'Rose Awareness Week', 22-28 June

🌹 Rose Awareness Week – Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) Activity

Celebrate the beauty, history and symbolism of one of the world’s best-loved flowers with this engaging Rose Awareness Week themed Cognitive Stimulation Therapy session. Roses are woven through British history, literature, music, gardening and everyday life, making them an ideal topic for reminiscence and discussion.

Participants begin with a colourful Facts About Roses presentation, discovering fascinating information about the thousands of varieties of roses, their fragrances and colours, their links with the Tudor Rose, perfumes and celebrations around the world. The activity then moves into a lively “How Much Do You Know About Roses?” quiz, encouraging memory, conversation and teamwork through fun questions suitable for all abilities.

Recognition and visual memory are challenged in “Characters Named Rose”, where participants identify well-known people and fictional characters sharing the name Rose. This is followed by “Name These Other Things Associated with the Rose”, exploring items such as rosé wine, rose water, Turkish delight, rosemary, rose quartz, rose windows, nursery rhymes and famous cultural references.

The session also includes a light-hearted look at idioms and expressions featuring roses, including sayings such as “everything’s coming up roses,” “stop and smell the roses,” “a bed of roses,” “every rose has its thorn,” and “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” 

These familiar phrases often spark conversation about their meanings and encourage participants to share examples from their own lives.

Rosé wine sits somewhere between red and white wine, with its beautiful pink colour coming from brief contact with red grape skins during the winemaking process. It can range from pale blush to deep salmon pink and is enjoyed all over the world, especially chilled on warm summer days.

Let's talk: Have you ever tried rosé wine? Do you prefer sweet or dry wines, and which countries do you associate with making the best rosé? Many people think of sunny holidays in France, Spain or Italy when they see a glass of rosé!

Music provides the perfect finale with two classic CST Songs of the Day:

• “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” – Lynn Anderson, the uplifting country hit reminding us that life has both joys and challenges.

• “The Rose” – Bette Midler, the timeless ballad about hope, love and resilience that often sparks meaningful reminiscence and emotional discussion.

The session combines visual stimulation, memory recall, language, discussion, recognition and music in a relaxed and enjoyable way, helping participants share personal stories while celebrating one of nature’s most iconic flowers.