FOLK CELEBRATIONS THE ROMANIAN WAY

Staff at a nursing home in Wellington donned traditional eastern European folk outfits to take to the dance floor as part of an event to celebrate the culture of Romania.

The event, which was hosted by the activities team at Camelot House & Camelot Lodge, featured Romanian music and dance, and the showing videos of Romanian customs, dancing, wildlife and landscape. It was held on 1 December, to coincide with Romania’s national day – ‘Ziua Marii Uniri’ as it is known there – which marks the unification of Transylvania and the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom in 1918.

“Everyone had a brilliant day. It was a huge amount of fun and everyone really got into the spirit,” said Camelot’s Richard Dempslake.

“Our Romanian members of staff cooked up a huge amount of traditional Romanian food for everyone to try and in the afternoon dressed up in traditional costumes.

“We had entertainment with Romanian band and a Romanian quiz with residents encouraged to learn a few greetings words like ‘buna’ which means hello.

“Staff and residents were dancing together under the Romanian flag bunting decorations and the smell of Romanian food was just delightful.

“Everyone worked hard to make the event a success, especially our Romanian staff who said they were delighted to have the chance to tell people more about their home country.”

The activities team at Camelot are planning further cultural days with an ‘Oriental Day’ for the Chinese New Year next month and a Polish Day in May. 

Camelot House & Lodge, run by care providers Camelot Care, is home to up to 90 residents with memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. 

The group, who also have homes in Plymouth, Bridgwater and Yeovil, were winners in the End of Life Care category in the 2017 Care Focus South West Awards.