RESIDENTS and team members across Nellsar Care Homes have celebrated creativity and community spirit through a group-wide ‘Love to Care’ Art Competition.
Launched in May ahead of Love to Care Week at Nellsar, which ran from 1–7 June 2026, the competition invited every Home to create an inspirational piece of artwork featuring the words ‘Love to Care’.
Across Nellsar’s 13 Care Homes, residents worked alongside team members to design colourful paintings and collages, each reflecting the unique spirit of their Homes.
Inspired by kindness, one of the key values at the heart of the Nellsar philosophy, the competition encouraged residents and team members to celebrate the care and appreciation shared every day within their Homes.
Every Nellsar Home took part, with residents contributing ideas and personal touches to their entries. The result was a collection of artwork filled with imagination and heartfelt messages of care and community spirit.
At Hengist Field Care Home in Sittingbourne, which was named one of the top prize winners, residents, relatives and team members came together to create a tree made from fingerprints. Each colour used represented a different part of the Hengist Field family, symbolising unity and togetherness.
The artwork was inspired by residents themselves, with the roots of the tree symbolising the foundations of care – compassion, respect and connection. Red and pink hearts, created by residents, formed the roots of the tree to reflect the strength and love that ground the Home’s community. Purple hearts represented relatives, while green, gold and brown fingerprints were added by team members to show how they stand alongside residents and families.
Residents also shared what ‘Love to Care’ means to them, with June saying “loving and always making her feel better”, David describing it as “giving him something to live for” and Nigel saying it makes him feel “safe, warmth and happiness”.
St Winifreds Care Home in Deal, another of the competition’s top prize winners, brought everyone together through a piece of artwork that used handprints to represent hands that are always ready to help. A collage of black and white photographs captured moments when residents had felt truly cared for, while hearts represented love, and quotes from residents, families and team members showed how people feel cared for, and how team members love to care.
Director of Operations, Glenda Osmotherly, who had the difficult task of selecting the winners said: “The residents, team members and creativity shone through in every single submission. It made judging impossible in the best possible way! Every entry captured the warmth and dedication that makes Nellsar such a caring community, and I could not be prouder of what everyone created together.”
After reviewing all the entries, six Homes were selected to receive the top prize of £200, with seven runners-up each receiving £100.
The competition has been a reminder of the powerful relationships built between residents and team members, as well as the strong sense of family and community shared across Nellsar’s Homes.
For more information on Nellsar and its Homes, please visit: https://www.nellsar.com/ and to take a look at the residents artwork, visit: https://www.nellsar.com/news/nellsar-homes-celebrate-kindness-and-creativity-in-love-to-care-art-competition/
