community-focused-harvest-festival

At Mountside Care Home in Hastings, seasonal celebrations are more than calendar dates they are meaningful opportunities to come together, share joy, and strengthen connections. This year’s Harvest Festival was a wonderful example of how our residents, team members, and local community partners come together to create a sense of belonging, purpose, and celebration.

From sensory challenges and quizzes to poetry readings and a special faith-based service led by Blacklands Church, the day was filled with warmth, activity, and gratitude. For our residents, it wasn’t simply an event it was a shared experience that highlighted Mountside’s values: community, connection, and resident-led activity.

The Harvest Festival holds a special place in many people’s hearts. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the abundance of food and to appreciate the work that goes into bringing crops from field to table. For our residents, many of whom remember Harvest from childhood or church involvement, the celebration brought back cherished memories of gathering with loved ones, singing hymns, and decorating baskets with seasonal produce.

At Mountside Care Home, we embraced these traditions with a modern twist and designed the day around resident choice, sensory stimulation, and shared enjoyment.

One of the highlights of the day was our interactive sensory activity, “What’s in the Box?” Residents reached inside mystery boxes to feel, smell, and guess the identity of seasonal fruits and vegetables. The tactile experience prompted lots of laughter and friendly discussion:

“Is it a squash?”
“I’m sure this is a parsnip! No? Let me try again…”

These sensory-led activities support cognitive stimulation, sensory awareness, memory recall and emotional engagement.

They also encourage residents to interact, share stories, and build social confidence. For some, the game sparked conversations about growing vegetables in their gardens, allotment memories, and home-cooked recipes passed down through generations.

In addition to sensory fun, residents enjoyed seasonal quizzes that tested knowledge on harvest traditions, farming, and food from around the world. Poetry readings added a reflective note, with residents listening to verses about golden leaves, gathering harvests, and the shifting seasons.

The combination of humour, thinking, listening, and sensory exploration made the day rich and varied meeting different interests and abilities with one shared theme.

One of the most meaningful parts of the day was our Harvest Festival ceremony led by Blacklands Church. Mountside Care Home is proud of its ongoing partnership with the church, and the Reverend’s willingness to bring the service into our home was deeply appreciated.

Faith-based services can be profoundly comforting to many of those we care for and support, offering spiritual reassurance, familiar rituals and music, as well as emotional grounding and a sense of continuity.

Some residents grew up attending Harvest Festival celebrations in local churches, and the ceremony stirred memories of choir hymns, decorated aisles, and family gatherings.

Our partnership with Blacklands Church allows those who would once have attended regular services to maintain spiritual connection within their home — an important aspect of holistic wellbeing.

At Mountside Care Home, we pride ourselves on shaping activities around the people we care for. That means listening to preferences, respecting choice, and building programmes driven by resident interest. For many, Harvest Festival was not simply an activity it was a tradition.

Residents helped guide decision-making around:

favourite hymns

seasonal foods to discuss

poetry themes

sensory items to include

decorations and layout

When individuals feel they have shaped an event, participation becomes much more meaningful, enjoyable and empowering.

Our approach aligns with national guidance on activity-based care and person-centred support.

People express identity in many ways, through hobbies, food, music, relationships and faith. At Mountside Care Home we respect all belief systems and offer support to practise them. Whether through seasonal ceremonies, pastoral support, spiritual discussion groups or reflective activities, Faith-based activities can help:

-reduce anxiety and loneliness
-provide emotional comfort
-support grief and loss processing
-strengthen cultural identity

For many older adults, faith structures have been at the heart of community life. Maintaining those rhythms supports continuity and dignity.

Our Harvest Festival celebration is a wonderful example of Hastings community involvement. Being connected to local groups helps to reduce the feeling of isolation within the Mountside care community encouraging positive visibility, understanding and belonging.

Being an active part of the Hastings community helps to continually enrich the lives of our residents and help ensure that older adults remain valued, visible, and connected. Autumn, in particular, evokes so many things. From crisp Autumn walks, school assemblies and apple pie, these sensory cues are especially helpful for residents living with dementia, grounding them in familiar patterns.

Supporting cognitive health through activities everything within our Harvest Festival was designed with cognitive wellbeing in mind. Sensory activities, quizzes, poetry, and guessing games. Small cognitive challenges, delivered with fun and support, help maintain confidence and mental agility.

At the heart of the day was something simple and profound: joy. Laughter echoed, friendly chats blossomed, and residents thanked each other and the church visitors warmly.

As one resident shared:

“It felt just like Harvest Festival used to only with more games!”

Another commented:

“The service was beautiful. I felt peaceful all afternoon.”

Moments like these are why Mountside invests in resident-led celebration.

Looking ahead Mountside Care Home will continue to celebrate seasonal traditions whilst strengthening community partnerships through meaningful activity

From mystery vegetables to poetry and prayer, the Harvest Festival at Mountside Care Home was more than a celebration, it was a reminder of gratitude, belonging, and community. Most importantly, it honoured the legacy, identity, and voice of the residents because at Mountside everything we do begins with the people we care for.

Here’s to many more shared celebrations, shared laughter, and shared harvests.