Today, 5th May 2023, residents and family members of The Close care home were encouraged to polish up their pearls and show off their sartorial style to honour of his Majesty’s upcoming Coronation with a traditional street-party style event with an extraordinary modern twist.
Held amongst across the ground floors lounges and bistro, guests at today’s exclusive event were treated to a lavish lunch with a coronation-conscious feast featuring familiar flavours, the King’s tea-time favourites and British classics. Coronation Quiche was a huge hit on the menu as well as another Kings favourite sandwich!
Having broken traditional paradigms with their “Queen for a Queen” for the Queens Jubilee Celebration featuring drag act Vanity Con Glow. This time the team at The Close went one step further and took the theme of ‘KING’ to the next level, the highlight of today’s celebrations was the unique entertainment experience provided by mesmerising Elvis impersonator, Mike Nova.
Stepping away from Graceland for one day… The king was in the building, Nova entertained with humour and a carefully curated line-up of well-known, sing-along songs and favourites from across the Elvis eras – transporting residents through a musical journey to reignite fond memories and good-time giggles.
A new take on celebrating a Royal occasion for residents, and not a performance usually seen in care homes across the UK – but one that was curated to evoke the happiness and joy of yesteryear from a generation, some of whom remember their royals but also the rock and roll moves of Elvis. The war era residents are no longer, but the rock and roll generation are here and The Close made sure to give their residents a right royal time!
The Close is dedicated to inspiring individuality and encourage inclusivity amongst its residents, and with that comes commitment to listen and hear what the residents’ really want – and it’s not the time-honoured war time anthems of the beloved Vera Lynn most would expect!
Today’s event was a further expression by Sanjay Dhrona, MD of The Close and renowned industry speaker on diversity, equality, and inclusion and innovative best practice, in his ambition to champion change within care homes and the way we perceive and support our elder generation.
Through considerate planning with residents’ requirements at heart, along with the support of his dedicated team, today’s right royal knees up at The Close would certainly rival the street parties across the country this weekend.
Sanjay commented: “We know that so many of the residents would want to mark the coronation, so we thought after the success of our Jubilee party, we had to host something amazing for the Coronation… We had Queen for a Queen, so why not King for King! “
“There’s only one King that many of our residents think off, so we reached out to find the very best Elvis we could. All the activities in the lead up have had a coronation spin to them, residents made the table centres, helped select the menu, invited guests and of course watched a few Elvis movies in our cinema to get in the mood!”
“We really love welcoming guests from the local community to The Close Care Home as well as our resident’s circle of care, We believe that events like this can help to break down barriers, so adult care social care is seen as the dynamic sector it is and bring people together, and we hope that this event will be a great opportunity for everyone to enjoy themselves and celebrate a truly momentous occasion.”
The Close resident Julia, aged 64, said of today’s celebration: “its wonderful to celebrate the King in this way and I mean both Charles III and Elvis, but I think Elvis is my favourite. He sang my favourites songs, and I had the best tome dancing with my friends and the carers. I cant wait to enjoy watching the coronation tomorrow. Maybe one day the real King and Queen could come and see us at The Close”
“I helped Paige and the other residents, make all the decorations for today and helped when Sanjay was putting up the bunting. The food was delicious too, what a beautiful day, even with the rain… un huh huh”
