Happy Christmas to everyone from the staff and students on St Raphael’s ward!!!!!

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This Christmas, we are remembering those who can feel lonely at this time. We have done a study of the elderly and those that might find Christmas difficult.

We discussed ways to make the elderly feel more included in our lives and we also considered how valuable the elderly can be to us. We value their stories and their histories and their worth of experience.

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We were inspired by an advertisement on the T.V. that depicted the man on the moon as a lonely figure who has no friends or family. We decided to change the man to the BFG and have him receiving a book as a gift from Earth. We picked the BFG because he is a favourite of our students and he was also a very lonely figure until he became friends with ‘Sophie’.

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We made balloons out of felt and tied ribbons to them to ‘carry’ the present to the lonely man. Many different students helped with the sketching, cutting, pasting and painting. It was a real group effort! We wish a very Happy Christmas to all!!!

At this special time of year we have been thinking about the contribution of older people to our society. we’ve discussed the need of some elderly people at this time of year.

Here are some of the inspirational older people we have been discussing.

Sue, Daphne and Lady Trumpington: three of the 'fabulous fashionistas' that are redefining old age

Interesting Article  about re-defining what it means to be old.

We have researched on the website ww.alone.ie to examine many of the issues facing the elderly. Here is a link

Here are some older people talking about what it can be like to be alone

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EsxU84ay4[/youtube]

Here are some of the older generation who challenge the notion of ageism.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqfFrCUrEbY[/youtube]

Other art work we have created this Christmas includes:

IMG_3009Chloe helped make this relief picture of Santa and his sleigh.

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Killesha enjoyed Glitter-Bombing her bed making this beautiful, huge Christmas decoration.

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Chloe chose a snow scene with Christmas Trees for her piece to adorn the ward.

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Even the grinch made an appearance this Christmas.

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An explosion of “Christmasness” in this large piece