The gentlemen residents at Letham Park and Mathison Care Home are looking sharp for the festive season after a local barber shop paid a special visit to help out the community.
Ryan McCutcheon and Nicky Campbell from Black’s Barbering spent the day at the care homes to give the male elderly residents the chance to get a new trim for Christmas in a bid to give back to their local community.
90-year-old resident John McKenzie (above) said: “My hair is looking great and we had some good banter while it was getting done. Big thanks to the guys for coming in.”
Barber Ryan McCutcheon said: “We just really wanted to do something nice for Christmas and we thought the gentlemen in the care home would enjoy getting a nice haircut.
“It was our gift to these very deserving chaps, and we enjoyed every minute of it. We had a laugh and some of the banter was great!”
Seated volleyball, 400m wheelchair and walking challenge, and pitch n putt: Capital’s very own version of the Olympics
With just 20 days until Tokyo 2020 finally gets underway, elderly care home residents across Scotland have launched their own Olympics with a special Tokyo-inspired opening ceremony event, following on from weeks of training.
The Renaissance Care Olympics will see 15 care homes across the country compete across five sports which have been designed to suit the abilities of the care home athletes to encourage physical and mental wellness.
Edinburgh-based Letham Park Care Home and Mathieson House Care Home kicked off their opening ceremonies within the individual homes.
The residents, dressed in their own team shirts, were given a taste of Tokyo with Japanese taster plates, chop stick trials, music and discussions on the Japanese culture. Mathieson House also recreated the famous Olympic flame, using colourful tissue paper and streamers.
The athletes have been in training over the month of June, getting ready to compete in each of the sports throughout July before a closing ceremony to celebrate their achievements at the end of the month.
For the gold medal, the residents will be competing to see who can walk or wheelchair the most 400m stints throughout July, how many hits of a balloon they can get to keep it off the ground for seated volleyball, and how many punches they can land on the boxing pads.
They will also compete in Pitch n Putt, with nine holes set up around the homes, and a one off shot putt event where the resident who can throw the bean bag furthest will take the medal.
Ann Marie Byrne, Activity Co-ordinator at Renaissance Care’s Mathieson House Care Home, said: “Encouraging physical activity for our residents is extremely important and we really wanted to create something fun that would get everyone involved.
“The residents across each of the homes have been enjoying the training and we have already seen a great lift in spirits as they get in touch with their competitive side.
“During lockdown, we have been as creative as possible to come up with new ideas to ensure that the residents always have new experiences and the Olympics felt like the perfect way to bring everyone together.
“The relatives have been routing for their loved ones and we have been sharing their progress along the way, so it has been a lovely way to keep everyone connected.”
