Image from the Cramond Residence Fringe, celebrating
arts and entertainment due to the annual Fringe Festival being cancelled as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
FUN-loving pensioners who were missing out after the world’s biggest arts festival was cancelled have been treated to a bespoke day of events instead.
Cramond Residence, Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home, hosted a Festival-Fringe-style celebration for its residents since the annual arts event was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The day-long ‘Cramond Fringe’ saw residents and staff enjoy a celebration of arts and entertainment, while abiding by social distancing rules. It included performances by magicians, jugglers, poets and singers.
Lisa Sohn, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Cramond Residence, said: “This offered something different for our residents and it was wonderful way to bring everyone together safely.
“While nothing can make up for Edinburgh losing the Festival-Fringe this year because of the pandemic, we still had a brilliant day of entertainment and performances here. The residents absolutely loved it.”
Cramond Residence is a purpose-built care home created at a cost of £8m and opened in October 2018. It combines luxury, five-star accommodation with outstanding clinical standards – with places available from £1850 per week.
The Cramond Fringe event was held in the residence’s dedicated cinema room – a sizeable, multi-purpose space which enabled strict social distancing. The residence also includes a library, hair salon, private, fine-dining space and a physiotherapy room.
Lisa added: “The fringe celebrations started with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the morning, followed by refreshments over a presentation on the history of the Festival and a Fringe trivia quiz for those more competitive residents.
“After lunch we started our afternoon of entertainment which included juggling, magic shows, skits, jokes, and a sing-song. We tried to create the feeling of a variety of acts by switching the chairs around and creating different ‘stages’.
“Speaking with the residents after the event, they told us they’d loved it a really good time and would love for it to happen again – maybe we will need to make the Cramond Fringe an annual celebration due to popular demand.”
Staff members from Cramond Residence (L-R Caroline and Lisa Sohn). The Cramond Fringe was a celebration of arts and entertainment due to the annual Fringe Festival being cancelled as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
Cramond Residence can care for up to 74 older people and has a specialist dementia unit to care for those with an advanced stage of dementia. Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities. It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times.
Spread across three floors, it also adopts a small-group living philosophy. That means groups of eight rooms form distinct “houses”, where residents are encouraged to eat and socialise together. This is believed to have played a major role in infection control during the Coronavirus pandemic to date.
Places start from £1850 a week. To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/
