Pimm's, strawberries and flying the flag for England - Doveleigh Care residents enjoy the big weekend of sport

It was a big weekend for sport last weekend, with both the Wimbledon and Euros finals – and Arcot House's residents certainly weren't left out of it.

Activities co-ordinator, Trevor Hunt explained: "We always love to help celebrate all events that take place outside and this year it's been a big celebration of sport that has been brought into our home for the residents to enjoy at all levels.

"Both sports were keenly followed by a number of residents who have also followed tennis and football for many years. Like the general public, the residents became more and more interested as England's football team's success grew and grew."

As the big weekend approached, both British and English flags were put up at Arcot House to celebrate the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the Euro 2020 football. Trevor said: "Unfortunately, Wimbledon's hopes of Murray getting through to the final were dashed early on. However, we celebrated the final on Sunday in style, with residents enjoying a glass of Pimm's along with a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream. It was enjoyed so much that we decided to make it a tradition for future Wimbledon finals."

Sport reminds residents of happy times in their youth

Some of the residents had happy memories of playing, and/or watching the tennis and other sports when in their younger days. Val said she had always had a love of sport and her mother was a 'fanatical supporter of Wimbledon' – so much so, that nothing would get done in the house during those two weeks while her mother watched the tennis. Val often had to look after herself during the Wimbledon fortnight.

Barbara also loves watching sport. She told Trevor she had been diagnosed with a heart condition as a child, which stopped her from playing any sport. Later, the doctors told her she could after all, so she took up tennis and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Excitement as England reached the Euro finals

Trevor said: "England continued to surprise us as they slowly made their way to England's first major tournament in 55 years, beating the likes of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine and Denmark to win a place in the final with Italy. We were all so thrilled that England had finally made it to a major final. We talked about it most days and many residents can remember that momentous day back in 1966 when Bobby Moore held up the World Cup having beaten Germany. They said they felt so proud back then and everyone agreed that sport has a habit of doing that. Bringing the nation together."

On the day of the Euros final, Arcot residents took a vote to see what they thought would be the final score against Italy and it was agreed 2 - 1 to England would be the likely score. Trevor said: "Unfortunately it was not to be, but everyone agreed our boys had done a fantastic job in getting to the final and giving us all a good reason to have pride in our country. Here's to next year's World Cup. Everyone here at Arcot can't wait to see our boys play again and hopefully hold that World Cup up high, just as Bobby Moore did all those years ago."