A Cirencester care home is granting wishes to all its OAPs – including riding in a Ferrari, sitting in a combine harvester and meeting Eddie the Eagle.
Residents at Aura Care Living were asked to write their requests down and place them on a ‘wishing tree’ – which staff would then do their best to grant.
Workers are making their way through the list of wishes but have already provided touching moments for a number of pensioners.
Marjorie, 89, was the first to have her dreams made a reality – when her musical hero Cliff Richard sent her a video message.
The luxury care home was then inundated with calls from people who wanted to help out.
The next resident to have their wish granted was John, 91, who had asked to ride in a Ferrari.
This prompted a generous gentleman to turn up at the home with a 800bhp 812 GTS and take the pensioner for a spin.
Olympian Eddie the Eagle was next to grant a wish – sending a video message to Jim, 73, his former driving instructor.
The resident had asked to see “Eddie the Eagle again as [he] taught him how to drive.”
Eddie praised Jim for his help, saying that without being able to drive he would not have been driving to the ski slopes of Europe – and likely not ended up finding fame at Calgary in 1998.
Frank, 94, and Margaret, 98, had their wish to see and sit on a combine harvester again granted.
Not daunted by the prospect of wheeling a big tractor into their facility, the team at Aura Care Living got in touch with a local company and secured two vehicles for the pair.
Susan, 77, had the dream to “see a horse and stroke her nose”.
This was granted thanks to the help of another local company, who arranged for her to meet, feed and walk the horse around the care home grounds.
Val, 86, wished to see “Pam Ayres as her poems make [her] smile”.
Soon after, poet Pam, 73, sent a video to Val with a reading of her joyful poem about her naughty terrier – thrilling the OAP.
Finally Maureen, 59, was granted her wish of receiving a blue rose, which was made by the team at the care home.
They said: “Maureen was really overwhelmed as she had admired some roses while flower arranging earlier in the week and stated she always had loved blue roses but had never received one.
“To make our resident’s dreams come true means the world to us.”
Staff are still working to grant more wishes to be granted for residents, including getting a former royal guard back to Buckingham Palace.
CEO Linda Lloyd said: “I am overwhelmed with the hard work from our wonderful staff and generous displays from others to make our residents’ wishes come true.
“2020 has been a tough year for all, especially those in care homes. Making these wishes come true has brought immeasurable joy to our residents.
“We cannot wait to share our new venture of making wishes come true to people within the local community and look forward to making as many happen as possible.”
