Grease-was-the-word at our care home when we transformed it into an immersive Grease themed American diner and 1950s experience for our residents. They loved every minute of the day and enjoyed re-living their youth!

The special day was arranged by our dedicated activities team here at Barrowhill Hall, our 74-bedroom residential and nursing home, on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border, and ended up with our whole home getting involved.

We specialise in caring for those living with dementia and memory loss and we have a separate household called ‘Churnet Lodge’, tailored specifically for those living with Young Onset Dementia. The event brought back some lovely memories for many of the residents.

For our resident Maureen, 87, the event reminded her of her youthful weekends. “I was a nurse then and I used to enjoy wearing my ra-ra skirt when I went out,” she said.

“I’ve loved listening to all the music today.”

Married couple, Frank and Jenny, age 94 and 93, both moved into our home last September. Jenny said: “The burgers today have been delicious!”

“I was working with children who were refugees in the 1950s” she remembers, whilst Frank said: “I was a student at Cambridge college all suited and booted. I wasn’t into dancing as I’ve always had two left feet and didn’t know how!”

In the lead up to the day, our residents helped us to create the decorations, making it a collaborative experience. They made milkshakes using cotton wool as the cream on top and vinyls to hang up, during the home’s arts and crafts sessions. On the day they enjoyed a full Grease themed American diner experience, fancy dress, listening and dancing to vinyl records, such as ‘Rock Around The Clock’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’, and reminiscing about their own experiences of the 1950s.

“We’ve had a blast,” said our activities lead, Kerry. “We picked a Grease/1950s theme because our residents love to watch that film and we wanted to choose a time that would resonate with them. It was certainly a cool era and I’ve learnt more about it listening to their stories!

“It’s been really special creating the event together with the residents’ involvement and the day has been very sociable and uplifting. I think they’ve felt a sense of pride seeing their decorations up and it’s been heartwarming to hear them talk about their memories from that time.”

Whilst the team had fun dressing up as Pink Ladies and using blow up guitars, the American food was a highlight for many. Nicky Whittingham has been a chef at our home for over nine years.

“I love going above and beyond for the residents,” she said. “All our food is homemade with love and care, and cooking for events like this is definitely a lot of fun.”

Our home manager, Dania Meadows said: “It takes our whole team to create the Barrowhill Hall family and it was brilliant to see so many of them joining in and coming together to make it even more enjoyable for our residents.

“We had the activities team; Kerry, Ruth, Val and Jennifer, the care team; senior carer Emma and carers Emmanuel, Amarantha, Jomon, Subin and Rajibul, as well as Tharshini our healthcare assistant, Dave from housekeeping, Qazeem our team leader and of course Nicky and Deborah our Chefs and Cheryl our kitchen assistant all taking part in our special day.

“I’m very proud of all the team here. We work so hard here to create a caring, warm and meaningful home for our residents. We love to create moments where our residents can reminisce, and we also ensure we are creating new experiences for them to enjoy. Putting a smile on their faces is what it’s all about for us.”