Last week we ran an acrostic poem competition for our residents. The winning entry was created by Jane from our Chipping Sodbury house with her lovely “kindness” poem. Paul Boult, Partnership Manager, who judged the competition said that “it was hard to judge, as there were so many good entries”.

Residents choose from one of 7 words (community, kindness, homey, family, loving, passion and helpful), all words that capture life in an Abbeyfield house.

Jane has received a bottle of bubbly and chocolates with the runners up, Margaret from our Cheltenham house and John from our Cirencester house both receiving large boxes of chocolates. Thank you everyone who entered.

Read the winning and runner up entries below - we hope you enjoy them.

The benefits of poetry in later life

Reading and writing poetry has many benefits for older people including improving vocabulary, improving long-term brain health and fostering creativity. Writing poetry can help with expressing internal thoughts and feelings, and searching for the right words can help improve brain health and memory. The process for writing poetry requires thinking, reading, putting words together and this is a great activity for helping to improve cognition. Sharing poetry can also help bring people together, reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness and words written in your poems can help inspire others. Writing poetry is a great hobby as it helps older people to stay active mentally and productive.