Ashman Grove Mini Olympic Games

This was a fantastic day held on the 7th August, after lots of preparations, shopping for Chinese treats, and decorating the Activity Room. The day began at 10am with 16 residents attending our Mini Olympics. Our first event was the “Walking Race” which had equal winners – Evelyn and Joyce. The next event was the “Bean Bag Toss” which was won by Evelyn. Our third event for the morning was “Skittles” which also had equal winners – Evelyn and Dot. The fourth event was “Tennis Ball Throw” which was also won by Evelyn. The final event was “The Marble Count” which was won by Doris. (see photo page of the WINNERS). All winners received a trophy, and, all participants received a packet of chips. The overall winner for the Ashman Grove Mini Olympics was Evelyn who was presented with a Chinese corsage.

At lunchtime, the residents enjoyed a fantastic Chinese Luncheon.

The afternoon was very Chinese orientated. The 19 residents who attended enjoyed treats such as ‘Prawn Chips’, ‘Shelly Senbei Rice Crackers’, and, ‘Fortune Cookies’. It was a lot of fun listening to everyone reading out their fortunes. Each resident was also given a piece of Joss Paper which proved to be very interesting. Joss Paper: traditional Chinese is literally "gold paper" also known as ghost money, and are sheets of paper that are burned in traditional Chinese deity or ancestor worship ceremonies during special holidays. Joss paper is also burned in traditional Chinese funerals. Joss paper is traditionally made from coarse bamboo paper, although rice paper is also commonly used. Traditional joss is cut into individual squares or rectangles. Each square of paper has either a thin piece of square foil glued to its center or it may be endorsed with a red ink seal from a traditional Chinese seal.

The residents sat in groups at four different tables for the quiz. I began with reading out some information about China, Beijing and also the Olympic Games History. I then conducted the quiz, which also included asking some questions from the information I had read out. With a bit of occasional encouragement [and some cheating], the quiz went very well and was easily won by Evelyn, June, Dot, Jean and Freda at ‘Table 3’.

Thank you to all participants who all said they had had a wonderful day.