HILLVIEW has led the way into Christmas season celebrations by setting up festive displays throughout its Te Kūiti premises. General manager Tanya Lindsay said in previous years, the community group supporting the facility – Friends of Hillview – had supplied such displays for both indoors and outdoors. “But during lockdown 2021 they were unable to come in to do the indoor decorations, so the staff stepped up and created some beautiful displays, although the friends continued to provide displays in the gardens outside.” “And this year we decided it would be great to combine the decorating process with a staff team-building exercise and align it with our end-of-year function, which has a Mexican theme. “Five team names were created: Amusing Amigos, Batty Bandanas, Funky Fajitas, Peculiar Ponchos and Silly Sombreros. “The names of team members were then drawn randomly from a hat and teams were assigned places to decorate. “They did not disappoint,” Tanya said. “Each team created its own Christmas display and an additional Christmas scene was created where residents could sit to have Christmas card photos taken, with these then to be sent to friends and loved ones. “The team spirit and enthusiasm has been overwhelming – the care and attention in making this environment the best that it can be for our residents has been astounding.” Due to Hillview having been painted and decorated recently, nothing could be pinned or stuck onto painted surfaces, so staff had to get creative, such as by attaching tinsel and streamers to handrails. Members of the Hillview board of trustees would judge displays later this month.
