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
Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event, which attempts to encourage an open dialogue about mental health.
During the week, staff members and residents at Balclutha Court enjoyed a number of interactive sessions, including virtual armchair exercises with the Green Goddess, provided through Shackleton's Furniture Company and many got involved in conversations about mindfulness and the importance of mental health.
The home showed support of Mental Health Awareness Week by spreading positivity and spending time finding an emotional release through water colour painting which allows a person's mind to relax and let go of all the problems that contribute to a high stress level. When people create something beautiful through painting, they stimulate the creative mind while relieving mental strain. Obviously its fun too and here at Balclutha we have some awesome artists, just take a look.....
National Vegetarian Week
To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Barchester’s Balclutha Court care home in Greenock were treated to an interactive virtual cookery demo courtesy of chef, Alex Connell, from Vegetarian for Life.
Chef Alex whipped up some tasty, healthy vegetarian snacks in a live, interactive cookery demo. Much to residents’ delight, Balclutha Court head chef had prepared the same recipes so that residents could try all the dishes. Residents sampled delicious, light and summery veggie dishes including Borlotti bean and dill pate, Greek fritters with Tzatziki and Coronation 'chicken' pastries. All finished off with a sweet and simple but totally yummy banana bread.
Green Goddess joins residents
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Balclutha Court home in Greenock were treated to an armchair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s furniture company, followed by a mindfulness session led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.
Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980’s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackletons as their Health and Wellness Adviser.
Laughter is the best tonic!
Residents and colleagues at Balclutha Court celebrated ‘World Laughter Day’ which is celebrated on the 1st Sunday of May by sharing jokes with each other which brought much amusement and entertainment to the home. The first celebration was on January 11, 1998, in Mumbai, India, and was arranged by Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movement.
Home go loco for Cinco De Mayo
Residents at Balclutha went loco celebrating Cinco de Mayo which takes place on 5th May every year.
Cinco de Mayo is a national day which celebrates freedom & liberty in Mexico. It marks the date in 1862 when President Benito Juarez sent troops to face the invading French army who were marching towards Mexico City. The day is hugely important in Mexico & is celebrated with parades, battle re-enactments, fireworks and parties around the country.
Residents celebrated the festival with Mariachi music, games, traditional Mexican dishes & learned the meaning of the festival through a quiz dedicated to the festival.
Close encounters with visit to Zoo
As part of Barchester’s Life Enrichment Programme, team members and residents at Balclutha Court enjoyed an exciting virtual talk, generously hosted by Five Sisters Zoo.
The residents had the opportunity to explore and learn more about the animal life at the zoo and the important conservation, rescue and education work carried out at the grounds of the zoo.
Five Sisters Zoo was officially established in 2005 with just a small collection of rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, and pigs. Since then the zoo has grown into an exciting collection of over 160 different animal species from all around the world.
Upcoming events
July
Join us in July and take a peek with whats upcoming in our life enrichment and activities schedule.
