A SOUTH Oxfordshire care home held a ‘Dementia Festival’ to mark a national Alzheimer’s Society campaign.

Wantage Nursing Home put on a series of specially-themed activities and events for Dementia Action week in late May.

Staff and residents donned bright flower crowns, handmade earlier in the week, and took a musical journey back through the decades to the 1960s and 1970s.

Activities leader Wendy Pill said: “Our residents loved our mini festival – they always like it when the team get dressed up – gives them a good giggle.

“The music played enabled our residents to reminisce on their lives in the ‘60s and ‘70s – many would have been starting and watching their families grow, so wonderful decades for them to look back on.”

As part of Dementia Action Week, the home’s residents had the opportunity to become more tech-savvy, learning how to Skype their relatives on the nursing home’s iPads.

Many also tried their hand at some art therapy by creating a tie-dye sheet for the festival.

Home manager Paulo Leitao added: “Providing residential dementia and nursing dementia care, Dementia Action Week is a cause close to all of our hearts, so we are thrilled that this week has been a great success.”

The Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Action Week is an annual event in which people are called to take action to improve the everyday lives of those affected by dementia.

Wantage’s care home celebrated 10 years of helping people living with dementia in April.

The company that runs the home, Sanctuary Care, is also celebrating its 20th birthday.

The not-for-profit group, which owns a number of homes in England and Scotland, held a series of events across the country to mark the anniversary.

Discussing the festival – which saw Wantage Nursing Home decorated with multi-coloured bunting and chairs laid out in a circle for activities – resident Brenda Fewing said: “It was nice to see all of my fellow residents taking part and really enjoying themselves.”

Her friend Monty Little added: “It was lovely to see the old records and record player, relax and listen to all of the music.”

Later this month, the home will be one of three in Oxfordshire hosting summer-themed open days with 'beach party fun, vintage tea parties and Wimbledon fever to enjoy'.

Local communities are invited to the annual events at Yarnton Residential and Nursing Home in Rutten Lane, Wantage Nursing Home in Garston Lane, and Iffley Residential and Nursing Home in Anne Greenwood Close on Friday, June 16.