Celebrating life at Barchester

As part of our Health & Wellbeing initiatives throughout January, we had the great pleasure of inviting the team from local hearing specialists at Evans Hearing & Healthcare Centre into Claremont Parkway for their first of many 2026 ‘Ear Health Workshops’. 

The care the team took to explain to our residents wishing to have their hearing tested was exemplary. Teresa Evans who, as a qualified nurse, is able to perform wax removal for clients as well as also being a fully qualified Hearing Aid Audiologist gave our residents a full explanation of what she could see when looking into each ear. Going onto perform ear wax removal if required.

The event was a great success with several residents receiving full wax removal, booking more intensive ‘in-home’ hearing tests and having current hearing aid problems solved.

Thank you to everyone who attended and to the Evans Hearing & Healthcare Centre team whose professionalism, understanding and care made this possible. We look forward to hosting the event again in late Spring.

It was Eyes Down at the home on Friday as we were joined by fellow keen dabbers from our local community as we hosted a fun-filled evening of Bingo at the home.

Refreshments were provided upon arrival and then it was eyes down for a full house as our residents and visitors battled it out to find out who would prevail. There were prizes for all of the winners and the evening was a great success with lots of fun and laughter throughout the evening.

We very much look forward to doing this again very soon.

On the first Wednesday of every month we are lucky enough to hold the Encircled with Care community church service taken by one of the team at Much Wenlock Parish Church.

This month the service was taken by The Reverend Sam Rigby Team Curate as well as the Epiphany church service he delighted our residents as he took Holy Communion as well.  

This week Reverend Sam returned on a more informal basis as one of our guest speakers and joined us for a cuppa and talked about his journey to being ordained. 

The regular horse therapy our residents receive from having Happy Hooves Equine Ltd - Equine Assisted Therapy & Transport's Laura visit with the beautiful pony; Vino helps support their emotional well-being.

Our residents love his snuggles and being able to stroke him, even from their beds brings such enjoyment, it’s truly magical to see.

The joy in our residents faces is clear to see when the children and parents join at Cepen Lodge to attend the Boogie Beat Music & Movement North Wiltshire group. All generations had fun with bubbles, scarves and plenty of music, the session was full of giggles from everyone.

At Cepen Lodge we know that intergenerational activity is hugely beneficial to all involved as it encourages communication and social skills. 

Mix in new technologies such as our large touchscreen table which uses Apps to provide interactive games such as drag and drop jigsaws, wordsearches and musical instruments the activity becomes fun for all ages.

Today's visiting students from Hardenhuish School; Bertie, Dan and Ethan had our Memory Lane residents fully emersed in a 'digital world of discovery'!

Goodbye chocolate, cheese and all those naughty sweet treat goodies we've been eating throughout December and hello to a healthier you!

At Cepen Lodge we decided to make-up several healthy fruit and cleansing tea hampers for delivery to our community colleagues to help them, and their service users enjoy a fresh and tasty start to the new year.

We absolutely loved welcoming Duane AJ back to our care home, the joy and energy that he brings is something truly special and uplifting. Our residents adore him, even residents from Memory Lane light up when he visits. 

The singalongs, smiles and dancing say it all. We're so grateful for each visit and already look forward to the next.  Duane said "Moments like these are exactly why I love what I do. Music brings back memories, lifts spirits and gets everyone moving."

A trip to the Dementia Choir was enjoyed today. Our residents had a great time catching up with some familiar faces and loved seeing the children of Winchester house school take part.

The children requested the Neil Diamond classic 'Sweet Caroline' this was a favourite among the choir