Celebrating Mo’s 100th Birthday

Here at the Fleet, we have an amazingly passionate team who always go above and beyond to make days magical and special.

Mo was one of the first residents into the building when it opened back in April 2021 and it was very apparent that Mo would be a big personality in the home, and she immediately bonded with our Head of Drake Unit, Viv Munslow who over the years has built quite the connection.

Knowing it was Mo’s 100^th birthday coming up soon as the Christmas festivities were over it was a mission for the activities team with the strong influence of Viv to make this a very impressive event and special day for Mo. Talk of music, a party, balloons, and community input were all very exciting and one of the staff suggested that could we get 100 cards for Mo and the team were not going to shy away from that little challenge. A social media post was created and very quickly the momentum was gaining pace. Within a day we had over 46 shares!

Over the next week cards were pouring through our letter box from all over the country, we even had one from Memphis, USA!

Mo was receiving cards and gifts from local schools, businesses and other care homes who have all followed our Fleet Care Home facebook page and wanted to do something lovely for someone we value so highly. We are blessed to have great connections to our immediate community and so thankful for all they do for us in return. Not only did people send in cards and gifts but we were approached by local businesses as they wanted to gift us things to make her day special.

The day of the party started early with staff coming in to display the incredible 163 cards that arrived for Mo. The Fleet went all out to create this magnificent birthday party and provided an impressive balloon arch and display and used a very popular baker for a special custom-made cake. The Cove Bistro in The Fleet is the perfect party venue and decorated to a high standard it was visually impressive.

We have access to some exceptional local talent when it comes to entertainers and this particular party we used Viki Philp. Viki is super person-centered and will take requests for individuals' favourite songs and decades. Mo was very open-minded with music and opted for variety, taking her through the decades up to the 80’s. This is what prompted the idea for the staff to dress up from the decades that Mo has lived through. Mo absolutely adores how involved our staff is with the various party days and loves it when they all dress up so to surprise her with fancy dress from years gone by went down a treat.

Our head chef Alex was on hand to bake 100 cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream decoration so that each resident and member of staff working that day could enjoy a treat to share with Mo.

Mo’s surprise party celebrations were timed to perfection with her family arriving and then the big party revealed with confetti canons being fired from the staff. Mo was visually moved by the kindness and generosity from all the staff and people in attendance. A very loud rendition of ‘happy birthday’ was sung and people raised a glass of something fizzy to Mo. She thanked everyone for attending and the efforts people had gone to and after that, the party could commence with lots of singing and dancing.

We have an amazing team at The Fleet. Several of the staff came in on their day off to enjoy this day with Mo. It was certainly a day driven by love and genuine passion to make someone's day truly special and memorable.

If you are interested in learning more about what our residents get up to at The Fleet or for more information on the care services we provide, do not hesitate to contact a member of the team who will be happy to assist you.