Winter Olympics at Aberdeen Care Home
Team GB Champion Eve Muirhead sends Cowdray Hall residents her best wishes
Care home residents in Aberdeen are taking part in their own Winter Olympics this week, with specially adapted activities from seated ice-hockey to stationary skiing.
Complete with their own opening ceremonies, The Cowdray Club is one of sixteen Renaissance homes around the country taking part in the fortnight long event which was created by staff to encourage mobility, fitness and wellbeing.
Contenders will be going head-to-head or working with a team in sports including stationary skiing, designed to improve arm strength and stamina, seated ice-hockey, to develop aim and team-work, and indoor curling, to increase hand-eye co-ordination and independence.
Skip of the competing GB Curling team and three-time Olympic champion, Eve Muirhead, c has shown her support with a video message:
Resident at The Cowdray Club, Gillian Sangster (79), said: “We have all been getting ready for the Winter Olympics since we completed the summer games. The competitive spirit has been great for morale and although we are trying hard to beat the other, it’s been fantastic for the mood in the home and all the fighting talk has given us a great laugh.
“In these events being a spectator is just as important as taking part in the sport, which suits me perfectly; it allows me to rest up and get my tactics right for the next round of ice hockey.”
Yvonne Mackenzie, Operations Director at Renaissance Care, said: “Just as our summer Olympics, this campaign has underlined the extra lengths our staff go to ensure the residents in their care not only are well and staying fit, but are having fun and enjoying life to the fullest."
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