A Care Assistant at Fairway View care home in Bulwell was ecstatic to win a competition to design a Chinese Dragon, after teaming up with resident, Winnie Twells. Anita Bowling, who has worked at the home since October last year, saw details of the latest Ideal Carehomes’ competition and immediately thought of Winnie to help her win.
Ideal Carehomes’ runs monthly competitions for residents and staff members to join forces and get creative, with the aim of building budding friendships between carers and residents. January’s competition was to design a Chinese Dragon and first prize was a £50 voucher each for resident and staff member.
Anita said, “I asked Winnie if she would like to help design the dragon as she doesn’t always like to join in activities, but as soon as I mentioned that it was for a competition, she agreed to help. I then told her that there was a £50 voucher each up for grabs, and she said ‘come on then, let’s get started!’”.
Winnie revealed that she used to love colouring, so Anita found a large dragon picture for the pair to colour in and they spent a couple of hours completing the project. The finished product was sent to Ideal Carehomes’ Head Office to be judged with entries from the groups other 15 homes, and it was announced shortly after that Winnie and Anita had won.
Winnie, who is 88 and has lived at Fairway View for over a year, said that she is over the moon to have won, and plans to spend her winnings on some new perfume and chocolates. Home Manager, Dorothy Mbulo, said, “It was great to see the interaction between Winnie and Anita when they created their competition entry, they both really enjoyed it and the task has definitely built their relationship. They will have to arrange to go shopping together to spend their well-earned vouchers!”