Residents, families and staff at a Plymouth dementia care home made the most of the late summer sunshine to enjoy their first summer fair since before Covid, and raised £385 for their residents’ fund at the same time taking their total for the year to just over £2,000.

Staff and friends of Butterfly Lodge in St Budeaux organised a wealth of traditional summer fair stalls including hook-a-duck, face-painting, tombola and balloon-modelling, with individually-crafted jewellery items available to buy, and mouth-watering bakes for sale on the cake stall.  

Deputy manager, Sarah McCaffrey, said: “It was a super busy day and a great chance for us to meet some of our neighbouring families and children.

“This delighted our residents who also absolutely loved the hustle and bustle and enjoyed browsing the stalls and being able to buy sweets and other items for themselves.

“We had some great live music, were treated to a delicious cream tea and even a visit from the deputy Lord Mayor.

“The raffle was a great success and we were blown away by the total amount we raised on the day which will go towards the purchase of a special mobile entertainment unit designed to help the people living with dementia who we support live their best possible lives.” 

The high-tech kit will enable residents confined to their rooms to share in activities taking place elsewhere in the home, so everyone can benefit equally from music, singing, reminiscence and other fun activities via live-streaming.  

Sarah said: “It’s called a Jolly Trolley and will allow residents to join in with group activities no matter where they may be in our home. And they’ll be able to use it for playing video messages from families and friends and for activities like karaoke.  

“Huge thanks to all my colleagues who were involved with the summer fair, with a special mention for Kelly Tennant, Paul Hutt, Clare Sinclair, Kirsten Bradbury, Tina Dinham, face-paint dynamo Samantha Wilkinson, and fantastic chef Karen Worth who all went the extra mile to make this a day to remember.” 

Butterfly Lodge is one of three specialist dementia care homes in Devon and Somerset run by award-winning provider Camelot Care. See www.camelotcare.co.uk