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
English National Ballet
We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.
ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.
Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.
Residents enjoy cooking demo
We had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.
Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.
Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.
"Youth has no age" - PABLO PICASSO
Check out these works of art! Residents at Balclutha Court tried their hand at a bit of Pablo art today in honour of his birthday. We think you will agree that we have some very talented artists of our own.
Creating bird feeders
Feeding the birds in style Residents at Balclutha Court gave up their cuppa to make sure that the wee birdies got some grub. Using some excess China, glue, ribbon, string and the all-important bird food we made some really cute and quite posh bird feeders to hang in the garden. Some decided to give them as gifts to loved ones so gift wrapped them in cellophane. We are all pretty chuffed with the results. We can't wait to jazz up the garden and fatten up our wee feathered friends for the winter.
Creative writing
We had a great time joining journalist and novelist, Mike Gayle, for an intriguing virtual interview, during which he shared top tips for creative writing with our residents and read passages from his latest book, All the Lonely People.
We were thrilled to find out about Mike’s background, to understand what led him to become a writer and his creative process.
It was a lovely talk, enjoyed by all, especially by our keen writers at the home.
Residents take to the high seas
We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Lisa Richards from Unilever for an exciting Virtual Cruise experience.
Our residents were welcomed with mocktails as Lisa and Paul took them on a magical journey to 3 mystery destinations, which were uncovered after a few clues.
Paul demonstrated how to create a few of the local traditional dishes, which our residents had the opportunity to try too.
The event evoked lots of great memories and it was truly enjoyed by all.
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.
