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Today - Thursday 16th January 2020 - is a very special day, as it marks the 100th birthday of a lovely lady named Lily. Lily is an incredible individual living here at Julie Richardson Nursing Home in Banbury and we would like to wish her a very happy birthday!

It's not every day somebody reaches such a grand age, so we wanted to do something a bit different to celebrate. To mark this very special occasion in a unique way, we have created something with a helping hand from the Daily Sparkle just for Lily.

In addition to sharing the usual Weekly Sparkle around our nursing home, which is a reminiscence newspaper featuring an ever-changing range of nostalgia topics for care homes across the country, we have Lily's Sparkling Times today too! It mentions significant years in Lily's life and talks all about her hobbies.

All those living in Julie Richardson Nursing Home will no doubt enjoy reading about some of Lily's favourite things to do in her special edition of the Daily Sparkle, and it'll definitely 'spark' interesting conversation. We have been working with the Daily Sparkle for quite some time now, and the benefits it has are easy to see; reading together and discussing the news articles really does help our staff to build better relationships with residents and it's great seeing people's faces light up when they read about major moments in history they remember from their childhood or teenage years, for example.

Thank you to the Daily Sparkle for helping us to create Lily's Sparkling Times - we're sure it'll mean a lot to Lily, looking back at momentous occasions from her 100 amazing years! It'll be something for her to cherish and keep rereading for a long time to come, bringing back wonderful and precious memories from days gone by.

Here at Julie Richardson Nursing Home in Banbury, we're always looking for new ways to put smiles on our residents' faces - and we're pleased to say we've got a very good thing going with the Close Day Nursery School.

For many of our residents living with dementia, which can be a rather isolating disease, spending time with children has made the world of difference. They have no inhibitions and don't hesitate at all when it comes to playing with residents and spending time in our home.

When the children visit each week, they spend time playing musical instruments and board games, building with Lego, drawing and taking part in other creative activities - and the residents love getting involved with colouring and puzzles too, building on their communication skills and stimulating their memories.

Our manager here at Julie Richardson Nursing Home in Banbury, Jayanthi Antony, said that spending time with the kids gave the residents a lot of enjoyment and engagement, helping to improve their mental and physical wellbeing.

In an article in the Banbury Guardian earlier this year, Jayanthi said: "We love having the children here, there are lots of magic moments when the children come and interact with our residents. One resident, she was very passive before but now she's become a lot more interactive and taking part in activities and as a manager, I'm so proud to see that."

Lorraine Wetherill, manger at the nursery school, said: "We often leave many of our creative activities with the residents and the children will often be heard saying that they want to leave their drawings and creations with the residents, with some saying, "put this up in your bedroom". But most importantly, it's the life skills that the children are gaining such as empathy for others, self-confidence, communication in different forms, listening and gaining knowledge from the older generation. We are extremely proud of the children; it is evident from the smiles on everyone's faces the pleasure that these visits give to all involved."

Long may this partnership continue, as it's so incredibly beneficial to the kids at the Close and our residents here at Julie Richardson Nursing Home. Get in touch to find out more.

Here at Julie Richardson Nursing Home, we try and make life as fulfilling as possible for the people living here and endeavour to make life as close to what it would have been like in years gone by. That's why we have a reminiscence paper here in our home, the Weekly Sparkle!

Designed to be much like your local rag that you'd pick up from the paper shop, the Weekly Sparkle is available for all residents to pick up and read; it has been carefully developed to provide daily stimulation, interest, enjoyment and fun for all older people, but particularly those living with dementia.

In fact, the Daily Sparkle has enhanced the quality of life for thousands of people living with dementia according to their website dailysparkle.co.uk. That's because this weekly newspaper is all about the world many older people live in - it's a world that we see as the past, but which is often their experience of reality, so it takes them back to that time. It's incredible to see their faces light up as they relive wonderful moments of life.

Supporting staff to create a happy home, the Weekly Sparkle is essentially a tool to help your team provide even better care from a wellbeing and contentment perspective, and it's amazing listening to our residents as they enjoy sharing their precious memories. This really helps when it comes to building relationships between staff and residents.

Available for a subscription fee, there's a choice of daily or weekly newspapers and here in our home, we've opted for the weekly version. This is because it's more substantial and increases the level of anticipation between each new edition - it also feels more like a newspaper than a leaflet.

Staff members take the time to sit down with residents and read excerpts from the Weekly Sparkle with them, and it really does help and encourage them to engage in meaningful conversations and to recall happy memories - it's magical seeing that very moment where people are made to feel good about themselves, evoking feelings of happiness and enhanced self-esteem. Providing the perfect opportunity for interpersonal engagement thanks to its short, easy-to-digest articles, we think the Weekly Sparkle is ideal.

We can't recommend the Weekly Sparkle highly enough to any care home considering something like this. Why don't you give it a go? Let us know how you get on.