The Gloucester retirement village, which is home to several Chinese residents, hosted demonstrations of traditional Chinese martial arts and free trial acupuncture sessions at the start of the Year of the Dragon.

The Village chef had cooked up some traditional Chinese food, including seaweed, which was greatly praised by the Chinese residents.

June Baker, 61, who comes into the Village to teach tai chi every week, gave a demonstration of her art, along with a group of residents. As well as the tai chi, June also did a sword dance.

She said: "I've been doing tai chi for about 30 years and it's become as natural as breathing now. I'm pretty much retired but I still teach three classes a week just to spread the word about it because I've felt so much benefit from tai chi."

June takes a tai chi class on Wednesday mornings at the Village, followed by a seated class for those who feel that they could not stand for an hour.

Village Activity Facilitator Scott Reed-King said it was a great afternoon. "Thank you to all our Chinese guests especially for coming along, and what a lovely excuse we've got to celebrate today!

"It's so nice to see our Chinese residents coming along. Sometimes there are a few communications difficulties but they really make an effort. They've even learnt some English since they moved in here."

Village staff and volunteers also had help from a group of youngsters from G3, who spent time with residents and helped with the clear-up after the event.

Picture: Some of St Oswald's Retirement Village's Chinese residents along with a translator and Village Activity Facilitator Scott Reed-King.

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For further information, please contact:

Lucy Henson, PR officer
0789 105 3062
lucy.henson@extracare.org.uk