Santa Claus visits Belong Wigan!

21/12/2016

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Belong Wigan apartment resident, Bill Sievewright, was the star of the show at the annual Christmas fayre attended by dozens of residents and visitors at the village in Platt Bridge.
The fayre was held in the village centre’s function rooms and bistro, and featured a Christmas cracker tombola, a gift stall and a sweet stall, as well as games including ‘guess the football team’ and ‘guess the weight of the cake’. Each stall was manned by Belong Wigan’s household residents and helped to raise a total of £712 for village activities.
The highlight of the fayre was Santa’s ‘grotto’ with Bill dressed as Santa, accompanied by his two granddaughters who starred as elves. Residents, relatives and members of the local community were welcomed to the grotto and each received a gift and shared Christmas stories and memories with Bill.
Marie Calderbank, Experience Coordinator at Belong Wigan, said: “Everyone had a wonderful time at our Christmas fayre! It was a real treat to have Bill attending as Santa and it was lovely to see members of the Belong community from apartments and households coming together with the wider community to get into the Christmas spirit – it proved a real highlight of our festive season!”
Guests were also treated to festive favourites including mince pies and mulled wine.
As well as the fayre being an enjoyable afternoon, recreating Christmas traditions in this way acted as a form of reminiscence therapy for household residents, proven to be particularly beneficial for people living with dementia, stimulating cognitive ability as well as being therapeutic.

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