Celebrating life at Barchester

Ouse View prepared a traditional Burns Night Supper to the tune of Northumbrian Pipes and the fun continued well into the night.

Staff and residents at the home were involved in a number of activities e.g. listening to Northumbrian Pipes that played traditional Scottish tunes and a Burns Night quiz to mark the Scottish institution. The residents also enjoyed haggis neeps and tatties for lunch. 
 

At Elm Bank Care Home, we want to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of our activities team, Tina, Mark & Dale who all play a crucial role in providing the life enrichment for our residents.

Tina, Mark & Dale make a dedicated team, using all their skills and knowledge into putting the needs of our residents first, by spending time getting to know them individually, understand their interests, life, work history and what brings them enjoyment on a day-to-day basis. The team provide and arrange intergenerational activities and events that promote the homes link to the wider community, social interaction and brings families and friends together.

The team host a wide variety of activities and events that caters to the requests and needs of our residents from indoor bowls, pet therapy, outings to local events, schools or shops and not forgetting the vast array of live entertainers that visit the home, the list is endless. There is a passion that is shown through the work and commitment they have which is spread through the home, they all encourage social interaction knowing how beneficial this is for everyone in the home.

We would like to express our gratitude for their dedication, hard work and passion they show in their role which has an impact on enriching the lives of the residents and community as a whole.

Thank you all for your exceptional contributions. We truly appreciate everything you do from the communities and staff at Elm Bank.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and in commemoration of the victims, Residents took part in activities and moments of reflection.

We started the day reading poems written during these times, discussed how the poems made us feel and some Residents were able to share their own stories about the war.

Holding tradition, we then decided to paint candles to display in our windows to represent 'Light in the darkness' on this sad day and then after lunch we gathered in the lounge to watch an insightful documentary called 'The Last Days', about Holocaust survivors. 

We humbly spent the day reflecting and feeling grateful for what we have today and what we can do to create a better future. 

To celebrate International Flower Day Residents took part in a flower arranging workshop. 

We are super lucky that our Activities Co-ordinator, Ellie is also a qualified florist.  Just look at the beautiful arrangements our Residents were able to produce under her guidance. 

It was a very wholesome activity, everyone was delighted with their masterpieces and the variety of beautiful arrangements have been displayed proudly around the home.

This is definitely an activity we will be repeating again.

Created by our Residents and their families, our Getting to Know me Booklets are a tool that allows us to understand the likes and dislikes of the people we care for. 

To make sure we are delivering person centred care, our new Activities Co-ordinator Ellie has been spending dedicated one-to-one time with Residents to help complete their booklets.  

Knowing our Residents allows us to deliver the highest quality of care and it ensures Residents are living the life they want to live.

Residents at Hickathrift House have been discovering all things Antipodean in celebration of Australia Day, which took place on Sunday 26 January.

Residents took part in Australian-themed activities throughout the day including a virtual trip down under including a tour of Sydney Opera House, throwing boomerangs, and learning about the aboriginal people which everyone really enjoyed. The favourite activity of the day was however a bush tucker trial tasting, themed on the gameshow ‘I’m a celebrity…get me out of here’, complete with exotic themed snacks. The tasting afternoon was hosted by the home’s newest Duke of Edinburgh volunteer, Olly, and Head of Activities, Kat Colangelo. 
 

In recognition of National Robin Day some of our ladies got busy making bird feeders to hang in our garden.

The main purpose of National Robin Day is to raise awareness of the challenges that birds, such as robins and other wildlife face during the cold winter season.

Our garden birds need not worry, the ladies here at Hilderstone Hall have got them covered, even though it was a little windy outside!  We even managed to get a photo of a visitor.

It may be chilly but you can't beat a brisk walk around our beautiful gardens to blow the cobwebs away and lift your mood 😍. 

Another jaunt out on our minibus.
This time gardening club headed off to Salisbury Garden Centre to stock up on supplies, some essential and some edible!
It was good to blow away the cobwebs whilst dodging the wind and showers!

What better way to spend a gloomy Monday afternoon than to enjoy time with your friends making beautiful bracelets and having fun.
The hand, eye coordination and concentration on our faces whilst we designed and threaded our bracelets and then the absolute giggles when our beads make a dash for freedom !
Such a great afternoon at Hazel Lodge😁

We are so fortunate to be a part of the Barchester Healthcare family, we all get along fantastically and due to being so close together we can meet up for our monthly bowling tournament and Freedom Leisure Hailsham. 
We recently joined our sister homes to battle it out down the lanes! We had an absolute blast and can't wait for a rematch next month. 

Roll up Roll up!!  Today was games day at Strachan House.  Scrabble dominoes and bingo, it got very competitive.  Some triple word scores and two little ducks all over the place.  

Here at Strachan residents and friends celebrated Burns night with an old friend. Our piper, Andy!  As tradition states we had a wonderful time listening to the bagpipes, eating haggis and a shot of whiskey. With a special visit from one of our residents’ Great-great granddaughters, Thea, age 5. Who kindly volunteered to recite a Robert Burns poem for us! 

Strachan House had the privilege of hosting Fiona Fagan's 30th anniversary working for Barchester. Fiona is the Managing Director for Scotland & the North East division.

We celebrated her achievements and wonderful memories with music, drinks and outstanding food thanks to our amazing chefs! 

Cheers to 30 Years!

As part of Barchester's digital transformation, Edingley Lodge went live today with our new Customer Relationship Management Sysytem - ConneX. Here at Edingley Lodge we take pride in delivering excellent customer service in every area of our home. To further enhance the experience for our potential residents and their families, our new Customer Relationship Management system will ensure a smooth transition from the very first phone call to admission. We had a lovely celebration with delicious cakes made by our talented chef Marta

We often have Barchester Virtual Live events at Burwood Grange and this afternoon it was the Big quiz. We link up with different Barchester homes and have good fun trying to win the contest. Its also a favourite with the staff   

Our wonderful Margaret celebrated her 102nd birthday surrounded by loved ones. Margaret has lived at Sycamore Grove for almost two years now and wanted a low-key birthday this year. You may remember her in the news last year when she went to play snooker with a local celebrity player, however this year was a little different. Margaret and her family celebrated in the home and her favourite singer Steve Dunnett came to entertain her and the other residents. She had a dance with her son followed by staff and residents singing Happy Birthday then a delicious cream tea whipped together by the home's chef as well as some of the residents home baked scones.

Burns Night at Highfield.

The celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, the author of many Scots poems. 

We had the pleasure of listening to the bag pipes, while enjoying a tot of whiskey and sampling haggis and neeps and tatties a Scottish favourite. 

The residents thoroughly enjoyed themselves, one resident Margaret said "It has been a long while since I enjoyed a tot of Whiskey, but I enjoyed myself . The bag pipes were loud but fantastic"

The residents and staff at Elm Bank care home in Kettering were delighted in attending the local St Thomas More School to celebrate International Day of Education.

International Day of Education was warmly embraced by the residents, as they returned to class for the morning. The lesson attended was held with the children of Year Four, and the lesson taking place was maths. It was wonderful to see the children working away and for the residents it was a time to look back on their own childhood school years and they were surprised at how much things have changed since they were last in a classroom. It was also launch of ‘International Jubilee Day’ at the school, the Jubilee is a tradition that dates back to 1300 and typically takes place every 25 to 50 year. On December 24th 2024, Pope Francis opened the Holy door of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. The residents enjoyed taking part in creating their hopes and wishes along with the pupils to place in the jar of hope. The Jubilee year will run until the Feast of Epiphany in 2026.

Resident Charles said, "It was great, to be back in class, things have changed so much since we were in school, the kids were great."

Resident Norman said, “It was great, I really enjoyed that, the kids are very smart, it was a fun morning, very interesting.”

Tina, Activities Co-ordinator said, “It was lovely that the local school opened their doors to us to let us enjoy celebrating International Day of Education. It was great to see the interaction between the residents and the children. It means so much to the residents, it allows for the young and the old to mix and the wonderful experiences are shared.  Resident Norman was teacher, it was great to see him with the children and the children enjoyed listening to both of the residents as they spoke of their time. It is crucial to create links with our local schools and within the community to continue for our residents to remain a part of the community.”

The residents and staff of Elm Bank care home in Kettering enjoyed an amazing morning celebrating Burns Night with some traditional Highland Dancers.

Staff and residents at the home were very excited in welcoming Highland Dancers to come and perform at the home on the morning of Burns Night, which marked the start of the celebrations at the home. Dancers from Lesley School of Highland Dance, based in Corby came to the home in the morning and put on a spectacular show of dance for all the residents and staff. The residents and staff, enjoyed many performances throughout the morning, beaming with smiles as they watched the dancers. The dancers performed many dances including, Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Village Maid, Scotch Measure, Flora, Barracks Johnny and Hullachan to name a few.

Lesley, who runs the school has been open for 37 years and had had over 100 children through her doors. Lesley said: “The school is run purely on donations and love, our children are aged from 5 years to 15years, and the children love to perform.”

Activities Co-ordinator, Tina, said, it was lovely to have Lesley here with her dancers, and it truly has started our Burns Night celebrations off to a great start. The residents thoroughly enjoyed the dancing and so did the staff. Burns Night is always a fantastic event, it’s so important to continue these traditions for all our residents. The children danced so well, and to think that they have many more performances to go to after us, they certainly will bring so much joy to all today."

The residents and staff of Elm Bank care home in Kettering enjoyed an amazing afternoon celebrating Burns Night, starting with the Addressing of the Haggis followed by the amazing sounds of the Bagpipes.

Staff and residents at the home were very excited in welcoming Gary to the home to conduct an official Address of the Haggis ceremony, followed by the amazing sounds of the bagpipes. The residents and staff were thrilled to be part of such an afternoon, for many it was the first time that they had seen the Addressing of the Haggis being conducted and for others they had never really heard the bagpipes live. Burns Night is celebrated on the 25th January every year in honour of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. Addressing the Haggis is a tradition that involves reciting a poem in honour of the food prior to eating it, the poem was written by Robert Burns in 1787, celebrating all that is good about the Haggis. The poem was written five years before his death, and haggis was eaten in celebration of his poem at a supper held in his memory.

Activities Co-ordinator, Tina, said, it was lovely to have Gary come to us and provide us with such an amazing afternoon. Burns Night is always a fantastic event, it’s so important to continue these traditions for all our residents. We all learnt about the meaning of Addressing the Haggis and to have the ceremony performed was just fantastic. Gary taught us all a lot about the meaning of Burns Night and the traditions that are held. It was lovely to also hear the bagpipes being played and learning all about the instrument itself. It was truly a wonderful afternoon for all here and we will definitely being asking Gary to come back next year.” 

Peter wanted to “Walk a Mile” as he had been so poorly and could hardly walk before coming into the wonderful care at our home, Elgar Court Residential Home in Malvern two months ago!   So once the care staff had built him up with great nutritious food, delightful company and around the clock care, staff at the home made Peter’s wish a reality.

The one mile round trip walk was made from Elgar Court on St Andrews road down to the Morgan Pub,  where a very satisfying pint was ready waiting as his reward! Peter said, “It felt great to finally do this, and I have been practising walking around the home for a few weeks now”.   Peter’s daughter Lynn Robinson a local nurse said, “What an achievement considering Dad arrived at Elgar Court on 6th November and had to be helped to get out of the car and could barely walk! Just 9 weeks from unable to walk as he was so weak and malnourished to walking a mile - Elgar Court have saved him and given me my dad back!”

Dabbers were at the ready last night, as residents enjoyed a fun filled evening, of bingo, organised by our amazing Night Carers Maggie and assisted by our 2 little ducks - Firyal and Kirsty.

Residents enjoyed a Friendship Group to learn all about Burns night and enjoy some wonderful home made scottish food from the chef.