We always look forward to Friday morning with Breathing Spaces, the gardening club.
It is a good excuse for a natter over coffee with friends. Lisa and Jenny are so knowledgeable and always bring some beautiful blooms for us to see. You don’t need to be a keen gardener to enjoy as the company is good and it’s always a hive of activity. |
We had a fantastic trip out to the White Swan at Arundel for afternoon tea. It was a crisp bright day and following a lovely drive through the autumnal woods we shared tea and scones in front of a roaring fire. We loved everything. Lovely white china, ambient atmosphere, cosy sofas by log fire and great company. What more could you want? And a chat about the last highwayman to be hung in Sussex, Jack Upperton, as we saw his ‘gibbet’ in the Woods.
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Another busy busy week. An author, face painting to Children in Need and a visit to the local art gallery.
We had a visit from Sony award winning Radio 4 documentary maker David Bramwell who told us his tale of how he travelled the world looking for his Utopia! Trip out to Worthing Art Gallery today to see the Open 18 exhibition. A wide variety of work from local artists - though with a lot of abstract pieces this year , some we liked, but others we were puzzled by! Was certainly food for thought, and we each chose a piece we liked best. An impromptu event when Marlene, Nada, Emma & Pete offered to have their faces painted by Jacky for Children In Need in return from sponsorship from staff, residents & visitors. We were delighted to raise £105 from the kind donations. |
Lovely afternoon in the garden with Poppins Mobile Farm who brought their ducks and chickens for us to see. Thing we learnt today #1 was that female ducks go 'QUACK', and male ducks go 'HONK'. Thing we learnt today #2 was that farmers train their sheepdogs using ducks as they behave in a similar herding fashion to sheep. Thing we learnt today #3 was that Summer isn't over - a lovely afternoon in the garden! |
This weeks trip out was a return visit to The Dome Vintage Tea Room for tea and cakes. We really like this place for afternoon tea and we would recommend a visit. it was a good day and lots of light coming in from it's large glass windows looking out onto the seafront and also gives you a chance to nose at all the people going into the cinema. |
We are always happy when Phoebe the Therapy Dog visits us with Brenda. We all look forward to their visits every other week, even fudge the cat does not mind too much. Apparently Phoebe gets really excited when they park outside The Shelley. We have many memories of our own dogs and love to chat about them. |
Trip out to Haskins Garden Centre, with Pete and Jacky, plus the biggest scones you will ever see. A member of the public came up to us to ask where we were from as we were having such a nice time, laughing and joking, and they wanted to join us! This is not the first time this has happened on our trips out.... There were no Christmas decorations up on sale yet (Haskins is usually the first to blink), so Summer isn't officially over just yet |
OUR SUMMER FAYRE
A huge Thank You to all who made the Summer Fayre afternoon a great success. The weather was just right, with just a breeze to keep us cool. Drinks, strawberries and cream, cream scones and ice creams, helped us all to relax. There were a number of stalls, tombola, guess Teddies name and the afternoon finished with a raffle. The Sunddown Ukelele Band kept us singing and dancing. We had 3 birthdays with incredible cakes and we raised £400 for our favourite charity Superstar Arts |
Today our afternoon trip took us to the beautiful town of Storrington where we found the most delightful tea parlour. We will certainly do a return trip as the homemade cakes and ice cream were delicious and the place was like an eloquent dining room. We adored the Bombay Duck China and the staff were friendly and most helpful. This is definitely a contender for best afternoon tea on The Shelley voting list. It is certainly a Jewel in the crown and a hidden gem. What a perfect place, even down to white cotton table linen and crystal chandeliers.
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Our busy month continues, with a lovely trip out for drinks and ice cream at Swanbourne Lake in Arundel, setting for one of John Constable's last paintings 'Arundel Mill & Castle' (1837).
Stem ginger ice cream, cloudy lemonade and a little bit of art and culture, all sound-tracked by the hooting and honking of various ducks, swans and geese on the lake. |
What a treat for us this week when Varvara Tarasova visited to give a morning classical piano recital. Originally from St Petersburg, Varvara trained at the Moscow Conservatory and more recently at Royal College of Music in London. She has been a guest on 'In Tune' Radio 3 programme, won the prestigious Sussex International Piano Competition and now she can add The Shelley alongside the V&A Museum and the Royal Albert Hall to her list of prestigious venues she has performed at!
Residents were delighted to have such a top class performer play for them - "Stupendous!" was one of many positive reactions. |
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Pete has produced the first Newsletter of the year - click on the link on the left to download the Word version.
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We had an afternoon of 'Famous Faces Bingo', after which we discussed who would we invite from history for a meal (either living or dead).
Other replies not captured on camera included residents dining with:... Kevin Costner & Sidney Poitier, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela & Betty Boothroyd, Florence Nightingale & Ken Dodd (interesting combination!) Another resident chose Theresa May, though they pointed out that judging on current form, it may well be she would dither over whether to stay in or go out, so might not show up! (Please note this is their comment and not supported by everyone) |