Pupils from a Great Kingshill school created virtual Christmas cards in the form of videos for care home residents in Chalfont St Peter and Aylesbury.
Woodland Manor Care Home, in Chalfont St Peter, and Avondale Care Home, in Aylesbury, were invited by students at Pipers Corner School to take part in their Christmas community project.
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The families of residents were contacted by the care homes to record their own Christmas messages and to send in photos from previous Christmases or other family celebrations, since they were not able to visit their relatives in person due to Covid restrictions.
A resident at Avondale watches his Christmas video
The homes also asked for the names of songs from the festive season which were particularly meaningful to residents.
Using all the videos and photos sent in, the Pipers Corner pupils created a moving video montage for each care home, which staff surprised residents with over Christmas.
Family members, friends and even pets dressed up for the occasion, singing songs, playing instruments and sending season’s greetings.
Both care homes said their residents were touched by the videos, which they have “watched on repeat since”.
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One resident, Janet, said: “Absolutely lovely, a real surprise! Amazing to see everybody, and even my family from Australia. I loved it,” while another commented: “It was so lovely and I am ever so grateful. Thank you, hugs, kisses and love to all.”
Christmas hampers arrive at Woodland Manor
As well as creating the video montages, the girls from Pipers Corner thoughtfully picked out gifts for each resident, which they individually wrapped and arranged in hampers.
Each gift was accompanied by a handwritten card and the hampers were delivered to Avondale and Woodland Manor just in time to be opened on Christmas Day.
Woodland Manor home manager Colleen Joubert expressed her gratitude to Pipers Corner, saying: “We are really grateful to the girls of Pipers Corner for, not only buying beautiful gifts, but for creating such a brilliant video which has meant so much to our residents.
“It was lovely to see how much effort everyone had gone to and the video is something our residents can cherish.”
It came after the Prime Minister plunged Buckinghamshire and large swathes of south-east England into strict Tier 4 restrictions just days before Christmas, after a new variant of Covid was found to be spreading rapidly across the south-east.
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