The origins of Father’s Day are fairly modern and were borne as a result of a terrible mining disaster in West Virginia USA in 1907. Many children lost their fathers, and a day of remembrance was arranged in their honour, whilst this was a one-time event it led to calls for a national day to celebrate fathers and their contributions to family life. The UK adopted Father’s Day far more recently, in the years that followed the second world war when we became more influenced by American culture. As with Mother’s Day it was retailers who, seeing the money-making potential pushed to make the day the national day it is now.

At Westhill Park we love an opportunity to make a fuss of our residents and we love a celebration. We were very excited to buy and wrap gifts for our gentlemen residents, we placed each gift in a brightly coloured bag and attached a fancy balloon, we wrote cards and organised a gentleman’s afternoon of beer and games.

It was lovely to see sons and daughters coming into Westhill bearing gifts for dad, grandads, and uncles. One of the given reasons for the slow uptake of an annual Father’s Day was the idea that men were not as emotional as women and wouldn’t enjoy the fuss, this is definitely not the case, the looks on the faces or our gentlemen residents when they received our gifts was priceless.

It was a wonderful day, a day full of love and laughter, and with the addition of the beer and the gifts, the games, and the food, we had ourselves the perfect Father’s Day.