Celebrating life at Barchester

Staff and residents welcomed Andrew Callaghan, Community Development Worker of the Fenland Orchards Project for an educational talk on the history of the project, their current workshops and future plans for the orchard.

Residents and staff all gathered for Andrew to share his passion for the project and learn all about the current work they do for the community. The residents were captivated by the design and the traction the project has received since starting 4 years ago. The detailed informative talk sparked memories and conversations between the attendees and brought back fond experiences of growing fruit. 
 

It was all dragons and roses, as residents and staff celebrated St George’s Day.  Legend has it St George was a soldier in the Roman army who slayed a dragon and saved a princess. The anniversary of his death is celebrated as England’s national day.

Resident and staff went all out on Wednesday to celebrate our patron saint, and what a fantastic day it was. The day kicked off with a fun-filled St George’s Day-themed quiz to get everyone in the spirit. Then in the afternoon, we had the pleasure of welcoming back the wonderful John Kellow for a themed concert that had everyone singing and swaying along. He treated us to a brilliant mix of songs, including classics like: There'll Always Be An England, England Swings, A Picture Of You, I'm Henry the Eighth, Rose of England, Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, Pretty Flamingo, and so many more – ending perfectly with Jerusalem! 
 

Easter smiles at Caldy Manor. 

What a fantastic break filled with love, laughter, music and of course chocolate. 

Memories made and fun had by all. 

Our residents took a very special nostalgic journey all the way to the beach aboard a beautiful 93 year old local steam engine!
With the whistle blowing and the wheels turning, it was a ride filled with smiles, stories, and scenic views️!

A big thank you to HMS Sultan's Super Sentinel Steam Waggon for making this memorable experience possible. Our residents had an amazing time and we are so grateful for the trip. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect, reminisce, and enjoy a bit of history together.


 

The very talented Richard played guitar and sang for us, while Honey, his gorgeous cockapoo, stole the show at the end with her tricks.

We had a visit from Red Kite Nursery for an Easter Egg Hunt; Richard & Honey wowed us with their show; we had a Bucks Fizz Easter Quiz residents had lots of laughs at their own Easter Egg Hunt; we had a Golden Ticket Easter Afternoon Tea; on Sunday every resident was visited with an Easter Egg or cuddly toy and in the afternoon we had a Prosecco Party and a Bowling Competition!

Residents and colleagues had a fantastic afternoon watching the popular "The Bluebirds" perform their Easter spectacular.  The Bluebirds performed a medley of golden oldies, taking residents on a trip down memory lane.

The room was full of singing, dancing, fun and laughter as everyone came together to watch the duo.   We look forward to their next performance.

Just a little update on how we are getting on with May’s challenge of knitting baby hats and blankets for the Leeds children’s hospital.

Our knitting group is growing nicely and so far we have knitted around 30 hats to be donated to the Leeds Children’s Hospital. Team members have even participating - which is amazing!

Over the last 24 hours, 4 fluffy babies have hatched from our living eggs. There are currently 3 boys and 1 girl.

We have followed the living eggs information leaflet and these 4 babies have now transitioned to a brooder box to eat, drink and run around in.

This week we had another variety of activities on offer.

We  always aim to deliver meaningful person-centered, engaging and stimulating activities at Tewkesbury Fields, that enriches the lives of our residents. 

We have a wide variety of in house clubs alongside  organize outings in our minibus that also contributes to the well being and happiness of our residents. 

We had a wonderful time celebrating with a special singalong, led by the lovely Cara just before lunch. She sang a selection of classic songs that brought back so many happy memories.

There were smiles all around as everyone joined in singing, dancing in their chairs, and proudly waving their flags. It was such a joyful atmosphere!

A big thank you to Cara for giving us such a heartwarming morning. It truly was a delightful celebration!

Our residents enjoyed a lively Easter celebration filled with creativity, fun, and intergenerational connection. Activities included crafting colourful Easter cards and decorations, chocolate tasting, and a brain-teasing Easter quiz. Residents also judged an Easter egg colouring competition, awarding prizes to Isabel, Harry, and Darcie from Rockers and Rollers Day Nursery.

In the run-up to Easter, children from the nursery visited Crandon Springs, joining residents for an energetic egg hunt through the lounge and garden. The children exchanged their finds for stickers from residents, before taking part in a cheerful singalong which brought smiles all around.

Meg Cleal, General Manager, said: “Our life enrichment programme encourages creativity, connection, and fun – all things that benefit us not matter what age we are. The joy and energy children bring during visits makes these moments extra special. A big thank you to our residents and young visitors—we can't wait to welcome you back!”

We were invited along to the Connectfest to join equal arts to paint wooden butterflies which we took back to Bedewell to varnish and hang in our garden.

We met some lovely people from different companies who we chatted with and shared ideas on keeping our residents engaged through creative activities. We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

We enjoyed a visit from the Easter bunny on Good Friday with different flavours of hot cross buns, including banana and Nutella.

We also had an egg hunt in our gardens with our residents and their grandchildren. The children really enjoyed hunting for treats and especially running around with the Easter bunny.

We finished with refreshments in the café.

The Easter weekend was festive and fun here at Milford with a lot going on. Good Friday saw the last of our decorations being prepared as residents created bright and cheerful centrepieces for the dining room tables. Easter Sunday brought the Easter Bunny with Easter Eggs for everyone, while our chef's team served up a delicious lunch with family and friends in attendance and lots of smiles all round.

Last, but not least, with the Bank Holiday Monday rounding off the weekend, we held our 'Mad as a Hatter' Tea Party, which was enormous fun with everyone entering into the spirit of the event. With donations for our chosen charity for 2025 on both Sunday and Monday, we were delighted to be able to forward £72 to Childrens Chance. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed.

The residents have been getting Easter ready by beautifully decorating the home with their Easter crafts. We all agree that it looks wonderful!

We also had the brilliant PJ & Rose - a "New-Vintage" Sound perform, enjoyed an Easter Church service and had some warm traditional hot cross buns and some extra special chocolate & salted caramel hot cross buns!

We hope everyone had a lovely Easter!

Our home was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and bunting in recognition of Mother’s Day and all the mothers in our home. We had plenty of extra activities on the week leading to this special day, like discussions group about the role of mothers, reminiscing sessions about our residents’ childhoods. 

During the day, we invited the family members to a Mother’s Day afternoon tea party. What a lovely day that was!

Our residents enjoyed making Easter cake decorations for our Easter cake competition. Our Chef, Meryem, said that it was great team work, and we are all very proud of the outcome. 

As you can see, the cake looked outstanding, but the best part was eating it with a freshly made cup of tea.  
As always, we’ve had an amazing time.

Every Monday our residents get a visit from one of our local nurseries, Busy Bees. To make it even more fun, we invited boogie beats music exercises to join the fun. 

Music, dance and plenty of laughter. That’s what our Monday morning looks like now. All residents absolutely love this visit and can’t wait for the next one. 

Easter was in full swing at Tandridge Heights with our Easter Bunny hunt. Residents were joined by their loved ones for a fun-filled afternoon. There was the traditional bunny hunt where the children had to find and name all the hidden bunnies to collect their prize at the end.

Colouring and games were plentiful and residents got stuck in helping their great-grandchildren. Resident Ron said, ‘It is great fun being able to be with the little ones and seeing them enjoy themselves. I have had a great time’.

We were then surprised by the Easter Bunny himself. He hopped around meeting all the children and staff, creating joy and laughter wherever he went.

In honour of this April’s Grand National - we at Kirkburn decided to host our own 'Kirkburn National'! 
With our 'posh' hats and glasses of fizz at the ready, we all joined together to compete in some very tense racing! 

We relied on the luck of dice to help our individual horses to make it to the finish line - but there was great concentration involved! We all had a great time engaging in some racing fun!

Our lovely Kirkburn residents have recently enjoyed using our pop-up games room. We had a variety of games on offer – including snooker, table tennis and darts. The room was set up for a week and residents and staff loved being able to pop in at various points to have a game. 

There was even some healthy competition developing! Many of our gents played snooker in their younger years so it be proved to be a great reminiscing tool – aswell as being lots of fun!

During April, we all had a great time celebrating Easter. 

From decorating eggs and bonnets to baking and eating chocolate – we did it all! We even had a couple of Kirkburn Easter bunnies doing the rounds gifting Easter eggs to everyone! An egg-tastic time was had by all.

We were so privileged and honoured to have been officially invited to this wonderful event. 
9 years of the very valuable Rayleigh town museum. 
A lovely birthday celebration for special people who work incredibly hard to keep the history of Rayleigh alive and we are proud to be sponsors and look forward to many more years ahead with our residents being involved.

During April, Margaret, Una and Sally enjoyed a lovely walk round the nearby Landale Gardens. 
We took advantage of the milder weather and loaded up our flask for a wee tour. 

During our browse around the gardens, we happened to meet two lovely dogs called Max and Buster. The ladies were delighted to have a clappie, and they proved to be the highlight of our trip! 

We all thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air and are looking forward to getting out more now that spring has arrived!

Its such a shame when the weather dictates that the trip we planned to the seafront had to be called off. However, we got together, chatted with the residents and made a new plan!
As the garden continues to be at the forefront of the residents minds and with head gardener George ever ready, our residents were chomping at the bit to go to the garden centre and make a start getting some of the bits they need to create their own little havens.
The mini bus was a hive of active ideas and plans and the excitement was palpable.  Fruits, flowers, bedding plants, planters and climbers were the order of the day. 
After the residents and team had picked what was needed to begin the projects, the residents stopped for a cuppa and one of our residents, Eileen said, 'oh ive loved today so much, it has reminded me of my own garden'
John really enjoyed chatting to a smaller group of people about his days in the army and George, took great joy in discussing gardening club with everyone and how important it is to be a team.
Please do stay tuned as you watch the garden grow and ever change with the seasons.

The garden is looking beautiful and our residents are getting use of the brilliant facilities we have at Pinetree. 
To be able to offer a lifestyle where residents can continue to enjoy the things they love, to keep active, independent and proud of achievement is very important to us. 
There are many exciting things to look forward to in our garden so stay tuned to the fun all of our residents will share in our beautiful outside space.