Activities at Bluebell Park Care Home

Every year around this time, the dulcet tones of Elvis Presley start to emerge from residents’ rooms as their ears prick up to hear Elvis’s songs during staff preparations for his birthday celebrations. 

“Blue Christmas”, “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “If Every Day Was Like Christmas” are just a few Elvis Christmas songs that we cherish and love to celebrate. Elvis was an all-round entertainer, so not only did we celebrate listening to his fantastic songs, but we sat and enjoyed his movies as well.  

We had microphones and guitars as props and everyone got into the swing of things.  There seemed to be magic in the air when Elvis sings and, as you can see, we all joined in and the air was full of excitement and harmonious tunes. After all the songs were sung, we sat and watched one of Elvis’s many movies with our afternoon tea.

We had such an exciting Friday morning when Bluebell Park invited a very interesting and infectiously inspiring person by the name of Rob Neil into our home in January.  Rob is the Historian of Spondon Historical Society, which was formed by a group of friends in 1982 and has, over the past years, collected a large and fascinating amount of old photographs, documents, maps and other items which, together, tell the story of Spondon Village and the surrounding areas of Derby through the years.

Many of our residents used to live in the local and surrounding villages and mention very fondly about places they have been and schools they went to and also buildings such as picture halls and dance clubs. Where they met their husband or wife and the hospitals where they gave birth to their children. All these places have a special memory for them.

The expressions and looks on our residents’ faces mean so much to their friends and families. The excitement and interest when they try and work out what the item used to be used for and the sudden realisation that they had one of these items many, many years ago. This is when the memories come flooding back, and they want to tell you so desperately they had one of these ancient objects and what they used it for.

Special things happen when we invite the W.I. to Bluebell Park. As you can see, it was a bright and beautiful day and everyone was in good spirits.  The tea and coffee were flowing and all sorts of home bakes were available.

From colouring pictures using pencils, paint or wax crayons to getting the perfect finish required to produce beautiful artistic pictures to display in our private rooms. We also have an abundance of stickers which are the favourites of some of our ladies.  

The W.I may be here at Bluebell Park to create masterpieces, but we also love to chat and make new friends when new faces appear.  Our long-standing relationship with the W.I. is a comforting feeling for our residents, as these ladies have an abundance of time and experience to share with us and always a comfy shoulder to lean on. Learning what is happening in the village and at church is always an interesting time for our Bluebell Park residents.

Alex and George are a father and son magic act and Bluebell Park invited them to bring some enchanted magical charm to our atmosphere during the Christmas Period.  They believe that magic is a brilliant way to bring people together to share a special moment.

On this special day in December, A & G Magicians absolutely did themselves proud.  As you can see, our residents were so mesmerised by the father & son duo, everyone got involved. Props were handed out, and we had a multitude of hats, rattles, instruments and joke sheets. They were so intense. All our residents were immersed in their laughter and trickery which brought on belly laughs and tears streaming down their faces.  

Let’s hope we can book them again in 2025.

Bluebell Park in Chellaston, Derby, invited, in December, some very passionate professional handlers of Birds of Prey.  

They came all the way from Yorkshire to interact and engage with our very excited residents. The four birds they brought with them were raised in a home environment, so they were extremely happy with our residents.  Included in our visitors list, we had a beautiful little chap called Diego who was a small white-faced owl. His feathers were unbelievably soft, so soft that you had to convince yourself you were actually touching something. 

The two Barn Owls were so popular as they spun their heads around 360° to get a good view, and then we have the ‘Hawk’.  So comical as it flew from resident to resident and lamp shade to lamp shade, leaving a waft of unattractive perfume behind. The gasps of laughter and chuckles coming from certain residents were so amusing, not only for them, but for everyone to see.  

This action encouraged a lot more of our residents to have a go at putting on gloves and seeing this beautiful creature soaring towards them. It took their breath away. Our residents were so intrigued by these beautiful little birds as they looked so intensely at them sitting on their knees and then, if they dared, to actually have them land on to their arms protected by the glove and supervised by the professional handlers.  

The smiles and the conversations when they left us were mind-blowing, and they cannot wait for them to come again next year.

Residents, staff, family and friends at Bluebell Park Care Home in Chellaston, Derby, experienced another fantastic afternoon concert with Voices R Us.  

Everyone always gets involved with the contagious energy and it is extremely popular. Voices R Us are an enormously entertaining group, full of fun, and they sing songs that our residents identify with and are encouraged to sing on the microphone and dance along to the music.  They sing Rock ‘n’ Roll, Classical, Motown and even Musical Theatre. Christmas was obviously on the menu today with Voices R Us with their sack full of Christmas tunes such as Scarlet Ribbons, White Christmas, probably all of Elvis’s Christmas tunes which were very popular and also some Jonny Cash and Buddy Holly were also delivered with precision tuning. 

Occasions like this are so special to everyone, as our residents are so engrossed in the whole atmosphere, keeping a steady beat and seeing the smiles and the concentration on their faces is unforgettable.  Some were still humming tunes hours later. The smiles, hand clapping and body dancing were a wonder to see.