Celebrating life at Barchester

We’re excited to introduce the life-size Happi Table to our home – an innovative, interactive table designed to support engagement, wellbeing, and meaningful moments for our residents. The Happi Table offers a wide range of activities including games, music, quizzes, and sensory experiences that can be enjoyed individually or together. 

It’s designed to be accessible and easy to use, helping residents of all abilities take part. Benefits of the Happi Table include: encouraging social interaction and shared activities, •supporting cognitive stimulation through games and quizzes, promoting gentle movement and coordination, providing sensory engagement and relaxation, • Creating fun, laughter, and meaningful connections.

Residents, staff, and families were treated to a vibrant display of traditional culture this St Patrick’s Day, as the home welcomed the talented young performers from the Solas School of Irish Dancing

The celebration brought together generations for an afternoon of high-energy entertainment with lots of children, ranging from age eight upwards, who performed a series of spectacular routines that showcased both traditional and modern Irish dance moves. The performance, characterised by its fast footwork and unmistakable rhythm, instantly lifted the spirits of everyone in attendance.

General Manager Stefan shared “It was a truly wonderful celebration with the energy and talent brought by the Solas dancers were simply priceless. Seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter from our residents, staff, and family members as they clapped along was the highlight of the day”.
 

We support our residents in continuing their hobbies and daily lifestyle preferences. There are plenty of opportunities to attend new activities too and make friends along the way. 

To help us celebrate Crufts week in our own fun, unique way, we were recently visited by some very friendly furry friends. We know that many of our residents love animals and have kept pets throughout their lives. So what's better than a visit from these little guys?

Did you know our activities team create a weekly schedule of activities based on residents’ interests? 

We love planning activities and this week we’ve prepared something special with the Barkston Ash Nursery. They came for a wonderful visit and as you can see from the photos, everyone had a ball! 

There was lots of singing, dancing, bubbles. Somehow, the children even found time to stop, relax, chat with the residents and enjoy some refreshments.       

We enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day with flowers, bunting and special treats for our female residents. 

Everyone enjoyed a lovely surprise from our two delivery boys, Teddy and Franklin, who were there to hand out flowers. The boys even managed to find time to play games with the residents and enjoy some chocolates with them.

Another beautifully delivered afternoon by one of our independent-living residents, honouring our promise to celebrate these important festivals for our Jewish residents. 

We all learnt about this important Jewish festival and how Purim is the celebration of Queen Esther and how she saved the Jewish people. We all took part in booing the villains and cheering on the heroines in this immersive story. It was wonderful to see everyone committing to and respecting this celebration, no matter what the religion or belief. 

These celebrations give identity to our Jewish residents, but also educate us in different traditions. We also enjoyed the delicious hanastaschen, which is a traditional triangle-shaped cookie, eaten on this day.

It was especially lovely to see our residents enjoying this occasion with family members, particularly when attending synagogue together has become more difficult due to declining health.  

Everybody at Arbour Court celebrated with Shelia and Roy on their 49th Wedding Anniversary. Residents enjoyed a toasting the happy couple to many more years and of course eating some delicious cake made by a local bakery. 

Our staff decorated the home with balloons and banners and hosted a party with music to congratulate them both.       

Residents came together to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in true Irish style. Residents listened to traditional Irish music, tried out some Irish dances and watched the parade virtually from Dublin. 

Everyone enjoyed a fantastic feast of delicious dishes, along with crackers and cheese, all washed down with Guinness. Our head chef also prepared an Irish Stew with braised beef, carrots and peas with a Guinness-infused sauce.    

We celebrated Nutrition and Hydration Week by hosting our own smoothie bar as well as creating delicious mocktails and fruit salads. Residents enjoyed concocting their own signature mocktails as well as trying one another’s drinks to see. 

Residents also enjoyed a talk from the head chef about the importance of nutritious foods for our bodies and hydration.