Summer of Creativity: Painted stones brighten up Delph care home

Some of the colourful stones

As part of our “Summer of Creativity” with Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre and Oldham Council, we’re celebrate everything creative about Oldham.  And we’re sharing stories of how ideas and inspiration have helped change lives.

A picturesque nursing home on the outskirts of a Saddleworth village has been asking locals to support a heartwarming initiative to help their 41 residents.

The kind hearted team at Stoneswood, Delph, are focused on meaningful activities for residents in their social distancing bubbles and groups. And earlier in the summer, they invited locals to contribute by helping contribute to a “caterpillar” of stones in the grounds.

Caroline  Winskill, assistant manager at Stoneswood, said: “After having a tough time with Covid we are now out the other side and wanted to reassure our residents family we are adapting and conscious of them not feeling isolated.

“Stacey Valentine, the home’s activities coordinator, created a 10-minute video to show our relatives all the good work and activities being done through lockdown.

“And she came up with the caterpillar as we wanted to involve the community too. Residents are encouraged to paint the  stones but visitors were able to drop off a stone to help our caterpiller grow and give our residents a wave to make them smile.

“We included all our residents and personalised the stones to say something about them.

“We have residents with advanced dementia who have painted stones with fingers prints. I think it’s great all residents, staff and the community can be involved,” she added.

Share your stories of creativity here.  Big or small, we want to share your ideas, your success, and your inspiration for others in our town.  You could also be a part of our exhibition at Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre at the end of the summer.