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21 Dec 2020

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Festive activities abound to delight and entertain residents

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The Foundation’s care homes are busy hubs of activity all year round, with every manner of meaningful and enriching engagement-in-life programmes for residents to choose from, led by our creative and imaginative diversional therapists and activities assistants.

On any one day, residents might be taking part in poetry and performance, laughter yoga, Tai chi, ‘Master Chef’ events, debating, music and movement sessions, van trips to local places of interest and inter-village bowling tournaments. Or they might be learning how to get the most from their smartphones or other IT devices, contributing to Waitangi Day or ANZAC displays, or preparing craft items for sale in the various village fairs.   

The Christmas season is no exception, and our teams go ‘above and beyond’ to make sure there are always lots of festive activities for residents to enjoy. Visits to Christmas festivals, Christmas plays, Christmas tree decorating, magical Christmas light shows, Christmas shopping, baking Christmas treats, parties, themed parades, church services and carols – the list goes on. There’s always something to look forward to at Selwyn!

Residents and staff of Selwyn St Andrew’s Moxon Centre enjoy an outing to Tamahere for St Stephen’s Christmas Festival.
Selwyn Sprott village held a special afternoon tea to thank all their volunteers at Christmas.
A Selwyn Wilson Carlile resident enters into the Christmas spirit.
Selwyn Park village’s magical Christmas lights wow the crowds

Thanks to the creative talents and energies of registered nurse Eldho Paulose of Selwyn Park village, residents, staff, visitors and the local community in Whangarei are enjoying a sparkling festive season with magical Christmas lights that amaze and thrill spectators.

Working in his own time (and with the help of some friends), Eldho has transformed the village’s front entrance, external walls, fencing, front lawn area and even its flagpole into a bedazzling spectacle of twinkling lights, colour and wonder for Christmas. The after-dark beauty of Eldho's artistic skills also include illuminated reindeer, a crib to house the Nativity figures, cascading waterfalls, shooting stars and other shimmering figures and gleaming structures.

The stunning display has also been made available for the wider Whangarei community to enjoy and has been publicised as one of this year’s Christmas lights ‘must-sees’. As a result, several hundred visitors flocked to attend the ‘grand Christmas lights switch on’ that took place on 14 December.

Eldho’s mastery of light and colour is a result of growing up in India, where every life event is celebrated with lights. In planning the installation at Selwyn Park - which has involved many thousands of illuminations - he first visualised how each set of lights would look and where they should be placed to best effect. Eldho’s vision took him three weeks to create, working on and off between shifts.

The display will be available for viewing each evening until 1 January 2021, or watch our videos below.

The Selwyn Foundation continues to innovate, diversify and offer a continuum of flexible care options that meet the present and future needs of ageing people and their families.

The Selwyn Foundation is a registered charity under the Charities Act 2005, governed by a Board incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957. Our Charity Commission Registration Number is CC23254.

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