Edinburgh care home residents celebrate creative success on National Day of Arts in Care Homes

Residents at St Margarets Care Home in Edinburgh are celebrating after winning an award for their artwork, in a competition to mark the National Day of Arts in Care Homes.

The competition was organised with ‘Creative Mojo’ who provide bespoke art kits to the care home throughout the year. St Margarets won for their group entry ‘Hummingbirds’ and their winning art will now be reproduced as postcards for residents to send to family and friends.

Themed art & crafts projects that residents have got involved in this year have included Valentine’s Hearts, Easter Wreaths, the Cinco de Mayo Carnival and The Olympic Games. The next creative activity will be painting colourful peacocks to mark Diwali.

Resident Isla McGill helped create the winning artwork

The home’s Magic Moments Coordinator, Laura Ferguson, said: “Arts and crafts are an important part of our Magic Moments activities programme here at St Margarets and our residents love unleashing their creativity to produce some truly fantastic art. They’ve revealed some amazing hidden talents, and many have been encouraged to revisit a past interest in art or try picking up a paintbrush for the first time and have really surprised themselves with how much they’ve enjoyed being involved.

“It doesn’t matter how talented an artist someone is, encouraging people to create something of their own or contribute to a group mural provides a sense of purpose and achievement. And getting everyone together to enjoy some creativity over a cuppa and conversation, with some favourite music playing in the background is a such fun and sociable way to spend a morning.”

St Margarets Care Home is in East Suffolk Road, Edinburgh and provides nursing, respite, palliative and dementia care. The home is rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). www.fshcgroup.com/stmargarets