On 11 December residents at the Edensor nursing and dementia care home in Clacton on Sea enjoyed a Polish Christmas feast of Ryba Po Grecku and wished each other Wesołych Świąt.
Christmas came early for the fifty Edensor care home residents and the on-site team of carers, when the award winning home in Orwell Road run by the charity Diagrama Foundation, decided to throw a Polish style Christmas Eve feast on 11 December.
Polish born Care Home Manager Sabina Mach and her sister Care Home Care Coordinator Lucja, with the help of Polish Care Coordinator Ewa Ruskowiak decided to treat their residents, fellow staff, residents from neighbouring Clacton Care home Kings Gate and Santa himself, to a traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration cooking Ryba Po Grecku a Polish fish cooked Greek style. Also excited to be pitching in were the home’s domestic ladies; Barbara cooked Pierogi (dumplings with sour cabbage and mushrooms), and Barszcz (Polish beetroot soup with dumplings) while Stefania made a Polish cheesecake and Maria prepared vegetable salad.
Sabina Mach, Edensor Care Home Manager said, “At home in Poland, our main celebration takes place on Christmas Eve when families join together to enjoy a wonderful meal. We do not eat meat on the 24th of December but enjoy fish and vegetables, lots of sour cabbage and mushroom dishes and one of my favourites, beetroot soup with dumplings. We believe that the way you spend Christmas Eve is a preview of what you can expect the following year, so we avoid engaging in activities that you would not want to do all year long!”
Lucja Mach, Care Coordinator, Edensor Care Home said, “On Christmas Day our residents will have turkey with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding which we always thoroughly enjoy, but this year we wanted to share some of the food we would enjoy over the festive season in Poland.”
For families living in Poland, Christmas Eve is one of the most important holidays, and tradition heavily favours eating. The Polish take their festive food very seriously and one old tradition has it that a twelve dish Christmas Eve dinner is a must. The Christmas Eve dinner excludes meat and should comprise twelve distinct dishes in memory of the twelve Apostles.
Edensor resident Desmond said, “It was great fun trying Polish food at our party this year. My favourite dish was the fish – I really enjoyed it.”
Sabina Mach continued, “Christmas is a very special time at Edensor and we are often asked what presents our residents might like from Santa. This year we have created a Wishlist so that those who want to help us make Christmas and the new year even more special, can more easily support us. The list has items to enrich life here including wheelchairs, furniture, lighting and art work.”
To support the not-for-profit care home you can see their Wishlist online at https://linktr.ee/diagramaamazonwishlist or to read more about activities at Edensor visit www.facebook.com/Edensorcarecentre
About Diagrama Foundation
Diagrama Foundation is a Kent based charity that supports vulnerable children, young people, and adults to live their best life.
Diagrama has a Supported Living Service across Bromley, three homes for adults with learning disabilities in Orpington, an eight-bed care home for adults with learning disabilities in West Sussex a fifty-bed care home for the elderly with nursing and dementia needs in Essex, and a fostering and adoption service in the southeast.
- The Supported Living Service, cares for 35 adults with learning disabilities, in nine homes across Bromley helping them to develop skills and confidence to live in their own house either on their own or with others.
- At Cabrini House in Orpington the charity promotes the development of core skills for 23 adults with learning disabilities so that they can lead independent lives integrated within their community.
- Duckyls Farm in West Sussex, a care home for eight residents with learning disabilities, joined the charity care provider in February 2023.
- The team at their nursing and dementia care home, Edensor Care Centre in Clacton on Sea, support vulnerable residents to live life to the full.
- Diagrama’s adoption and fostering service cares for children in South London, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.
Many vulnerable children and adults don’t get the support they need to develop their true potential, but the Diagrama team know that when someone has time and belief invested in them, they come alive, because that investment has made them feel valued and worthy.
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