Tell us about your healthcare heroes
Last chance to nominate
English breakfast, Earl Grey, chamomile, 11-year-old infused Chinese tea. There is only one of these that you won’t find on the shelf at Tesco. We Brits have a quick cup of tea at least twice a day. Glugging it down to refuel before getting on with the day. But the Chinese ritual of making tea is a calming and tranquil experience and is now being carried out in care homes around Bristol. Last week ‘Bristol Meets the World’ project was launched, with the first session of a Chinese tea ceremony taking place at Brunelcare Colliers Gardens. Time was spent engaging with the residents, giving them tasters and showing them the tea making tools. Eleven-year-old tea was passed around, with comment being made that “it smells like fish” and “it looks like a Christmas cake”. The project is run by the Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s group and is supported by the Bristol Ageing Better ‘Building Blocks for Wellbeing’ programme. Rosa Hui is the CEO of the Bristol and Chinese Women’s Group. She opened the ceremony with a speech saying “I’m really glad I’m with Brunelcare. We are all looking so healthy!” Tutors linked with the project group hosted the ceremony and talked people through the traditions of preparing tea together with tastings and aromas to evoke the senses. This starts a two-year project that is intended to reduce social isolation and loneliness, improve selfesteem and health, as well as raise public awareness of diversity in the city. Brunelcare will be inviting residents from Colliers Gardens to join their sessions, as well as other members of the local community. During the project each of the partners – Brunelcare, 91 Ways, Carers Support Centre and Hanover – will be running food and nutrition workshops for their clients. Julie Walker is the centre manager for Brunelcare Colliers Gardens, “This is our first session today. I have Chinese tenants that live within Collier Gardens and what we really wanted to highlight was the Chinese cultures. We have kicked it off with a traditional Chinese tea ceremony which is apt for our environment.” Brunelcare was invited to support them in a bid to apply for sessions to be funded. Colliers Gardens became heavily involved with the tender and they achieved their goals. There is to be 21 sessions over the next two years, happening the last Tuesday of each month. “At the end of it we are hoping to create a recipe book, that would be amazing,” Julie adds. The project is all about giving the tenants a purpose and making them feel useful to the community and daily running of the home. “A lot of our tenants here are in their own right amazing chefs and restaurant owners,” said Julie. “Many of our Chinese tenants are quite independent and a lot cook in their own flats as well. We said why is this? They said because you’re Chinese cooking will never be as good as ours.” Julie explained how their initiatives were already making the home more inclusive. “Social isolation is major but we are pretty lucky here as we try to put on as many activities as we can... everybody knows everyone and it’s a small community. “A while ago a lot of our Chinese tenants didn’t attend a lot of the activities here but over the last year we’ve found that they are attending more and more. I think there is more awareness for the Chinese culture.” Both English and Chinese tenants attended the ceremony, as well as a mix of staff, volunteers and supporters. Mary Gorton is 85 and has been living at Colliers Gardens for more than 12 years. She thought the ceremony was very good experience. “It’s very different, you don’t get the opportunity to see something like that. I praise this place to the sky,” she said. Brunelcare is sponsoring the Volunteer Award at the Bristol and Bath Health & Care Awards.