VIDEO: Care home near Spilsby has special visit for 75th anniversary of D-Day

Residents at the Old Hall Residential Care Home in Halton Holegate cheered with excitement as Rainbow Dreaming's Joe, wearing a Union Flag and also celebrating his fourth birthday, and Mimosa, whose mane had been sprayed red white and blue, trotted into the dining room.

The residents had been singing wartime songs and enjoying a 'street party' style barbecue in the bunting decorated care home before the arrival of the horses..

Kaf Barriball and Sandy Spence of Rainbow Dreaming said it had been an emotional visit. "It's been fantastic - especially when we visited the 100-year-old lady and Bruno. Bruno's eyes watered when he saw the horses," said Sandy.

"It's just amazing to see their reactions - it gets you right there (in the heart), it really does," added Kaf.

Diane Vale, care home manager, said: "The residents have had a lovely time. I'd like to think all of them remember parts of D-Day. They have certainly been watching the celebrations on the television and they remember bits and pieces from there - but some of them do have advanced dementia."

All of the residents seemed to enjoy the party and meeting the horses. One hundred-year-old Lyn Hepworth, on seeing Mimosa's red, white and blue man, exclaimed: "It's got my hair cream on. It's lovely."

Bruno Platz, a German ex-prisoner of war who worked on the Revesby Estate after being captured, had been reading about the 75th anniversary celebrations in the newspaper. He recalled how he came to live in England after being shot in the leg in France. "I was sat behind the driver of a truck giving him directions when a bullet went through his arm and into my leg," he said. "And now I'm here."

Barbara Norton, 93, said she wasn't sure where she was on D-Day. "When you live through the war you remember little bits from here and there," she said. "But I do remember having a street party. Today has been lovely."