NEWLY arrived residents at a recently-opened dementia care home in Holsworthy have enjoyed meeting local primary school pupils who serenaded them with a “beautifully rehearsed” selection of carols and Christmas songs.

The event came amid a bid by the home’s operators to forge closer links between the home and different generations of the community.

Suzanne Evans, manager of Deer Park Nursing Home, said: “The children brought such joy to our ladies and gents, and we all enjoyed their performance very much indeed.

“We’d like to say a big thank you to Mrs Blake and Mrs Paddon along with some of the children from the choir for coming to see us and helping make the run-up to Christmas so special for us all.

“After months of hard work getting our home ready, our first residents moved in last month and we obviously want to make their first Christmas in their new home extra special.

“They were delighted when the children arrived, and they really enjoyed singing along with traditional favourites like Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

“We hope pupils will visit regularly and are looking forward to forging more links with the local community – it’s so important to feel connected.

“My team and I have also been supporting residents to engage in preparing festive decorations for the lounge, as well as Christmas cards, crafts and decorating Christmas cookies.

“We’ve got a lovely festive entertainments programme lined up for them, including local choirs, chocolate quizzes and Christmases past reminiscing and their feedback has been very positive, which is exactly what we were hoping for.”

Deer Park Nursing Home is run by dementia care provider Camelot Care and has capacity for up to 25 residents requiring residential or nursing care. The home re-opened earlier this year after an extensive refurbishment.