Activities at Ashminster House Care Home
Activities at Ashminster are based on residents' life histories. We host music workshops and encourage participation in a number of other activities, including gentle exercise, bingo and gardening. Monthly live singers entertain everyone with music from the 50s, 60s and 70s and residents are encouraged to interact with the musical instruments. Sensory sessions with fibre optic lights and touch & feel blankets are provided, which can be calming to those living with dementia. Residents participate in cooking sessions and enjoy the aromas of bread, scones and cakes - and, of course, sampling the finished product over a cuppa! We promote family values at Ashminster, and those we support can enjoy reminiscing about family events in the past, including weddings and previous occupations.
Elaine Hilden
I have worked at Ashminster House since 2003, first as a carer then progressing to activities coordinator, which has know as 'Head of Lifestyle'. I have a wealth of experience in my role, as well as NVQs in Health and Social Care, Activities in the Care Setting and Dementia.
I am passionate about fulfilling residents' lives by getting to know each individual with a person-centred approach, learning about their experiences and helping them to express themselves, such as through reminiscing with items of old.
My interests outside of work include antiques, dogs and spending time with my family.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Ashminster House Care Home
Relaxing in the garden
Our joyful residents ventured outside in our beautiful garden to soak up the lovely sunshine and while some simply basked in the the welcome warm weather, others took to exploring around the vast collection of plants and herbs we grow with keen interest and excitement.
Keeping our brains active
Residents at Ashminster House enjoyed a busy afternoon using their minds and knowledge to get through a fun filled selection of puzzles that included the always popular word search, crosswords, mazes and spot the difference.
Our lovely resident Pamela commented "I always love these sort of things. They're great fun and keep the brain active."
Reminiscing with Stamps
Fred, a resident at out lovely home mentioned how he used to have a wide array of stamps he used to collect in his younger years and always found enjoyment in finding new ones he had never seen before.
During one of our special reminiscing sessions with items of the past our expert Head of Lifestyle Elaine showed Fred a stamp collection of our own that he thoroughly appreciated looking through and discovering many new stamps including from several other countries, much to his delight.
Barbeque fun in the Sun
During one of our Resident meetings several of the meetings expressed missing the smell of a Barbeque on a warm sunny day outside.
With this in mind the whole home got together and arranged a fantastic barbeque for all the residents to enjoy that included a delectable selection of mouth-watering food such as burgers, hot dogs, salads and potato wedges, all cooked and prepared by our magnificent catering team.
While some could not wait to tuck in as soon as they got the first waft of smoke from out barbeque, many were instead enjoying the wide variety of music being played by our invited pianist Amelia.
British Flower Week
Ashminster House Residents got outside in the lovely warm sunshine to celebrate the British Flower Week by preparing an exquisite selection of flowers to place around the home in preparation for the coming summer.
Our resident Janet expressed how she used to grow and look after roses when she was at home and helped us arrange a colourful selection of the flowers while reminiscing about how she used to prune them carefully from the plants and had to wear gloves thanks to those pesky prickly thorns that always comes with a rose!
Sensory smell quiz
Residents experienced a sensory smell quiz in Ashminster's exciting herb garden where they guessed each delightful herb.
