Celebrating life at Barchester

A huge thank you to Matt O’Neil for another fantastic performance. As always, our residents thoroughly enjoyed every moment with plenty of singing, smiling and toe-tapping along to the music.           

We are already looking forward to your next visit.”

Our residents and several of our regular visitors enjoyed a picnic on the patio recently, although the hot weather has been lovely it has been rather uncomfortable at times so we have tailored activities to suit the conditions. 

The patio area is in the shade in the early afternoon so we made full use of the favourable conditions and cooled off whilst enjoying a fabulous picnic.     

We had a fabulous cooking activity recently where our residents used their pizza making skills to create their own particular favourite pizza which they enjoyed, fresh from the oven for lunch.

The weather was beautiful, so everybody enjoyed an alfresco lunch with a nice glass of wine, and we had the most fabulous afternoon. Word soon spread throughout the home and we had many visitors who really enjoyed a slice of pizza and spending time chatting with our residents in the garden.     

Residents Josie Grange and our Residents’ Ambassador Susan Tidy recently visited Lenton Leisure Centre to present a cheque for £2,500, generously donated by Barchester Healthcare, to the West Area Project, a fantastic service supporting adults with learning disabilities and/or autism.

The funding will help pay for swimming lessons, enabling even more people from the local community to enjoy the much-loved sessions. The swimming group is a huge success, bringing fun, friendship and exercise to everyone involved.

The donation will also help provide fresh fruit and vegetables for Active2, a Tuesday evening activity group that encourages people with learning disabilities and/or autism to stay active, healthy and socially connected.

During their visit, Josie and Susan met some of the people who benefited from the service and watched Rich David take on his incredible fundraising challenge. To mark Learning Disability Week, Rich completed a series of activities including walking, rowing, cycling, swimming and running to raise awareness of the fact that people with a learning disability and/or autism die, on average, 19.5 years younger than the general population.  

Josie and Susan were delighted to see first-hand the positive impact the project has on so many lives and were proud to present the cheque in support of its valuable work. 

Our residents thoroughly enjoyed gardening with a difference recently by using some China cups and saucers and turning them into plant pots.

The cups look really nice and a little bit different, but they are sure to add a little more character to everybody’s room or make a wonderful gift to a loved one.

Our resident ambassador, Bryan, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before, my family will love them.”

Our residents enjoyed sampling a selection of refreshing iced teas, and we had some clear favourites! 
The most popular flavour was Hibiscus, Rose & Sweet Berries – a delicious hit with everyone!

Meanwhile, the Lemon, Turmeric & Ginger tea certainly got people talking… and judging by some of the funny faces, it wasn’t quite everyone’s cup of tea!

A wonderful afternoon filled with laughter, conversations, and plenty of taste-testing.     

By popular demand, the Barchester Boys wanted a trip to the pub, and who were we to argue?

A bit of fun, laughter and a beer or two went a long way for this motley crew who just loved to be back in the pub and enjoying a change of scenery.

Don't worry, they were back in time for tea, and they're already planning our next trip!!!

We have had the pleasure of welcoming back students from Bulwell Academy, and what a fantastic afternoon it was!

Residents and students spent time sharing their favourite songs, and as you can imagine, everyone got to hear music they’d never listened to before. While the students introduced some new tunes, a few of our residents were quick to say they definitely don’t want to hear some of that music again! 

There was plenty of laughter, great conversation, and even a chance for some of the students to learn how to play dominoes from our resident experts.

A wonderful intergenerational afternoon filled with fun, friendship, and memories. Thank you to the students and staff from Bulwell Academy for visiting us – we loved having you!        

Everyone had a great time with our live singer Alyse.

Residents and families/visitors joined in with the entertainment and had a couple of refreshments. Some were dancing and singing to all the familiar songs, old and new. It was a great atmosphere for everyone.