Chinese New Year a roaring success at Sutton care home

A care home in Sutton celebrated the Chinese New Year in style.   

When resident Chiu-Oi Cheung shared that she was eager to celebrate the Chinese New Year and share her culture with residents, the team at Care UK’s Tennyson Grange, on Westmead Road, jumped at the chance to help her mark the Year of the Dragon.

To help prepare for the day, the team took Chiu-Oi and her friends from the home to a local Asian supermarket to buy traditional snacks and ingredients for dishes for everyone to try, as well as special decorations.

Later, residents helped to decorate the home with lanterns, large ornately decorated fans and red and gold balloons.

The team also organised for a Chinese culture-inspired craft session with the Debutots Nursery. The young pupils enjoyed creating photo frames inspired by the celebration with the help of residents, while learning more about the culture of the festival and background of the Chinese New Year.   

Chiu-Oi said: “To celebrate the Chinese New Year, it is traditional for the whole family to be together for a wonderful dinner and we’d sometimes wear traditional outfits too. This has always been China’s most important festival.” 

Chiu-Oi was born in Shenzhen, China, and lived in the countryside where her family were farmers. She later moved to Hong Kong where she got married. In the 1960s, when Chui-Oi was in her 30s she moved to London with her family. 

One of Chiu-Oi's favourite memories was going to Chinatown in London to see the dragon and the lion dances on the Sunday of the big celebration. After the celebrations, Chui-Oi would go straight to her church to wish everyone good wishes for the new year.

Brighton Nyagomo, General Manager at Tennyson Grange, said: “Everyone had a fantastic time marking the Chinese New Year – it was a roaring success!

“Here at Tennyson Grange, we understand the importance of residents living happy and fulfilling lives. Through celebrating and learning about different cultures we are able to support residents to embrace new traditions and learn about each other – whether that’s trying new foods or sharing their own experiences of different countries and their traditions.

“I’d like to thank the Debutots Nursery for joining us, the day was a real hit. I’m sure we’ll be having a few more Chinese-inspired dishes on our menu in the coming weeks. Thanks to Chiu-Oi we all had a wonderful time celebrating!”  

Designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence, Tennyson Grange incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities. The layout of the home has been configured to help facilitate the creation of close-knit communities and encourage social interaction among the residents.