Care home’s temporary tattoo parlour for residents

A TEMPORARY tattoo parlour was set up for residents at an Ellesmere Port care home to get “inked”.

For one resident living at Aaron Court Care Home, on Princes Road, getting a tattoo was a lifelong fantasy that she had never fulfilled.

Mary Pendrey, 92, was one of those who got a temporary tattoo at the home’s tattoo parlour. Mary chose to have a butterfly on her ankle.

She said: “I always wanted a tattoo but my mother wouldn’t allow it. She said that ladies didn’t have them and only sailors got them. I don’t know what I would have got but it would have had to be something pretty.”

Fellow resident Ellen Sadler, 82, also decided to get a temporary tattoo – choosing a flower on her wrist. She said: “The flower looks really nice on my wrist.”

The idea for the home’s temporary tattoo parlour came from activities coordinator Julie Painter, who has a few tattoos residents frequently comment on.

She said: “I have a couple of tattoos that are visible. A mandala on my right calf, a Celtic love knot on my left calf and a sigil design on my left wrist.

“The residents see the wrist tattoo and often ask about it. It can be a conversation starter. They ask if my mother knows about them. I tell them my mother gave up telling me off about them a long time ago.

“Then the discussion leads off about how they would have liked to get tattoos themselves. I saw a home in America had set up a mini tattoo shop with stick on tattoos so I decided to do one here. The residents loved them and staff also got involved.

“The activity sparked a lot of conversation and reminiscence about residents’ younger years, which can be highly therapeutic, especially for those living with dementia.

“Something as simple as a stick-on tattoo can make a huge difference to a resident’s day.”