Residents at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, on Randolph Street, have been participating in a month-long creativity challenge organised by social enterprise 64 Million Artists.
The care home was named Creative Champion by the enterprise, giving residents and staff the chance to set a daily challenge for participants.
99-year-old Betty Wood came up with the idea of “learning something new”, which prompted residents to start looking up trivia and facts in books and online, before sharing what they had discovered on a dedicated Facebook page.
Betty said: “I can’t believe I’ve set this challenge. Wasn’t it good. We learned lots of new and funny things.”
Sharon Lewis, activities coordinator at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, said: “When I posted the photos and information on the 64 Million Artists’ Facebook page there were so many comments of appreciation.
“Regarding one of the other challenges, set by a different group, we had a comment that said, “Please tell your residents I’m going to miss their daily art. They’ve brought a smile to my face every day”, which was just lovely.”
There were over 600,000 participants in this year’s 64 Million Artists January challenge, which saw daily creativity tasks set by different groups.
Others included filling a small space with something you like, which saw residents at Hazelgrove Court redecorating a doll’s house with a new theme for each room.
Resident artist David Rigg, 75, miniaturised his own artworks to decorate one room, while Joyce Baxtrum, 93, chose tiny balls of wool and knitting needles in tribute to her care home knitting club, The Knitting Nannas.
Joyce Wooffindin, 83, came up with the idea of redecorating the doll house. She said: “Doing the small space project was my favourite of this month’s challenges. It took a lot of ingenuity to create a display in miniature. I think everyone did a wonderful job.”
Another challenge was making a man out of tin foil, which residents photographed reading a book, playing a violin, and making snow angels. They were also challenged to change the ending to their favourite film, which they nominated as Titanic, altering Jack’s infamous final scene, allowing him to get on the door with Rose and be saved.
Sharon added: “Everyone loved the January challenges. It was great for the Hill Care and Hazelgrove residents to be creative champions.
“We were invited to an online celebration the following week to review how well the project went with other members.
“This year the project had over 600,000 people signed up and it was wonderful to be a part of such a thriving creative community. Huge thanks to 64 Million Artists for their support with the project.”
