work hugely during 2020. We miss our face to face visits and time spent with residents and staff in care homes very much indeed. We look forward to being able to come back in to see you all again as soon as it is safe and wish you all the best of health in the meantime.

We are still busy, though, and we are delighted to have our new Remotely Active project after successfully securing some funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. Here are photos of residents from VISTA’s Kathleen Rutland care home using some of the materials and ideas in our first ‘A Grand Day Out’ pack to create paintings of Old John at Bradgate Park.

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And here is some feedback from the second pack that we received via email: “Thank you for the Autumn activity pack and the original kit you gave us! We have tried most of the activities, and whilst some of our groups taking part in the activity itself have been very small, we have done them round the dining table in the lounge and they have been highly successful in creating conversation and reminiscence with both those taking part and those who just chose to sit and watch. I can’t thank you enough, these packs have been so helpful and the content has been really on point for my family members here at Evington. I really can’t wait to receive my Christmas pack. I look forward to the time when we can welcome you back in person!” 
– Andie Louis​, Activities Facilitator, Evington Home

The packs have been disseminated to care settings across the city and county and include craft activities, conversation starters, word games, quizzes and many more ideas. We were also clear that we wanted everyone to have the same starting point so delivered an original set of kit to each care setting taking part in the project too.

We are looking forward to seeing the responses to the Christmas pack that is being created together at the moment, as well as to finding new ways to continue supporting care homes and nursing homes locally in delivering high quality meaningful and learning activities to their older people.

Thank you to Fiona Smith and Rowena Williams for all of their thought, ideas and time in putting together and delivering this project in these unprecedented times.

We were sad to see the end of our Baking a Difference project working with Planet Leicester Bakers recently and so we chose to celebrate it in the only way we knew how – with an afternoon tea in a care setting. We welcomed activities staff and volunteers from other care settings across Leicestershire to enjoy cakes, scones and speciality breads.

Alongside multiple cups of tea, we enjoyed lots of catching up and conversations, as well as the showing of our film showcasing the project, which you can see here.

Older people who had taken part in the project were particularly pleased to welcome Cameron on the keyboard to accompany the tea party by playing some beautiful light classical music in the background too.

The final report of Baking a Difference will be available shortly.

The ‘How to’ videos are available here so that you too can learn how to exploit the loveliness of bread for the benefit of older people you care for or for your own enjoyment. Do please let us know what you think of the hedgehogs, snakes and science on offer!

Our thanks, as ever, to Michelle Stratford from Planet Leicester Bakers for all of her time, thought and skill in delivering this project in conjunction with our team, as well as to all the staff, residents and volunteers who have been involved over the last year or so too.

Art with Heart is a project focused on supporting those with dementia to explore arts and culture from around the world, including art, language and poetry.

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Learning for the Fourth Age were delighted to receive funding from the Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation to cover sessions in two care settings with a specialist in both dementia and creative arts.

Our thanks to Vicky Olivera for taking the time to plan, organise and deliver the sessions At Agnes House and St George’s care homes and special thanks to our volunteer Safooraa for supporting these sessions, which were well received by staff and residents alike.

We set up an art group with residents in William House sheltered housing unit (a part of Wyggeston’s Hospital) a few years ago and our volunteers and staff have supported the residents there ever since.

However, during conversations with the artists there, it became clear that many of them would like to learn new skills on external courses and to bring these back to the group, as well as to try and celebrate all the art that they have created and achieved over the years.

We were delighted to receive a grant of £850 from the Barchester Charitable Foundation to cover the cost of new art equipment, framing existing work so that people could share and celebrate it and to pay for courses in the community for the group’s artists to develop their skills.

Now the pictures are out of storage folders, framed and proudly displayed on walls around the sheltered housing unit that they all live in. Residents report learning new skills, improved social connections, a sense of pride in their achievements and enjoyment.

As part of our Esmee Fairbairn funding project, we were delighted to invite Sarah Reed to deliver training to some of our wonderful volunteers yesterday.

Twelve of our volunteers came together at the Brookfield campus of The University of Leicester to share ideas, laughter and even a few tears as we talked about the role of conversation in creating compassionate and good quality caring environments. It was a very supportive and positive learning environment for everyone – thank you to the ongoing commitment and input from all the amazing volunteers who improve wellbeing for older people each and every week.

We spent the day learning about Reminiscence, Empathic engagement, Active listening and Life story with Sarah, who runs Many Happy Returns and has created some fantastic conversation cards that we have used regularly in care settings with older people, including some who have dementia.

Learning for the Fourth Age are delighted to announce that we have received £8,400 funding from The National Lottery Community Foundation for our brand new Care to Share project.

We want to work with local people to create “Care to Share”, inviting and facilitating skilled amateur and professional bakers to ‘care to share a recipe’ with older people living in a care setting nearby.

This would require them to volunteer to come to a care setting for older people and spend time together measuring, mixing and manipulating ingredients as per the recipe. It would also require them to bake in advance to produce towards the end of the sessions as the other baked treats cooked. The pre-made offering would then be tasted, shared and enjoyed by the care home residents (ideally alongside a hot drink and some conversation)!

If you would like to be involved, please do contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Learning for the Fourth Age (L4A) and our social business partner Planet Leicester Bakers have been delivering ‘bread and conversations’ sessions at ASRA House Residential Care Home through our community project, Baking a Difference.

The Baking a Difference project has received almost £50,000 of National Lottery funding and the CEO of National Lottery operator Camelot, Nigel Railton, recently visited to see the project in action.

Sanctuary Care, owners of ASRA House, report that the sessions have proved to be extremely popular with our residents, especially those living with dementia. This is because they are wonderful for the sense of touch, smell and taste, as well as evoking happy memories.

The project uses the process of baking and sharing fresh, handmade bread to encourage residents to share memories and positive feelings associated with bread in their lives. 

Home manager Dina Dasani said: “Reminiscence activities like this are ideal, especially for our ladies, who would have made their own chapattis for loved ones at home.

“They recall days gone by when they would sit around the table with their relatives, chatting for hours as they made chapattis. It is like they are doing the same here when they are taking part in these sessions.”

Dina said the sensory benefits for older people living with dementia are really important too. “It is such a good sensory activity for adults with dementia – kneading the dough is lovely for touch and of course the smell and taste of the bread they make is amazing.”

Melissa March, CEO of L4A, said: ”It is fantastic to see the power that the joy of bread can have in transforming how people think and feel. At L4A, we are delighted to have a range of partnerships that enable us to improve the quality of later life for older people receiving care in Leicestershire.” 

Lots of learning! Lots of fun!

This week, Learning for the Fourth Age brought together representatives from over ten care settings for a “torn paper” workshop. The idea was to explore a new technique that they could take back to their individual settings, adapt for their own residents and use to support older people across the city and county with creativity and art in later life.

The network focuses on inspiring new ideas, developing different approaches, Ultimately, it is about bringing people together who have a shared role but often are working in silos behind the locked doors of different care settings. They can feel a sense of togetherness and camaraderie, mutual support and their own professional development.

We are proud to be bringing together those with a responsibility for bringing meaning, fun & learning to the lives of older people receiving care across Leicester and Leicestershire to learn from each other.

Ideas for activities are brainstormed by the L4A team and the steering group of the network. We are keen to work with and support everyone involved in this group. Our Activity Coordinator Network loved the Torn Paper workshop, which is kindly funded by the ExPat Foundation. We were also hosted by South Lodge care home.

If your care setting is based in Leicester and Leicestershire and you would like to get involved, please do contact Fiona Smith for more information about our future plans for the network.