Bury St Edmunds care home residents 'spread a little joy' with their own Christmas film
A small eight-resident care home has been having some festive fun by producing their own Christmas film.
Residents at The Grange, on Vinery Road, Bury St Edmunds, spent weeks in rehearsals and filming to produce a nativity play for their friends and family - and also for this year's Horringer Court Community Church online service.
Some of the residents have been at The Grange for 30 years and all have various degrees of learning difficulties including severe autism and Down's syndrome.
"Many of The Grange haven't seen their own families this year and are facing a challenging Christmas," said Stephen Jarrold, pastor at Horringer Court Community Church.
This year has been an incredible story of turning their loss into positive acts of kindness, putting so many other people first.
"All during lockdown, The Grange folk sent out a letter with pictures, word puzzles and other fun activities to around 75 people. Every two weeks they have sent something out.
."The film has been a monumental effort.
"I understand that a church in the US has even picked up the play from YouTube and are broadcasting it
"The staff and residents are an inspiration."
Karen Krabbendam who runs The Grange with husband Peter, said: "The residents had an absolute ball.
"We usually hold a carol service for between 80 to 100 people but knew that wouldn't happen this year and so decided in August to make the video.
"We have been filming on an off since then.
It was all shot on a mobile phone and we think it came out great even though some of it was shot when it was very very cold, indeed.
"The residents' families love it. They can see how happy everyone is - and we have also now had views from American, Poland and new Zealand.
"Our whole aim for the film was to spread a little joy, as this year, let's face it, has been pretty bad."
You can view the whole 45 minute film here
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