You didn’t have to close your eyes and visualise being at a circus at Ashleigh House on Friday, June 30, as the residential aged care facility’s Lifestyle team pulled out all the stops for this year’s theme week.
Each year, Sale’s Ashleigh House Lifestyle team facilitates a theme week to deliver an exciting, immersive, activity-filled experience for residents to take part in, providing a highly anticipated week of fun while supporting the residential community by encouraging sociability and fostering an environment for meaningful interactions.
Did you know that socialising not only staves off feelings of loneliness but also helps sharpen memory and cognitive skills, increases your sense of happiness and well-being, and may even help you live longer?
The Ashleigh House Lifestyle team converted the residential facility into a cruise ship for last year’s annual theme week – cruise ship being the theme, in case that needed any clarification.
This year the Lifestyle team of Ann Cunningham, Liza Pendlebury, Jenni Murphy, Daniel Parker Estoppey, Lauren Ryan, Geoff Cutts and Jayne Davis went above and beyond to create a fully immersive circus experience for the 2023 Ashleigh House theme week.
Did you know that circuses have been a popular form of entertainment for centuries?
Philip Astley (1742-1814), a six-foot-tall ex-calvary man, is often regarded as the ‘Father of the Modern Circus’.
In 1768, he and his wife Patty, who were both expert riders, established Astley’s Riding School in London, where Philip would teach in the morning and perform equestrian tricks in the afternoon.
Philip’s most renowned act, widely considered the first circus clown act, was ‘The Tailor of Brentford or ‘Tailor’s Ride to Brentford’, in which he acted out a comic journey on horseback.
Employing Ashleigh House maintenance employees to construct wooden circus-theme decorations from colourful pointer signs, a red and white pin-striped painted ticket booth and a circus tent entrance equipped with red curtains to wagons containing ferocious stuffed leopards, a lemonade stand and streams of red and white fabric falling from the ceiling perfectly replicating the inside of a classic circus tent, walking into the library was like Alice walking into Wonderland.
“Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night?”
Before descending upon the circus wonderland hidden within the Ashleigh House library, Jenni Murphy, Lauren Ryan and Jayne Davis treated residents to a taste of things to come, the three Lifestyle team members theatrically performing their own magic show in the invariably warm lounge.
Clown Lauren, clown Jenni, who was also riding a very well-behaved elephant, and Jayne, a not-so-silent mime, catapulted to the front of the room bringing with them an array of intriguing articles – a trolley, a cake with a red-haired woman through the middle, a chainsaw and a black star patterned blanket.
It’s worth noting that the well-behaved elephant, red-haired woman lying through the middle of the cake, and chain saw were all props – plastic props.
Residents watched fascinatingly as Lauren, Jenni and Jayne fumbled around the trolley, attempting to cut the young red-haired woman in half.
“Just”, “Ah”, “Yep”, “Ta-da”, the three performers cried, lifting both halves of the cake in the air, a perfect cut straight through the middle, a silently smiling red-haired assistant also perfectly cut straight through the middle.
“Oh, the poor girl,” one resident gasped.
Taking both halves of the cake and both ends of the assistant back to the trolley, clown Lauren, clown Jenni and not-so-silent mime, Jayne fumbled around yet again. Clown Lauren waved the black star-patterned blanket in the air one, two, three, four times, revealing the trolley, an uncut cake on top of which stood a red-haired lady with arms held out.
Ashleigh House residents dutifully showered the performers with applause before migrating to the library-turned-circus tent to watch a real magic performance, collecting tickets from ticket master Geoff Cutts before passing through the red entrance curtains.
Coming all the way from Brunswick, Melbourne, magician Ben Hutton dazzled Ashleigh House residents, staff and miscellaneous guests with his magic tricks, the routine topped off a fantastic week of circus-based performances.
Ashleigh House residents had been privy to a dog trick routine, gymnastic performances by Maffra Gymnastics Club and a TaeKwondo demonstration in the lead-up to last Friday’s circus finale.
Ashleigh House Lifestyle staff held nothing back for the final day of circus week, assuming the role of well-known circus characters, painting faces vibrant colours, flaunting large accessories and colourful wigs and donning clothing to match.
Clown Lauren said circus week received a great response from residents.
“They’ve loved it,” she said.
“They’ve come and attended most of the activities we’ve put on; it’s been great.”
Circus week was months in the making, with the Lifestyle team working hard to transform the resident’s home into a fully-fledged circus wonderland.
The Ashleigh House Lifestyle team now turn to next year’s theme week, leaving the question, what on earth could it be?
