Celebrating life at Barchester

At Marriott House & Lodge we loved recognsing our team for their dedication and hard work.
This time around we give congratulations to Maia on being awarded Employee of the Month! 
Maia is a valued member of our activities team and works tirelessly to engage new residents, making everyone feel welcome and included from day one. She also plays a big part in supporting trips out and helping deliver a fantastic programme of activities that bring so much joy to everyone.
Thank you, Maia, for all your hard work and dedication it truly does not go unnoticed. We’re so lucky to have you on the team! 

Residents enjoyed making their own fascinators, and our lovely Activity lady Vicki even went out of her way to make top hats for the gentlemen, which they absolutely loved. 
The ladies even dressed up for the event, and the staff also got involved, making it a truly fun and lively celebration for everyone. 
We also held our very own sweepstake, followed by refreshments, with residents winning prizes and trophies adding to the excitement of the day. 
To finish off the celebrations, everyone enjoyed watching the Grand National together on TV. 
It was a fantastic day filled with fun, laughter, and friendly competition! 

Residents recently enjoyed baking some delicious cinnamon banana bread muffins to have with their afternoon tea and biscuits. We had so much fun mashing bananas, mixing ingredients, and even helping each other along the way. 
It was a lovely, social activity and the muffins turned out really good and tasted even better! 

The residents and staff were treated to a truly unique experience as they invited Rebecca from ‘Sweet Memories of Hadleigh’ to their home with her pop-up sweet shop.

Rebecca transported the residents back in time with the authentic sights, smells and the old classic tastes of confectionary from the past. It was a magical journey as she weighed out the sweets meticulously with her traditional scales, selling them by the quarter for the residents. There was jar after jar of beautifully coloured old-time favourites all set out so that residents could browse.

Resident, Pam, said: “My husband and I owned a shop, this was many years ago and this has really brought back some lovely memories for me. It is the weighing out of the sweets that I remember the most and all my favourites I want are here.”

Tina, Activities Co-ordinator said, “The residents had a truly wonderful time browsing through the extensive selection of sweets and it was beautiful to see the faces of our residents as they saw their old-time favourites. One particular sweet that caught the resident’s eyes was the “Sherbet Fountain”, all the residents had a story to tell about the sweet.”

Larisa Bledea, General Manager at Elm Bank said: “It was lovely to see everyone together, and enjoying this wonderful experience that Rebecca created for our residents. It really was a journey down memory lane and it was beautiful to hear our residents reminisce about when they were younger and how they remembered all the sweets that were on display.”

In preparation for the start of our gardening club, our team members, Angela, Martin, Bernie and Nick the gardener took a some of our residents on a lovely trip to the local garden centre. 

Everyone enjoyed choosing colourful plants and seeds ready for planting, with plenty of excitement about the season ahead.

We can't wait to see how the garden will grow and florish this spring and summer!