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Grandparents’ Day Welcome to the Summer/ edition of our We celebrated Grandparents day at Avalon house newsletter. We hope you will enjoy the review during Happy Hour. of our activities and events held over the last 3 Residents and their families were entertained by our months, including Fathers’ Day and Grandparents’ own Valmai’s family, with son Michael and his celebrations, , a Kindy performing to the music her grandchildren played. visit, Melbourne Cup celebrations, Remembrance Valmai and fellow residents danced along happily. Day, the Animal farm visit and the very special visit by a celebrity alpaca!

We take this opportunity to wish all of our residents and their families a very happy festive season and a wonderful new year ahead.

Fathers’ Day Celebration Avalon house celebrated Fathers’ Day by having a special afternoon tea with live entertainment by Natalia, the piano lady. She played favourite hits for all the fathers and families.

December 2019 [AVALON HOUSE NEWSLETTER]

Oktoberfest Celebrations Halloween Kindy Visit Om pah pah, Om pah pah that’s how it goes! Well, It was all treats and no tricks this Halloween for our that’s how it went at our Oktoberfest concert with residents, who were lucky enough to receive a visit Ross Hamilton in . Ross engaged the from the Kinma Kindergarten children. audience with as many German related songs as he The children visited our residents in the coffee shop could find in his repertoire, including Edelweiss from where they paraded their wonderful costumes and the Sound of Music. He kept the residents performed some songs. entertained with his witty chat and then roamed the The residents shared afternoon tea with the room with his guitar, which the residents loved. children and gave them sweet treats. It was a We served pretzels and sausage to keep with the fabulous way to celebrate Halloween and was theme and a few of our residents enjoyed a Heinekin enjoyed by all of our residents. beer to get in the Oktoberfest mood. Ross finished his set by enticing staff and a few residents up to perform the “Chicken dance”. The audience had a good laugh at our expense, but it was all in the name of fun.

Mirrabooka Singers return On a cold, wet Spring day we were treated to a performance by the Mirrabooka Singers, a group of female singers from around Sydney who were accompanied by a wonderful pianist and a male conductor. They are the recipients of an Australia Day 2019 award from Ku-ring-gai council for outstanding service to the community in providing therapeutic, stimulating singing to elderly citizens on a regular basis in various nursing homes, retirement villages and other groups. The choir sang many engaging numbers, including - the Rhythm of Life, Blue Skies, Camelot, Yesterday and “Gonna wash that man right out of my hair” from the musical, South Pacific. The performance was not just for our enjoyment, but it was also being filmed by the ABC for a story to be aired on the program, Compass in October to showcase “women that do”. The story highlighted one of the choir members, Pattie who has been a long time volunteer choir member.

December 2019 [AVALON HOUSE NEWSLETTER]

Remembrance Day 2019 Ladies lunch at the Waterfront On the 11th of November, It was a lovely outing for the ladies to the Waterfront Cafe at Church Avalon House hosted a Point. The ladies had a relaxing time having a tasty lunch and wine Remembrance Day service. overlooking the water. During the service, one of our centenarians, Odessa, recited “In Flanders Fields” off by heart at the mere age of 102! It was touching to have so many residents, staff and guests come together to reflect on the lives of the soldiers who fought for our country.

Christmas Decorating Avalon School Choir Visit We had a return visit by the Avalon School choir, as promised. The well Many of our residents enjoyed mannered students performed Christmas carols and various songs for getting in the Christmas spirit by our appreciative residents. helping to decorate the Christmas The children enjoyed a lovely morning tea after interacting with the trees in the lounge rooms and residents and handing out handmade cards. communal areas, with lovely results. This visit was part of the Intergen Music Program, arranged by the Northern Beaches Dementia Friendly Community Project, which aims to make our children and members of the community more aware of people living with dementia. It was another beneficial interaction for both the residents and the children. After the children waved goodbye to Heading the residents, they stopped by to admire our special train set in the foyer. December 2019 [AVALON HOUSE NEWSLETTER]

Melbourne Cup Celebrations

Melbourne Cup was celebrated well at Avalon House. Our residents dressed in their finest and were adorned with floral fascinators or hats – well, our male residents chose more sedate hats but looked dashing for race time. We served strawberries and champagne with a lovely afternoon tea as the residents waited for the cup while watching the fashions and pre-race goings on. Every resident was entered into our house sweeps and it was exciting to announce the winners. We were all delighted that an Australian horse and jockey won this year - a lovely result for a very enjoyable afternoon. December 2019 [AVALON HOUSE NEWSLETTER]

Pet Therapy Galore at Avalon House Celebrity Alpaca experience One fine day in November an alpaca walked through the front door ... No, that’s not the start of a joke - it’s just the magic that happens at Avalon House! The special visitor was “Capudo”, a 2 year old pet alpaca owned by the Douglas family of Newport. He has become a local celebrity who draws much attention - he even has his own Instagram following. Residents and staff alike, were enchanted by Capudo’s lovely nature, big brown eyes and soft, deep fleece. It was so uplifting to see the obvious delight on our residents’ faces during their interaction with him. We decided we’d all like an alpaca for Christmas!

Animal Farm Visit

Recently Avalon House had a very exciting day with the arrival of the mobile Kindi Farm. Our residents were so happy to see the variety of cute animals, including goats, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits and baby chicks. Many of the residents were able to explore their sense of touch by patting and cuddling the beautiful animals. It was so lovely to see how much joy this brought them. Surprisingly, the favourite was the sweet little goat.

December 2019 [AVALON HOUSE NEWSLETTER]

Upcoming Events for Message from our DON, Jenny Rose SUMMER 2019/2020

December

10th Residents & Relatives

Another year is almost past and the Christmas Christmas Party th th season is upon us. Our Christmas decorations 6 & 11 Christmas Lights Tours are up, and the home looks very festive. 17th Anglican Christmas Carols Service I would like to wish you all a safe and joyful Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you visiting your loved ones over this time. Summer Entertainment  Dennis and David duo; We appreciate your input and feedback for care  Murray Ferguson; Grant; planning for our residents at any time. Care plan evaluations occur every three months  Ross Hamilton; Mercedes; and our staff will contact you at this time to  Blue Velvet Jazz; Andrew Dyce discuss the care plan. We are happy to provide you with your resident’s care plan if required. Please contact Hayley Bonnici - our care manager by email if you require access to care plans. As always, we are looking forward to the next season of Email address: [email protected] fun activities with your family members.

We continue to strive to make Avalon House a We wish you all a home for our residents, along with providing excellent care and support. wonderful festive Season

Best wishes, and a very happy start to the new year ahead. Jenny Rose, Director of Nursing from the RAO Team! Maria, Kylie, Chris, Bethany, Brittany & Sarah

Email : [email protected]