Water Mill House Care Home celebrates Hindu festival with acts of friendship

Our residents at Water Mill House Care Home are proof that acts of friendship are important at any age!

Our residents at Water Mill House Care Home are proof that acts of friendship are important at any age!

We recently marked Raksha Bandhan, a festival of love and protection in Hindu culture, with an afternoon celebrating the friendships that have been forged in the care home.

Our team organised the festivities to support the interests of Hindu resident, Harry.

Harry, aged 76, is originally from Mauritius. He is living with dementia and made Water Mill House his home in 2016.

Residents Hilda and Kay took part in the festival as a mark of their friendship with Harry. Tying rakhis – a band woven with red and gold threads – around his wrist.

Kay often sits and chats to Harry and Hilda spends quite a lot of time with him every day. When she sits with him, she holds his hand, chats, and reads the newspaper to him.

Hilda, aged 91, jokes that: “Once Harry has hold of my hand he doesn’t like to let go! I love chatting to him and we keep each other company.

Kay, aged 92, says: “It was a great event to put on for Harry, and I could tell that he absorbed the atmosphere. Plus, the outfits were wonderful.”

Lifestyle coordinator Sue adds: “We marked the festival to help Harry feel connected to his fellow residents and the care home team.”

To celebrate Hindu culture, we played Bollywood music for the residents to listen to and the lounge was decorated with bright, colourful streamers.

There was saris, bhindis and bangles for our residents and team members to try on, providing an insight into the traditional outfits worn for Hindu celebrations.

Chef Atif made some traditional treats for everyone to enjoy, and also lent Harry his own outfit for the occasion.