Love was in the air at a Swindon care home this Valentine’s Day

Couples at Orchid Care Home in Haydon Wick enjoyed a special Valentine’s Day event (Image: Orchid Care Home)

This year’s Valentine’s Day was a very special day for a Swindon care home.

Orchid Care Home is located within the community of Haydon Wick and this year we decided to host a huge Valentine’s Day event for our residents.

The 84-bed home arranged the main hall into a series of tables, decorated the entire place with balloons, love hearts, roses and banners, and invited residents to join their spouses for a three-course Valentine’s dinner.

Home manager Dawn Drew said: ‘It can be difficult for people living in care homes to celebrate days like this.

“But at Orchid Care Home, we always do our best to bring people together.

“Today was a special day and the relatives I spoke to said it was a special day and they can’t thank me enough.

“The team worked tirelessly to make the event a success and it was a great success.”

Couples enjoyed soup starters, steak and kidney pie or salmon for mains, and individual cheesecakes for pudding.

And to make sure all the food and drinks were gone, there was special entertainment by local musician Neil Patterson, who performed while everyone ate.

The event provided an opportunity for couples to not only remember and share memories, but also create new ones.

Residents made gift sets and Valentine’s Day cards for their loved ones.

One resident, who requested anonymity, said: “It was a lovely day! We all put in a lot of effort, spending time together and remembering previous Valentine’s Days.”

Another resident said: “I can’t thank the team enough for their hard work in making this a special day for my wife and I.”

Orchid Care Home is rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and was last fully inspected in December 2020, although an inspection in July last year showed no further concerns. did not.

Since opening in August 2013, we celebrated our 10th anniversary in May last year with Nepali food and dancers.

During the event, the cleaning team and even the handymen, mostly Nepalese, wore traditional costumes and even took some of the residents dancing.

The D-Day Dollies musical group also performed wartime songs for residents during the celebration.