Activities at Braeburn Lodge Care Home

On May 22nd we took two of our lovely ladies to our local museum in the historical town of Peterborough. Jean and Pat were very excited to be able to go and see all the exhibitions on show. We walked around the geology collection where they saw a range of Jurassic marine fossils including the specimen of the largest fish that ever lived. Followed by the natural history collection, where our residents were able to be interactive with the mammals on show and even stroke a preserved fox.

Later, our they were memorized by the social history collection where Jean and Pat could try on costumes from 1600 onwards. This was an amazing chance for Jean and Pat to see items from there past and artefacts that wowed them. They were both full of laughter all morning and thoroughly enjoyed their museum trip.

This is something we shall definitely continue to plan going forward. Cultural visits are very beneficial for those living in  a care home and we cannot wait to take some of our other residents on similar trips in the future.

This month, we re-introduced our gardening club to all our lovely residents at Braeburn Lodge. It has been quite a few years since the grounds in our home has been updated properly, and therefore we thought it would be an ideal opportunity to start gardening again since the weather was finally improving. We have many keen and experienced “gardeners” living in our home, and so we wanted to set up a club that would benefit all those who were interested in taking part.

 First, we spruced up the raised soil beds, in preparation for some spring planting. Some of our residents observed from far, giving their ideas on how to clean the dead weeds. It was beautiful weather and perfect for residents to soak up some sun, have a nice refreshing drink and help staff members with the organising of the garden. Then, over the following days we set up smaller groups of planting, where our residents had a more full on experience of sowing small pots of flowers and vegetables, ready to be planted into the gardens later on.

Overall, it has been a successful activity so far and we hope to continue planting with our lovely residents  until gardening season is over.

On May 2nd, our adorable resident Gwen, celebrated her 100th Birthday with her grandchildren, residents, and staff members. The room was filled with balloons, delicious treats, party props and a beautiful collection of birthday cards, written especially for our lovely lady. Gwen normally prefers to stay in her own room, although on this occasion she was very happy and content to spend time with everyone who truly adores her.

 Gwen has been residing at Braeburn Lodge for almost ten years. She has made so many friends since being in our home, as well as capturing so many of our hearts with her beautiful, contagious smile. She used to live on a farm when she was younger, and enjoyed a wonderful life with her husband, children, and farm animals.

 We wish Gwen a very happy and healthy 100th Birthday and hope to spend many more precious days with her in our wonderful care home.

Residents across our services had a wonderful time joining Cadbury for an interactive virtual talk on their fascinating 200-year history.

Residents joining learnt interesting facts about the chocolate giant, shared memories, and reminisced about their favourite sweet treats.

It was a heartwarming experience filled with laughter, nostalgia, and plenty of chocolatey goodness!

WOW.. what an exciting, musical morning. Elvis Presley (aka Mike Shelby) entered the building in his very famous white suit and swept our lovely residents off their feet. He sang a selection of songs from his greatest hits, as well as engaging with everyone in between. Some of our residents were big fans of Elvis back in the day and wished they had watched him in concert.

Our residents had the best of time, singing along to all their favourite songs. One resident even took us all by surprise and began to dance to the beats of Elvis as she watched him in awe. It was a wonderful sight to see so many of them having much fun and engaging with each other. We now look forward to our next live event in a few months when we hope to invite “Mr Cliff Richard” back to our wonderful home.

On April 11th, some of our wonderful residents were treated to an hour of “virtual” horse racing, in preparation for the Grand Nationals coming up that weekend. It was the perfect opportunity to get our residents together for a fun, social afternoon, to reminisce about their memories on this national event. Our lovely residents Jackie and Nancy were quite an expert at selecting their horses and were very helpful when explaining the rules of the game to the rest of the team.

It was touch and go at one point, as we watched the virtual races halt to an end each time. Although watching the faces on our lovely residents faces made this game even more exciting. There were also small gifts and refreshments handed out to of our wonderful participants. Our residents now look forward to the next live event, when we hope to arrange an evening of horse racing with all our family and friends too.