May was National Walking Month (promoted by Walking For Health), and this was a great opportunity to encourage Resident’s within the Nursing Home to get outside into the fresh air and get more active. We all know that walking/being out in green spaces has huge health benefits not only for our physical health but also our mental health so it was great to see so many of the residents joining in.

Resource Centre staff member Adele had suggested we hold a competition as an incentive to get as many people involved as possible. She created 4  Categories for us all to participate in over the month of May :

1 – Most walks (won by Karen with a massive 19 walks in the month).

2- Most steps taken (won by Gordon who took a whopping 12,300 steps in the garden over the month of May).

3 – Best Photo (won by Mark and Gordon  – see below).

4 – Best story when out and about (won by Lily and Michael S)  – Lily loved getting out into the garden especially when she could hear the children from the adjacent Nursery playing outside – she loved reminiscing about her sister and herself when they were younger and the fun they had playing games in their garden. This proved to be a great opportunity for 1:1 with Lily and she sat content in the garden soaking up the sunshine. Michael also loved being outside, we went on a mini nature hunt during one of his walks and he found a beautiful lady bird which he let crawl over his finger, he then gently returned it to one of the leaves from the lavender plants.

All residents who took part were delighted to receive a certificate of participation.

Have a look at some of our fabulous photos below: