Newsround 8 of the Home Visitors are also keen on local history. Residents have benefi ted from presentations about their own area including Egremont Place itself. Students from Brighton College, a local public school, visit each week. These visits are times when the students become involved with the residents, staying on for afternoon tea. They invited residents to join them for their carol service as well. Christmas decorations went up at the home on the 2nd of December with residents and staff joining together to get into the holiday spirit. A seasonal Christmas treat each year is the visit from cubs scouts. The children sing for residents and give them cards which they've made themselves as well as plants. Chippenham People generously donated gifts for the annual Auxiliary Gift Day, which was very well attended. Stalls included cakes and conserves as well as cards, some made by the residents. A recent outing to Southwick Country Park was made complete with after-noon tea. Mary Greenman visits the home regularly to play the piano. Residents join in with the Christian hymns and choruses they enjoy so much. The weekly art class is attended by residents who have produced banners and collages as well as cards. Manager Gaie Marshall observed, ' It seems like baby boom time at Leonora with two of the senior team due to have babies within 10 days of each other.' Plans are in progress for the new kitchen, which staff have been looking forward to for some time as the present one is rather antiquated. A temporary kitchen will be located on the front ' patio' for the duration of the work. The gardens have looked wonderful throughout the summer thanks to the donations of supporters and residents and the help of some skilful young men employed under a gardening contract. The home has received wonderful gifts of harvest produce from churches in the area. Gaie has carried out training on Risk and Restraint, and an external specialist came and trained staff on lifting hoists. Dorothea Court ' Friends of Dorothea are regularly enjoying the coffee mornings with the occupants,' said Manager Deryn van der Tang. ' The occupants enjoyed a Harvest Tea to which the Chairman of Friends of Dorothea, Roger Eaves, was invited. He then took the evening service. Several of our local churches brought us their Harvest Festival contributions for which we were extremely grateful. We have also had the offer of some volunteer gardeners for one afternoon a week from one of our local churches. This is really an answer to prayer as we have extensive gardens that need to be kept in hand.' A DVD on ' Petra' was well supported by the occupants.

Newsround 9 Recent months have seen a fair bit of training, with Statutory Manual Handling, Health and Safety and Fire training, and some staff have also completed Emergency First Aid Training. Deryn went this year to the Managers' Conference at the Windmill Farm Conference Centre in Oxfordshire. She says that as well as feeling very much part of the managers' team, it was a good time for reviewing the past year and looking toward to the future. She also went with Trustee Michael Abbott and Margaret Brown from the Friends of Dorothea to the regional Forward Together meeting in Warboys, where they met other supporters, and she felt it was a good time for exchanging ideas and building relationships. Evington Also at the Forward Together meeting at Warboys were two sheltered housing occupants from Evington. They appreciated the opportunity of speaking at the meeting and sharing their views with other Christians. This autumn the home's newly formed men's group commemorated the Armistice Day together. Residents enjoyed a DVD of Wales from the air, brought back from holiday by Home Manager Sarah Haines, who had spent a week in North Wales. Residents have taken part in a university study to see if the use of PAT dogs increases their communication. ( PAT means Pets as Therapy.) A wonderful display of fresh fruit and veg. marked the Harvest Festival Service. Rev Paul Bassett from Melbourne Hall gave the message ' Except a grain of wheat fall to the ground.' Residents from the bungalows were invited to attend a special Bonfi re Tea of hot dogs and jacket potatoes on November 5th. This event also featured a quiz on Olde Worlde household items. Another November highlight was a Harvest Tea at Dorothea Court Residents Betty & Ron King ( who is blind) responding to the PAT dog.