Etching to go! Southampton care home residents take part in worldwide art festival

Residents at a care home in Southampton picked up their pencils and went back to the drawing board for The Big Draw Festival 2021.

Residents and team members at Care UK’s Ancasta Grove have partnered with pioneering charity, The Big Draw, for a third successful year to promote the therapeutic benefits of drawing for expression and promoting positive wellbeing. 

 

As part of their event, residents partnered with local youngsters at Woodlands Early Learning Nursery for an artwork sharing project. 

The team at Ancasta Grove hosted a fun drawing workshop where residents were encouraged to draw, sketch and paint what the word ‘nature’ means to them. Residents were inspired by the changing seasons, using reds, oranges, and browns, to draw Autumnal nature scenes.

The team then delivered the brightly coloured artwork to their friends at the local nursery, and in return the care home was presented with the scrap book, which they will now add to and then return to them complete with winter-themed artwork ahead. 

Launched in 2000 as part of the ‘Campaign for Drawing’, the month-long Big Draw Festival promotes drawing as a tool for learning, and invention, and has encouraged over four million people to get arty since its inception. ‘Make the Change’, this year’s theme, focuses on the relationship between people and their living environments, and offers a great opportunity for older people to reminisce about their favourite nature spots, how the environment has changed, and look to the future at what action can be taken to help safeguard the natural world in light of the climate crisis. 

Raymond Arnold, Home Manager said: “Art and intergenerational activities are a huge part of life here at Ancasta Grove and even though we may have been unable to meet in person, it was fantastic to swap art with the local nursery. 

“Intergenerational relationships have proven to be incredibly enriching, as they provide an opportunity for younger and older generations to learn from each other. These relationships can be particularly beneficial for older people, as they can offer a sense of purpose and prompt conversations as residents reflect on their younger years. 

“We’d like to say a big thank you to Woodlands Early Learning Nursery for taking part, and we can’t wait to join forces again soon for some arty fun!”

After a successful participation in the Big Draw Festival in the past two years, Care UK renewed its partnership in 2021 as the main health and social care partner and leading the way in changing perceptions of life in a care home by promoting activity-based care and encouraging other care homes to follow suit. Across the country, Care UK homes have been getting creative and working with their local communities virtually to create works of art around the theme ‘Make the Change’. 

Ancasta Grove, which opened its doors in June 2021, has been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides residential, nursing and specialist dementia care, as well as respite and end of life care, and is proud to be able to offer a ‘home for life’ if an individual’s needs change over time. The team are able to offer show rounds by appointment so local residents can see the home for themselves and ask any questions they may have about the care available.

To find out more Ancasta Grove, please call 02392 982 479 or email Customer Relations Manager, Christopher Roby, at christopher.roby@careuk.com.

For more general information please visit: careuk.com/ancasta-grove.

To find out more about Care UK’s partnership with the Big Draw, and for more top tips on how you and your loved ones can get involved at home, visit careuk.com/the-big-draw.

To find out more about the Big Draw festival, please go to thebigdraw.org.