RESIDENTS of a Midland nursing home connected with their past farming lives through a sheep shearing demonstration.
About 30 Morrison Lodge Nursing Home residents, family members and grandchildren attended the event on Wednesday.
Shearer Bradley Paterson donated his time to provide the demonstration and teach residents how to shear a sheep.
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READ NOWLocals brought in a black and a white sheep and ponies for the event.
Resident Jim Cowie, who had a turn at shearing, said the shearing was a good idea.
“I never dealt with sheep before, only cattle,” he said.
“It is not so easy as it looks.”
Fellow resident Shirley Briotti, who came from a farmer family and married a farmer, said while she had sheep on her farm, she never tried shearing.
“It is good to watch – the fleece comes off nice and clean and we get it in one piece,” she said.
“I drove anything that had to be driven (on the farm) and looked after the shearers.”
Lifestyle coordinator Carla Rowe said the event helped improved residents’ self-esteem and reconnected them to their past.
“As I discussed with a few residents, they expressed that they missed the farming life and began chatting about their different shearing experiences,” she said.
“So that’s how this activity began because our residents wanted to reengage in a meaningful activity.
“As a result, residents have shared their stories and taught fellow residents that did not grow up or work on farms what it was like.”