RECENTLY at Gibraltar Nursing Home in Monmouth, the team and residents who are called family members have been busy crafting and hanging Christmas decorations across their households, ready for a competition of Best- Decorated house.

Each of Gibraltar’s households- Beech, Fernlea, Meadow, Riverleigh, Oakleigh and Poplar have been taking part in paper chain making, Christmas card designing and more, bringing each home to life with a festive spirit. Decorating at this time of year can be an important tradition for family members who celebrate Christmas, offering moments of familiarity and joy.

Elsie, 87 years young, whilst dressing her Christmas tree, shared her own tips with the team on how to place the decorations, so the tree looked like its best.

The care home invited Vivien Coughlin, a visitor and close friend of the home for many years, judged the competition, and Vivien very kindly accepted.

Vivien spent two hours being shown around each house by team members, before selecting Oakleigh as this year’s winner. Oakleigh received £50 towards their household along with chocolates, while Vivien and Verity, Home Manager, also donated chocolates and biscuits to all others for taking part.

Verity, shared: “it was lovely to see how much pride each household took in decorating their home in a way that felt personal to them and the people who live here.”

The nursing home have hosted many community activities over the years and leading up to Christmas they put on their own Christmas market, where residents had the pleasure of being behind many stalls and were able to cater for their family and friends.

At their recent Christmas market they raised £650 which went towards the COGS committee ( Creating Occupation in Gibraltar and Supporting Social Skills) and had over 60 people attend to be apart of the festive, community spirit.