LOCAL SCHOOL KIDS TREAT STIRLING CARE HOME RESIDENTS TO A PLAYFUL MORNING BUILDING BRICKS THANKS TO THISTLES, STIRLING

Posted on by Chris Walker

Residents of Abbeyfield House in Stirling spent a fun-filled morning with pupils from Riverside Primary School where they enjoyed playing with building bricks as part of Thistles, Stirling continuing #ThistlesHelps initiative.

Thistles, Stirling will play host to some of the largest brick creations from the upcoming BrickLive Ocean trail which is taking place across Stirling from 29th March until 21st April, but mindful of the fact that not everyone will be able to visit the centre to view the life-sized hand-build brick models of sea creatures, the Thistles team decided to take some bricks to the community as well.

With help from primary three pupils from Riverside Primary School, Thistles delivered a selection of building brick sets to the care home where residents enjoyed a morning building ocean-themed creations and chatting with the pupils.

Gary Turnbull, Centre Director at Thistles, commented: “We are delighted to welcome the amazing builds from Bricklive’s Ocean tour to Thistles, Stirling this Easter. We are looking forward to our guests of all ages coming to view the giant squid, turtle, mako shark and octopus who have washed ashore in the mall. However, we were mindful of those who might not be able to make the trip, so we’re thankful to the pupils of Riverside Primary School for volunteering their time to spend building with the residents of Abbeyfield House care home. We hope we were able to deliver a bit of the BrickLive experience to the residents and everyone had a fun morning.”

Miss Beth Macdonald, Teacher at Riverside Primary School, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this heart-warming project. The school children have some fantastic Lego building skills and had such fun helping the Abbeyfield House residents with their builds.”

Playing with building bricks lends itself to creative play as there’s no right or wrong way to build and has been shown to help caregivers connect without the need for verbal communication.

Vikki Ferguson, Manager, Abbeyfield House, said: “The residents loved having the chance to spend time with Riverside Primary School, and we were delighted to take part in the project as we constantly look for ways to work with our local community at Abbeyfield House. The Lego sets gifted by Thistles are a great addition to the house and enable our residents to be creative and have a fun task to tackle with friends and family when visiting.”

Between 29th March and 21st April families can go under the sea and discover amazing ocean themed brick model installations at BrickLive Ocean. Delve deep into Thistles Stirling to find a selection of creations including an octopus, mako shark and large squid. There will be installations to discover across Stirling, each one is hand-built using more than 300,000 bricks. Thistles will also be hosting a giant Brick Pit where kids and grown-ups alike can come create, play and build. For more information on BrickLive at Thistles and #ThistlesHelps, visit www.thistlesstirling.com.