Activities at Balclutha Court Care Home
At Balclutha Court our resident’s happiness is extremely important to us. We all know that a large part of this is keeping active and continuing to enjoy your interests and hobbies. At Balclutha Court, we have regular activities including arts and crafts, music, entertainment, trips to local attractions such as canal trips, safari parks and many more. Our activities team are always busy organising events, entertainment and excursions with the broadest possible appeal and many of our residents see living at Balclutha Court as an opportunity to develop a new skill or interest. It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities as best as possible, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join with activities and events as often as they can.
Karen Dillon
Karen Dillon is our Head of Activities and has worked within the home since 2005, starting out as a Carer. Karen is very outgoing and full of fun. She has many hobbies, with arts & crafts being her favourite, and her passion for this can be seen in our life enrichment programme.
Karen is supported by Kay Millar and Anita Marsh, between them they ensure that residents are happy and have loads of fun.
They are very keen to involve the residents in the decision making within the home to enhance their experience. They take part in the residents' meetings, catering forums and assist the General Manager in interviewing new staff members.
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 Balclutha Court Care Home
Book corner with Henry Slator
We had a lovely time joining Henry Slator for an exciting virtual event to discuss his book ‘Conversations at the Pond’.
Henry had an unusual writing journey, which many of our residents found inspiring, he underwent chemotherapy in early 2020, which allowed him to rediscover his light-hearted outlook on life by imagining conversations with creatures in and around his large garden pond and adding buckets of fun.
The entertaining Conversations at the Pond, with its mass of colourful illustrations, took our residents along his journey, they felt inspired, cheered and loved hearing all about Henry’s experiences.
Discovering the Astor's
Our residents came together to enjoy an exciting virtual talk courtesy of the team at National Trust Talks Service. The illustrated talk took us closer to one of Cliveden’s most famous families, the Astors. Our residents were able to discover what motivated William Waldorf Astor, America’s richest man, to purchase Cliveden in 1893 and how the estate became the centre of high society in the 1920 s and 30 s thanks to his son Waldorf and daughter in law Nancy Astor.
Wallace Collection
We had a lovely time joining Holly and Marie-Therese from the Wallace Collection, for a virtual introduction to the Collection, followed by a sensory exploratory walk through one of the museum’s most famous landscape paintings. The Collection ranges from Old Master paintings to 18th century French furniture, arms and armour. We all had a wonderful time and cannot wait to put our creative skills to a test and paint some landscapes in the upcoming days.
Getting creative
Residents at Balclutha got creative making these smashing wee coasters for their beloved tea or maybe a dram. Lots of chuffed faces when they were varnished at the end. Well done you Balclutha court crafters once again!
St Patrick's Day
We had a wee Irish themed shin dig at Balclutha today to celebrate St Patrick's day. There were games, music, singing, trivia and obviously a wee Irish liqueur to keep everyone going. A great time was had by all.
National Panda Day
Residents at Balclutha Court honoured this big black and white beauty to mark National Panda day. We had some fun pinning the bamboo on the panda followed by a wee bit of Panda trivia and some cheeky wee Panda videos which had us all giggling. Long and short of it is that we all now want a Panda of our own
Upcoming events
Countdown to Christmas
Counting down the days to Christmas with a fun filled month ahead and we extend a warm invitation for you to join us as we get into the festive spirit - Merry Christmas!
January
Hello January! As we step into a new year we have lots of exciting plans for the month.
Looking for a place to host a meeting?
We have a meeting room available to local professionals and community groups. For more information contact the home.
Community Cafe - Last Thursday of the month
We extend a warm invitation for you to join us at our monthly Community Cafe, come along and make new friends! All welcome.
Calling all Emergency Services
Calling all emergency services personnel and district nurses, come and take a break with us! There maybe a cake or two available....
Volunteers - Could you make a difference?
Do you have any spare time? your time could make a difference to someones day! For more information on Volunteering we'd love to hear from you.
Respite - Are you looking for a little care break?
If you're caring for someone, a short stay at Balclutha Court coluld provide the rest and relaxation that you need.
