Activities at Bedewell Grange Care Home

Resident, Norma recently celebrated her 90-years young birthday,  The celebrations started off with Norma’s room being adorned with balloons, cards and gifts to celebrate her 90th Birthday.  Norma was absolutely overwhelmed with all the fuss!

The home held an all day party in the birthday girls honour in the homes light and airy conservatory, where residents played party games, soft music playing in the background of Norma’s’ favourite singer, Elvis. Everyone enjoyed afternoon tea, with salmon and cucumber sandwiches, savoury treats and lashings of birthday cake. The evening come to a close with Norma’s favourite tipple, Baileys Irish cream.  Happy birthday Norma.

Three Carers at Bedewell Grange in Hebburn have received a prestigious 10 Year Service Award in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for a combined 30 years.

Emily Maclean, now Care assistant, started at Barchester in August 2010 and has worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years.  Along with Marilyn Fearon, now Housekeeping assistant, started at Barchester in October 2010 and Audrey Martin, now Housekeeping assistant, started at Barchester in October 2010.

Residents from Bedewell enjoyed an afternoon of baking, which took them back to their younger years.  Baking sessions are a popular group activity for the home and the activity had taste buds tingling as the aroma of freshly baked cheese scones wafted through the home.

The homes activities coordinator, said: “The residents enjoy spending time in the kitchen, as it not only brings back memories of their childhood, but also times when they’ve baked with their own children and grandchildren. Once all the bakes were made, we all enjoyed sitting down with a cup of tea and a home-made cake.”

For some residents at Bedewell Grange care home in Hebburn, the long awaited reunion with family and friends became a reality recently, as garden visits have now been allowed to commence at the home.

There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment behind the scenes at Barchester Healthcare, who run Bedewell Grange care home. Social distancing was still in place, and homes that are able to take part must have a large accessible garden.

It was welcome news to so many residents, family, and friends, who were kept apart for so long following strict government guidance. Residents and their loved ones got together in the home garden and the garden was fully of joy and chatter.

Bedewell Grange had a blast celebrating Friendship Day on 30th July by creating arts and crafts together and reminisincing about childhood friends and what we value in our friendships and new friends in the home especially during this uncertain times. There were smiles all round as staff also shared the importance of friends and how they can enrich your life.

The International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.

Residents of Bedewell love to show their creative side during the homes popular weekly art group.  At a recent session they explored the different eras of fashion, style and reminiscing about the clothes they loved to wear when they were younger.  It was a lively session and allowed them to share their designs through silhouette art.

As part of the group activity, they created a colourful ‘walk through fashion’ gallery using colourful beads, gems and feathers to achieve their silhouette art wall. Everyone had a lovely morning and all felt like fashion designers!