Christmas came early for our residents at Minto Gardens with a number of events to bring the community together.
On a glorious December evening we had an inaugural ‘Carols in the Gardens’ event in one of the outdoor green spaces. We were treated to some Jazzy Carols by Morrison Music, made up of John Morrison & Jacki Cooper and a Christmas talk by The Rev Colin Watson.
Our Parish Village Chaplain, Sashi, organised a wreath making event and shared a story of our residents looking out for each other:
One of our residents, Pam, was booked in for the wreath making but was a no-show 30 minutes into the morning. Another resident Di , when she heard that Pam was meant to come and wasn’t there, said that she would go and check on her. Di came back to say that Pam was having a tough morning (Pam suffers from vertigo and it was particularly strong that morning) and wasn’t sure about coming along.
With Di’s insistence and encouragement, Pam was motivated to come along. Di also ended up paying for Pam and wouldn’t accept money from Pam. Di said ‘There might be days when I am struggling to get out of bed, and I hope that someone will come check in on me and encourage me to get out of bed and get out and about’. Sashi replied ‘That’s what being in a community is all about – that we can help each other on the hard days with some encouragement and care enough to go knock on someone’s door to check if they are ok’.
It’s such an encouragement to see our residents coming together, particularly over the Christmas period. Minto Gardens may be a new village, but there is already a strong community spirit here.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the team at Minto Gardens!
