Activities at West Abbey Care Home
Our Activities Coordinators are constantly striving to mentally and physically stimulate those we support by organising group and individual activities for anyone and everyone to participate in. There are regular outings in the minibus to nearby places of interest, as well as visits from the Donkey sanctuary, musicians and entertainers. We also host evenings such as our Cheese & Wine evenings and BBQ's in the summer, that we encourage relatives to come to. Activities are one of the most important aspects of a care home, so it is essential that our team are dedicated to ensuring that residents are entertained. We encourage our residents to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join with activities and events as often as they can to ensure that life at West Abbey is fun and active for all.
Ryan Palmer
Hello, I'm Ryan and I joined West Abbey in 2018 in Hotel Services team where I was nominated 2 years running in the Barchester Care Awards by residents and their families. I moved to Activities in June 2021 which suits my outgoing personality. I know our residents well and love seeing their enjoyment of the entertainment we provide plus going out into the community on our mini bus, I have lived in Yeovil all my life so know all the best places to visit. The team call me the 'IT hero' as I'm always able to resolve the connection issues with our virtual events and our computer / tablets!
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at West Abbey Care Home
West Abbey revieves a 'Good' rating!
West Abbey Care Home passed a recent Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall “Good” rating after being praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service.
The CQC inspected the home on the 7th march (the report was released on 28th march) and rated the home as “Good” overall.
The report stated that, “People's experience of using this service and what we found People and relatives said they were happy with the home and the care and support provided. The home was friendly and welcoming.”
The report went on to say “The home was spacious, clean and tidy. People had access to safe outdoor space. Regular checks on the environment and fire safety were conducted.”
In celebration of the rating and to thank each member of the team for their contributions to the home, each team member was presented with £100 gift voucher in appreciation of their hard work.
Mothers Day
Residents at West Abbey celebrated Mother’s Day with afternoon tea with a selection of delicious treats.
Activities staff arranged a small gift for each resident of a hessian bag filled with potpourri for them to hang in there wardrobe. Our chef, Claire, prepared a special menu of Roast pork with all the trimmings to mark the day.
International Flower Day
INTERNATIONAL FLOWER DAY!
Recently it was International Flower Day, so here at West Abbey, we were keen to get on board with some very colourful celebrations...
Ryan & Sarah our Activities team were on hand to organise some flower-themed activities for the residents, before making everyone's day by offering all the residents and staff a flower each to wish them all well on this very floral occasion.
Connecting and bonding over everyone's love of flowers was the name of the game, so whether you prefer a rose, lily, poppy or pansy, the residents here certainly have their favourites!
Brew Monday
According to sources, the third Monday in January each year is supposed to be the most depressing day in the calendar - NOT HERE IT WASN'T!
For us here at West Abbey Care Centre, it was about spreading joy and togetherness here in our home, so taking inspiration from The Samaritans Brew Monday, we set about bringing everyone together over a cuppa and some delicious cake, to simply have a chat and not be alone...
Just sharing a little time and lending an ear to listen can have such incredibly profound benefits for individuals who might otherwise be worried, stressed or lonely.
Why not put your kettle on and invite a friend round for a cuppa and a catch up?
Small thing, BIG benefits!
To find out more about the Samaritans Brew Monday, please check out the link below: -https://www.samaritans.org/.../lincoln.../brew-monday/....
New Year Arts & Crafts.
The residents wanted nothing more than to enjoy a quiet afternoon of arts and crafts lately, especially after all the noisy fun of Christmas and New Years...
Dried flowers make the perfect antedote to a dull January and offer a wonderful pop of colour to an otherwise lack-lustre month.
So, we decided to make some pretty dried flower pictures, which once laminated, we then popped them up in their bedroom windows, that way when the winter sun shines on the back of them, it will bring a little extra joy into their rooms!
Light up a Life
Looking Back...
During December we felt very honoured to help St. Margaret's Somerset Hospice with their 'LIght up a Life', which runs every year over the festive period.
During the Christmas season, many people's thoughts will be turning towards family and the ones they love, or perhaps their memories of someone special, who is no longer here with them.
So, we donated 100 individually wrapped homemade shortbread biscuits for their special campaign, which were put into their packs to hand out to the community.
We sent all our very best wishes to those who received them and also to the staff of St Margaret's - What amazing work you do!
