Festive fun as reindeer visit Fernhill House Care Home

Guests at Fernhill House Care Home, in Fernhill Heath, roasted chestnuts, drank mulled wine and even made friends with reindeer.

Frankie Edwards, customer relations manager at the care home, said: “We wanted to give the residents a really festive event, especially after the past couple of years.

Residents and their families met reindeer from Smart Trees in Pershore (Image: NQ)

“Residents’ families came along and we also opened it out to the local community. It was great for the residents to have their families come to them and to have children running around.

“As well as the reindeer, we had live music and also Father Christmas giving out gifts to the children.”

Staff, residents and their families had festive fun at the care home (Image: NQ)

Frankie said the residents loved seeing their grandchildren and great-grandchildren meeting Santa and his reindeer - and thanked Age UK Worcester & Malvern Hills for attending.

“The event also served a practical function,” she said, “enabling Age UK to attend to offer information and advice to the community.”

Frankie said the event was so successful that the care home is looking to make it an annual tradition.

Father Christmas dropped in to hand out gifts and reindeer food (Image: NQ)

The residents at Fernhill House have had a busy December, building up to Christmas with festive flower arranging, visits from local school choirs, lots of live music, sherry drinking and mince pie eating.

They were also treated to a performance by The Salvation Army outside the care home.

Staff enjoyed meeting the reindeer, too (Image: NQ)

Earlier this month, Fernhill House opened its own barber shop - The Man Cave.

The dementia-friendly barbers offers residents the opportunity to get a trim while music from their youth plays around the shop.

There’s a traditional barber’s chair, the distinctive smell of Old Spice and even the offer of a beer, whiskey or non-alcoholic drink.

READ MORE: Dementia friendly barbers opens to give older people happy memories of haircuts

Owner Tom Roberts said: “I’m so pleased to have teamed up with Fernhill House to provide this service to the men in their care, allowing them to experience the familiarity of their younger days.

"It reminds gentlemen of what a clean shave and a good haircut feels like again, the familiar smells of the aftershaves they used as younger men, the music and the male company, reminding them of their younger years.”