Guiseley care home shares stories with children for World Book Day

To celebrate World Book Day, children from Guiseley Children’s Day Nursery on Otley Road visited residents at neighbouring Guiseley Manor Care Centre, for an inter-generational afternoon of fun and storytelling.

Dressed as characters from their favourite books, the mixed group of children were accompanied by the nursery manager and team and brought with them a selection of books to read with the residents.

Guiseley Manor residents gathered in the lounge to greet the three and four year olds and together, young and old spent an hour reading together, proving that age is no obstacle when it comes to a love for books.

The activity was great fun for all; with residents from Guiseley Manor enthralling the children with readings from their favourite books and sharing memories of their childhood. Equally, the pre-school children loved showing off their costumes and delighted the residents with their tales from nursery.

Eduardo Buglosa, registered manager at Guiseley Manor, says: “With the nursery situated so close to our beautiful care home, we enjoy a lovely relationship with the children and make time to see them regularly. World Book Day provided the perfect opportunity to invite them in again and it was wonderful to see how much fun everyone had in each other’s company sharing stories.

“Intergenerational activities such as these have an incredibly positive impact on the wellbeing of all involved, not only the residents but also the children. You are never too old to enjoy a good story and seeing the residents read with the children really was lovely.”

Guiseley Manor resident, Tessa Funnell, age 85, added: "I love to spend my spare time reading and it was lovely to share this with the children. I very much enjoyed the children coming to read to us. They were very friendly and happy."

Jenny Elstub, manager of Guiseley Children’s Day Nursery, said: “You are never too old to enjoy a good story and seeing the residents read with our children was lovely; they loved learning about the little ones’ favourite characters and were thrilled to share stories and memories from their childhood.

“Events like these are also important in helping our children develop respect and understanding for the older people in our community, and the best way to teach this is through regular time in each other’s company. World Book Day was a great opportunity to do this and highlight that reading is for everyone, whatever your age.”

New Care is one of the UK’s leading care home providers. Its portfolio of purpose-built ‘new generation’ care centres is fast gaining an enviable reputation for outstanding care that is second to none. Located on Otley Road, Guiseley Manor is a superb care facility offering individual, person-centred residential, dementia and 24 hour nursing care services.