As usual, we’ve been quite busy at Red Deer Village, over 50s residential park in Stepps, Glasgow. New homes have arrived and we’ve welcomed a new manufacturer, Omar, to our phase 3 development. We’ve also had plenty of Christmas activities taking place in our hub and around the park. Check them out below!

Christmas Lights Switch-On

Thank you to everyone who came along to our annual Christmas lights switch on! We hope everyone enjoys seeing the park lit up for the festive season, and that all of our new residents have taken their time to check out the decorations. We’d also like to thank everyone who committed to our Christmas toy donation, this year to Fare Scotland. We appreciate all contributions. Red Deer Village donated £250 worth of Christmas presents to the charity to distribute to kids who otherwise may not receive a Christmas present. With residents’ help, we were able to donate even more (in excess of £400 worth of presents total), plus £20 in cash.

Fare Scotland – Christmas Campaign

2022 is the first year we have donated to Fare Scotland. We discovered them through the Glasgow Fort, who have been in partnership with the charity for over 15 years. This year, they have multiple aims to ensure everyone has a “Fare Christmas”. This includes meeting over 2,200 requests to support local families with Christmas gifts. They are committed to ensuring each child receives a total of £20 worth of Christmas presents. 

Aside from toys, Fare Scotland aim to pack and deliver food hampers to vulnerable elderly doorsteps. The hamper includes 5/6 days’s worth of non-perishable food.

They work closely with primary schools to support them with a Santa at Christmas who can provide children with a selection box. For some kids, this may be the only experience they get to see Santa, as some families cannot afford to take their child to see Father Christmas. 

The charity also aims to provide food shopping vouchers that will help families or individuals purchase food through January. The last step of their Christmas campaign is to provide a full Christmas dinner for those families most in need to make on Christmas day. References for this usually come from the toy campaign. 

We’re very pleased to have donated to Fare Scotland this year, and we hope to work with them again in the future! Pictured from left to right are Leah, Stefanie (charity rep) and Nicole.

Curiosity and Jewellery Night

Our Night of Curiosity was held in the residents hub at the end of October. There was a brilliant showcase of handcrafted wooden and wire ornaments to make excellent and unusual gifts.

Our annual jewellery night showcase took place in early November. A lovely display of jewellery was available for sale, with the evening hosted by Mags of MC Design Jewellery. We hope the two evenings helped everyone with their Christmas shopping!

Christmas Lights Competition

We love it when residents participate in lighting the park up for Christmas. This year, we are delighted to announce that the winner of our residents Christmas decoration competition is Roseann Anderson of Cedar Crescent, for the 2nd year in a row! We’d also like to give special recognition to Elaine & Cliff Collins, Thomas & Mary Noonan, Ian & Roseanne Connell, Greg & Janet Robertson and Tracy Atchison and Anne & Arthur Glen. Keep up the good work guys! Residents decorating for Christmas definitely adds some festive cheer to the village.

Christmas Quiz

Our November quiz night, held at the hub and hosted by Arthur Glen, was centred around a Christmas theme. The winners were once again the Wooden Tops of Oakwood Court, although there was only half a point in-between first and second place! Congratulations, we look forward to the next one on Monday, 30 January.

Edinburgh’s Christmas Markets

Our last courtesy shuttle bus trip of the year took residents to the Edinburgh Christmas markets. Although none of our residents took any photos of the stalls, we did get these ones of quaint Deacon’s House Cafe in the city centre. We hope everyone is looking forward to the next one!

Gardening Competition

Finally, we had announced to residents in the summer that we would be holding a gardening competition. The winning garden would be based not only on aesthetic appeal, but also on the range of habitat provided for insects. It was judged by our expert gardeners.

We are quite late in reporting our winners, but are delighted to announce that we actually had 2. The awards go to David Anderson, and Jenny & Alex Macdonald, both in Deer Ridge Drive. Nectar and pollinating sources include (between both homes) buddleia, which is a favourite of butterflies. Their plants attract an array of small insects, such as honeybees, ladybugs and wasps. A birch tree present also attracts small birds such as robins, which is great. We can’t wait to see residents’ gardening efforts next year!

If you’d like to find out more about the range of activities and events we hold at Red Deer Village, or would like to find out more about our residential park homes for sale, please contact us. Someone will always be happy to help!