It’s ‘buon appetito’ at Luton’s Little Bramingham Farm residential care home

At Little Bramingham Farm, the Luton-based residential care run by Charity, Friends of the Elderly - which is celebrating its 120th Anniversary this year - residents have enjoyed a wonderful Italian-themed afternoon as they became Pizzaiolos and Pizzaiolas – Pizza Chefs – to celebrate this year’s National Pizza Day.

“The residents thoroughly enjoy their cooking and baking sessions with our Chef Jim Wright, so to mark this year’s National Pizza Day, we thought it would be a hands-on, interactive and fun activity for the residents to create and bake their very own pizzas,” said Karen Charity, Little Bramingham Farm’s Activities Coordinator.

“To get the Pizza Fest underway, I organised a light-hearted Pizza Topping Poll,” continued Karen. “I had a list of 15 different pizza toppings, everything from mushrooms, onions and peppers to tuna and pineapple. In the end, ham, pepperoni and sweetcorn came out as the winners.”

“Whilst the residents were rolling out their pizza base dough, adding the tomato sauce, cheese and their favourite toppings, they chatted about all things Italian,” added Emma Lawrance, the Registered Manager at Little Bramingham Farm. “They never cease to amaze me and I’m always learning something new. For example, I had no idea that pizza is the Italian word for pie and that the Guiness Book of Records states that the largest pizza ever recorded was made in Rome in 2012. It was even named Ottavia after a Roman Emperor.”

As their pizzas were baking, the residents reminisced about other Italian topics including holidays they enjoyed in Rome, Naples and Florence, as well as the famous 1953 Oscar winning film, Roman Holiday.

“The residents love a good romantic film and are especially fond of Roman Holiday starring the young Audrey Hepburn. I’ve had a few requests to show this at our next cinema afternoon, which I’ve promised to arrange,” added Emma.

“Many of the residents are also very keen music buffs,” continued Karen. “I asked them if they knew of any songs which mention Italy or pizzas and they came up with quite a few. We had an impromptu sing-along together singing the Dean Martin song, That’s Amore. We didn’t know all the words, but gave it a good go, but the line ‘When the Moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie, that’s amore’ had the residents laughing away.”

When the residents’ pizzas were ready, they thoroughly enjoyed eating their creations. “I’ve had a great time making and eating my pizza,” said Nella Morely, who has been a resident at Little Bramingham Farm since December 2024. “It’s true what they say, pizza is the perfect food because it's the only food that you can eat with your hands and still look classy."