Westmorland Homecare holds festive event welcoming clients, staff and the local community

The ‘Christmas social’ was held at Slyne with Hest Church Hall and featured seasonal food and drink, a variety of fun-filled Christmas games, a visit from Santa Claus and carols sung by local schoolchildren.

Around 40 clients, along with the branch’s office team and many of its homecare assistants, staff members’ children and family, plus members of the local community, attended the event. A special guest was the assistant deputy mayor of Lancaster Cllr Sam Riches

“For me, arranging these events for our clients and the local community is one of the best parts of my job,” said Katie Pennington, Registered Care Manager at the Lancaster and Morecambe branch.

“In line with our values, our goal is to support our clients in living a fulfilling life and hosting these events is a great contribution to that.

“To see the smiles on everyone’s faces and allowing them a space to spend some social time with other individuals who may be going through the same challenges and struggles in life, can provide them with reassurance.”

The social event featured festive bingo and an entertaining game of ‘Reindeer Antler Toss’, which raised plenty of laughter.

Santa Claus arrived with gifts for the children and everyone was encouraged to wear a Christmas Jumper and make a £2 donation to St John’s Hospice, which is based at Lancaster.

Another highlight was when more than 40 children from St Luke’s Primary School, which is located right next to the church hall, sang traditional Christmas carols to Westmorland Homecare’s clients.

“That really helped to spread the festive spirit,” said Katie. “So many of our clients feel such joy when surrounded by children. The impact children can have on clients who often feel lonely or isolated is phenomenal – it’s almost like they create a friendship.

“For those clients who perhaps have dementia, or other health conditions, listening to the children singing carols can bring back memories and I saw clients singing the carols and songs word for word.

“The children brought emotion to some of the clients as they listened to their singing – it was something very special.”

Meanwhile Westmorland Homecare will be providing each client with a gift this Christmas, including a personalised Christmas cake. “We do this because it’s important for our clients to know that we see them as family and, particularly for those clients who have very little family surrounding them at Christmas time, to allow them to feel appreciated and loved,” said Katie.

In addition, Westmorland Homecare will provide every staff member with a gift. “All our gifts are put together by us here at the Lancaster office as a personal touch and they are handed out by hand to the team as a token of our consistent appreciation for everything they do.

“We value our staff deeply and the service we provide wouldn’t be outstanding if it wasn’t for them.”

The branch has also donated £160 worth of items to The Olive Branch (Faith in Action) at Lancaster, a charity which provides support for people in times of need. Items included selection boxes, mince pies, food supplies and children’s gifts.

“We did this as another way of us giving back to the wider community,” said Katie.