Our Elderflowers work closely with the staff at the locations we visit to discuss referrals for who might benefit from a visit on the day we visit. We received this lovely story from one of our Elderflowers after a visit to Borders General Hospital. "The activities coordinator in Cauldshiels, Borders General Hospital, suggested we sit with a gentleman so he could show us a big selection of photographs he had. He talked us through each one carefully, telling us who everyone was, with particular attention to his children.This gentleman is always polite to us but keeps his distance, but today we spent a long time with him and he gradually warmed up, remembering more and more as he talked and he enjoyed us asking questions and getting muddled up over who people were in the photos.It was lovely to be able to take time to chat with the gentleman about his photos and to see the delight in his face."

Lily and Dippsy Elderflower happened to arrive on the very day that a lovely lady, Joan, (not her real name) was celebrating her birthday. Joan can often be quite hard on herself, so this was the perfect day to make her feel extra special. We joined in when the staff sang Happy Birthday – with Lily singing a beautiful soprano harmony. The room resounded with cheer and delight. Joan was very pleased when we complimented her lovely top. She beamed from ear to ear. This gorgeous smile was there throughout our visit when we offered various songs with tunes on Lily’s clarinet and dances from Dippsy. Joan joined in easily and playfully, clearly enjoying it all. She loved Dippsy’s colourful skirt and enjoyed touching it and discussing the detail on it. Dippsy also added her fancy accessories from her bag to her ensemble; with each addition Joan offered delightful comments on the colour, the texture, the sparkle! Just before leaving Lily and Dippsy each gave Joan a special hand written personalised postcard of themselves. Joan thanked us profusely for coming along to her birthday. Our presence clearly meant a lot to her. She smiled, her eyes sparkled and her presence made the room feel light, bright and airy. She was a very Happy Birthday Girl!

In Borders General Hospital a lady in her seventies who we have visited for quite a number of years, has been quite up and down recently. Her husband is very often with her when we visit, but on this day she was alone. When she saw Skip and Dippsy come in to the room, her eyes just lit up and sparkled like shiny diamonds and she smiled from one ear to the other! When we went closer she took Dippsy’s gloved hand and held it for ages, clearly enjoying the warmth of the contact. She made direct eye contact over the course of the visit with both of the Elderflowers, but especially with Skip. She loves music so Skip strummed a few chords and began singing. She really enjoyed Skip singing Blue Moon and we could see how much she loved it by the big smile she gave Dippsy as she listened. It was lovely to see her so calm and content as we left.