Activities at Brampton View Care Home

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Brampton View care home in Northampton were treated to an afternoon of nostalgia and delicious memories when they were joined by Cadbury archivist Sarah Foden and Brand Manager Connor Gould for a talk from the nation’s favourite chocolate brand.

Since the opening of its first shop in Birmingham in 1824, Cadbury has delighted the nation with its confectionary and drinking chocolate. It has been with us throughout everyday and seasonal moments, even popping out of our 99 ice cream cones on the beach. It’s the brand behind our favourite selection boxes, as well as the Cadbury Dairy Milk we unwind with on the sofa. Tastes we’ve known for generations – these have long been a part of Britain’s rich cultural history and the lives of Brits across generations.

Sarah and Connor walked the Barchester residents through the story of the brand’s great success from the very first shop to how Cadbury is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2024.  They shared photos from down the years, examples of old packaging and ad campaigns from the Cadbury archive in Bournville.  The carefully selected archive material tells the story of an iconic British brand, this year celebrating its 200th anniversary, that has been part of people’s lives through generations, in moments big and small. The brand’s rich history evoked all kinds of nostalgic memories for the residents who all have their own Cadbury memories.

Connor Gould, Brand Manager at Cadbury, said: “It is so rewarding to take part in such a special event as this – we just loved entertaining all the residents this afternoon, especially when it got to the quiz – they all had their own special memories of the brand to share, which was so rewarding to hear. Thanks to everyone at Barchester who joined us. It was wonderful to be able to share our brand story with you all and to hear about what Cadbury means to you.”

Bex Vernon, Resident Experience Coordinator for Barchester Healthcare, commented: “We are excited to work with amazing brands like Cadbury to bring a wide range of fantastic experiences into our homes for all to share. Our residents had the best time remembering how they have enjoyed Cadbury throughout their lives, looking at all the old ad campaigns brought back so many memories.

“Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active and socially connected, providing a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities,” Bex added.

General Manager, Mo Masedi said: “What a wonderful afternoon we’ve all had, our residents have grown up eating Cadbury chocolate bars, so they were really interested to hear about how the company first came about and how it has evolved over the years.”

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Brampton View Care Home in Northampton were treated to a visit from some beautiful therapy pets.  Animals have a wonderful calming effect and the residents love to stroke them, talk to them and play with them.

The home was visited by Coco the puppy, Bernard the Bearded Dragon and many rabbits and guinea pigs who caused a great deal of excitement.  All of the residents enjoyed the visit, they petted and fed the animals who seemed to appreciate meeting their new friends.

Lucia says: “The animals have had a wonderful afternoon!  I don’t think they have ever had so much attention!  It was lovely to see the residents getting so much pleasure from the visit.”

General Manager, Mo Masedi said: “All our residents are fascinated by animals so we were delighted that all of them were able to visit.  It was brilliant to be able to ask Lucia questions about working with the animals and what it is like to look after them.  We loved hearing all about their different personalities.”

Staff and residents from Barchester’s Brampton View Care Home, in Northampton, joined fellow keen quizzers from over 250 Barchester care homes and hospitals across the whole of the UK, including Wales, Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Wight, to put their collective general knowledge to the test.

The second Barchester Big Quiz took place on 30th April 2024 when Brampton View Care Home got super competitive and took on its sister homes from all over the country to find out which Barchester home or hospital had the best quizzers.  From historical humdingers and geographical gazumpers to pictorial puzzlers and connective conundrums, the homes battled it out to find out who would prevail.

General Manager, Mo Masedi said: “We’ve got some excellent quizzers at our home, we are very competitive - several of our residents love taking part in anything where winning is involved!  We did very well and got a really good score.”

Vicky resident at Brampton View Care Home said: “It has been a lovely afternoon. It was wonderful to see everyone in all the other homes joining in. I really enjoyed getting together with my fellow residents to take on the other homes – it is amazing how competitive everyone gets!”

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Brampton View Care Home in Northampton have launched a new monthly Pudding Club and everyone is welcome.  The idea behind the club is for everyone to come along for a cup of tea and a catch up while trying out different types of puddings – what a truly excellent idea! 

Residents and staff came up with the idea to launch the Pudding Club, each month they get together to talk about their favourite puddings, past and present, and decide what they are going to serve that month.  The home’s chef, Glenn Coombs helps the residents to prepare the puddings, both old-fashioned and new recipes, so everyone gets to try a range of different puds.  Family members, friends and members of the community are all invited to attend and bring puddings to share too, if they wish.

In April the Pudding Club met for the second time and Brampton View were delighted to try some puddings that were favourites of the chef himself. Sticky toffee pudding, ginger cake and tea loaf – which is low fat and low sugar but tastes so good you can’t tell the difference!

General Manager, Mo Masedi, comments: “The Pudding Club is proving to be a huge success, our residents absolutely love it.  We are so lucky to have Glenn as our Head Chef he is such a wonderful chef and helps us make all the delicious puddings.  The club is going from strength to strength, we’re very much looking forward to the next session in May – everyone is welcome to join us, please check out our Facebook page for details.”

Residents at Brampton View Care Home in Northampton celebrated National Gardening Week which took place from 29 April - 5 May. Ever since it was first celebrated in 2012, National Gardening Week has grown in popularity, the week raises awareness of the difference gardens and gardening can make to everyone’s lives and helps to inspire people to experience the joy of growing and creating beautiful green spaces.

The theme for this year’s National Gardening Week is ‘Knowledge is Flower.’  Residents, staff and volunteers took part to create colourful pots, borders and hanging baskets to fill the home’s garden with beautiful floral displays.

Mo Masedi, General Manager at Brampton View Care Home said: “Our garden is a much-loved space, residents really enjoy looking after the plants and flowers, watching them grow and change through the seasons.  May is such a fantastic time to be outside enjoying the garden, many of our flowers are coming into bloom now so we all had great fun creating our colourful pots and containers.  Seeing all of the trees in blossom is such a tonic for us all too.”

Julia, a resident of Brampton View Care Home added: “I’ve always loved gardening so it is fantastic to be able to keep that hobby going!”

Brampton View Care Home in Northampton were bang on trend this week when residents and their guests were treated to an afternoon of shopping and sharing fashion tips and tricks!

Barchester Healthcare’s Brampton View Care Home teamed up with Jackie’s Mobile Boutique to host the afternoon. Jackie brought her latest collection of clothing and accessories into the home for all to view and she spent time getting to know everyone in order to tailor the fashion advice to individuals.

On the day, both residents and staff spent time browsing through the items on display and sharing their favourite fashion memories. They shared stories of their wedding dresses and what they were dressed in as children.

The afternoon saw the home full of smiles and joy as everyone has the chance to shop from the comfort of their own home. The event gave the chance to bring fashion into the home and enable us all to connect with something that we don’t always get the chance to.

Mo Masedi, General Manager of Brampton View Care Home said “We do our best to provide a wide range of activities and entertainment at Brampton View as part of the lifestyle enrichment programme for residents, and this one was our most fashionable fun! Living in a care home doesn’t put a stop to celebrating life, and our engaging activities are designed to be enjoyed by all who want to join in.”

Jean, a resident at the home was able to enjoy browsing through the clothes and accessories on offer and even made some purchases. She commented “It was so nice to be able to see something before I buy it, I usually purchase through catalogues so this made a welcome change”