Around Christmas time you may have seen posts on our Facebook page of a party for which Jackie, our lifestyle manager wore a fabulous 50s style dress. Jackie’s dress was the talk of the party and we all enjoyed hearing others reminisce about the 50s, the music, the fashion, the lifestyle.

One resident here was particularly taken with the dress. Gillian talked of nothing else, she remembered owning dresses just like it, her face lit up telling us about them, the way they made her feel so glamourous.

This gave us an idea, we wanted to give the residents a taste of the 50s, a trip back in time to the days of rock and roll and teddy boys. We fired up the juke box and poured the drinks and invited everyone along.

The residents got themselves ready, chatting excitedly about Elvis and coronation street parties, they were up for a party. One resident who was particularly excited was Gillian. We could hear the sound of the 50s emanating from her room and we popped our heads around the door, we had a very special surprise in store for Gillian.

Gillian was pleased to see us, she asked us how she looked, and we smiled, “You look lovely Gillian but there is one thing missing.” Before Gillian had a chance to question us, we whipped out a box and handed it over. “If you are going to attend a 50s party, you are going to need a 50s dress.”

The dress was beautiful, and Gillian rushed to put it on. She looked fabulous, she cried, we cried but they were tears of pure happiness.

The party was a complete success, there was dancing, drinking, laughing and lots of fun, and Gillian was the belle of the ball. The lifestyle team wear many hats, entertainer, friend, beautician, hairdresser and we relish them all but every so often we get to wear our favourite hat, fulfiller of wishes and this is the best hat there is.