How Exemplar Health Care celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Our first value at Exemplar Health Care is fun! We engage our residents in a variety of meaningful ways and create a fun environment for everyone living and working in our care homes.

We certainly had lots of fun across our complex needs care homes throughout June to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Over the Jubilee weekend, we saw garden parties, afternoon tea and lots of singing and dancing in our specialist nursing homes across England.

We also ran a ‘Jubilee float’ and ‘pudding fit for a Queen’ competition. In this blog, we’re excited to share our winners with you.

Celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee

In Liverpool, the team at Kavanagh Place care home started their Jubilee celebrations with a special visit from the Lighthouse Doorstep Performers, who put on an excellent show filled with corgis, guardsmen and music.

Scotia Heights care home in Stoke-on-Trent hosted a courtyard party to celebrate the Jubilee.

One of our residents decided to plant a tree to always remember the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. After a trip to the garden centre, Andy then helped to plant the tree in our garden along with some other residents.

The Jubilee float competition

To create some healthy competition, we ran two competitions.

We asked each of our homes to build a float for our virtual Jubilee parade and to make a pudding fit for a Queen.

For the float to be entered into the competition, we asked that it fit into one of four categories; music, Queen, soldier or horse.

We received some amazing entries from across Exemplar Health Care.

Eastlands in Sutton-in-Ashfield created a life-sized soldier float, using poppies, the symbol of remembrance of the First World War.

In Rotherham, our Greenside Court care home decided to turn their float project into interactive learning sessions, going through the journey of the Queens 70 year reign with residents before deciding on the theme of their float.

Once all entries were submitted by our homes, we opened the voting to Exemplar Health Care colleagues to name their reigning champion.

The winners

Our Longley Park View care home in Sheffield was crowned the overall winner in the end, with their float ‘Her Majesty the Queen’.

Their float was made up of a mannequin dressed in a robe covered in handmade paper flowers, a crocheted crown and Union Jack, and a papier-mâché head and corgi to accompany the Queen in her parade.

Once the float was complete, our very own Service User Ambassadors, Janet and Martin, became the Longley Park View Queen and King for the afternoon when it was paraded around all four units of the home.

Dawn Hubbard, Activities Team Leader, said: “I’m so proud of our team at Longley Park View, it really was a whole team approach!”

Our Willowbeck care home in Sheffield came in second place with their very own Platinum Jubilee parade, including horses, the Queen and her carriage!

Finally, our Fairburn Vale care home in Castleford came in third place with their float, ‘The Platinum Carriage of Fairburn Vale’.

The Platinum Pudding competition

Our second competition was our very own take on Fortnum & Masons national Platinum Pudding competition.

We challenged our care homes to make a pudding fit for a Queen, and they delivered!

Ribble View care home in Preston decided to recreate the Crown Jewels.

Our Quarryfields care home in Doncaster also decided to replicate the crown jewels, with a fruity twist.

The Lodge care home in Rotherham submitted their entry, made by service user Sara and Team Leader Netty, saying “After a 70 year shift I’d be ‘flagging’ too!”

However, we could only crown one winner.

After the voting was opened to colleagues, they picked our Scotia Heights care home in Stoke-on-Trent as their winner.

Scotia Heights submitted their Platinum Pudding entry which was a take on a royal afternoon tea.

Service users and colleagues across our homes enjoyed the wonderful celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee together, creating some lasting memories and fun experiences along the way.