Day Hospice Queen's Birthday celebrations

Springhill Hospice Day Hospice, Queen for the Day with staff, volunteers and patients

The sun shone for a very special week at Springhill Hospice in Rochdale as patients dressed in red, white and blue and stepped back in time to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday.

Hospice staff and volunteers transformed the Day room into a Union Jack display reminiscent of any royal celebration. The walls were festooned with decorations, creating an indoor street party for Day Hospice patients.

The Day Hospice was ‘styled’ with artefacts, pictures and crockery showing the royal family over the years. The corridors and main hospice lounge areas were bedecked with union jack bunting which added to the party atmosphere. There was even a life size cardboard cut-out of the queen in all her traditional glorious regalia to greet visitors.

Each day started with the coronation of one patient, who was then crowned 'Queen for the Day', sitting on a bejewelled throne, sceptre in hand so all who passed by could curtsey or bow. The Queen also had two inflatable corgi dogs and a devoted butler/maid to attend her every whim.

Music spanning the decades was played as patients relived their younger days by joining in party games suc as tin can alley, hoop-la, pin the crown on the Queen, quizzes and charades which had a royal theme.

In an array of hand decorated crowns, which the patients made during the morning, the patients sat down to enjoy an excellent buffet lunch - street party style - and the table was beautifully decorated with an assortment of tea sets from days gone by as well as union jack flags to wave at each other (or to attract the attention of the waiter). The union jack cake was polished off with glasses of old fashioned ‘pop’ and cordials.

The Day Hospice conservatory was converted into an old fashioned photo booth and patients dressed in an assortment of fancy dress items, fur stoles, hats, glasses, coats, etc.

A spokesperson for the Hospice said: "A local photographer volunteered to come in all week to take individual and or group pictures, this proved to be a very popular and fun activity.

"Each day the patients went home with wonderful memories of the day, stories to tell and fond old memories evoked and photographs, capturing the day for posterity and giving families a gift for generations to come."