Activities at Broadway Halls Care Home

We recently welcomed into our home the very talented English actress and singer Sian Reeves, best known for her roles in Cutting It, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

Sian visited us to launch her charity album ‘Remember This’ in support of the Alzheimer's Society.

Sian’s aim is to visit as many care homes as possible across the country, sharing her music to not only entertain residents but also to help stimulate their minds through the therapeutic power of music.

We all ha an amazing afternoon as Sian sang and interacted with all of the residents and told us about her career and all of the exciting roles she’s played.

The Broadway Halls 'Make a Wish Come True' initiative continues, with a story about the lovely Dorothy and her dream to swim again.

79 year old Dorothy has been a Resident with us since November 23 and is a well loved member of the Broadway Halls family. Dorothy was raised in beautiful Cornwall, and as a young child this is where her affinity with water began.

When Dorothy arrived at Broadway Halls, she could hardly weight bare, but with support from the team and regular physio, we now see her walking the hallways with her frame. This is a testament to her determination to regain her independence, which we wholeheartedly support.

24 years ago was the last time Dorothy had entered the water and with her continuing determination to break barriers, we supported Dorothy to dip her toes in the water once again.

Well done Dorothy!

Residents, staff and family members gathered outside Broadway Halls Care Home in Dudley, to cheer on the riders at the end of day two and start of day three of The Great British Care Cycle Relay.

At their stop in Dudley, riders were treated to a warm reception and buffet spread to keep them fuelled for the journey and it was a real treat for everyone as we were joined by a Classic Motor Show displaying an Aston Martin and old Villiers 250 twin motor bike, but it didn’t stop there – to top it off everyone kept cool in the summer heat by enjoying delicious ice creams from a vintage ice cream truck donated by the event organisers – it was a real treat!

The Great British Cycle Relay is a five day ride, which aims to raise awareness of care services at the heart of communities across the country.  Cycling from north to south, covering 300 miles starting in Manchester and finishing in London, visiting 16 care home communities along the way.  The cycle relay encourages participation from all those working in care, suppliers, friends and supporters.

Thank you to everyone for taking part in the Broadway Halls Dog Show.

We adapted the show to bring it inside as it was too cold for our resident judges.  Hopefully summer will be with us soon!

All entries were treated to a guided tour of the home and got to meet our Residents and Staff, it was a huge success.

The Residents were more excited than the dogs.. each Resident and judge got to greet and stroke the dogs, ask the owner questions and were then judged in the categories of:

Old-timer & best bark 

Best in Home -

Dog they most wanted to keep at the home 

Cutest Face

Congratulations to all our winners!

Resident, Gwen Jinks celebrated her 97th birthday in style as she cruised through the skies above Staffordshire and Shropshire – living out her dream of taking a flight in a helicopter, proving the old adage, it’s never too late!

The Activities Team at the home aim to ‘Make a Wish Come True’ for their Residents once a month and have been successful in achieving this since they started in February this year.

Gwen has lived at Broadway Halls for two months and has already become a huge part of the home community, she loves telling stories about her adventures and this is where Activities Co-ordinator, Scott Bates was able to find out about her bucket list dream of wanting to take a flight in a helicopter and he then set about making it happen.

On the day of her 97th birthday, friends, staff from the home and the pilot from AA Helicopters greeted a beaming Gwen as she arrived at Wolverhampton Half Penny Airport to fulfil her dream.

Gwen was joined in the air by Home Manager Danica Chugh and Activities Assistant, Nicky Malay. Gwen invited Nicky to share the day with her.  Gwen said: ‘When Nicky told me that her feet have never left the ground and that she had never flown before, I wanted her to come along and share this experience with me, to share the flight with people who look after me every day was special – a day to remember!’.

Gwen was born and bread in Staffordshire, but enjoyed many travels throughout Europe over the years, she recalls her favourite trip to Holland where she was pleased to find clothes to fit as the Dutch women were tall and of similar height to her! 

The Broadway Halls Men Club enjoyed the hot weather with a trip to RAF Cosford Museum to make a Residents wish come true.

Arthur, who is a regular at our Mens Club has a keen interest in planes, particularly military aircraft and had shared that it would be his dream to sit in a cockpit of a fighter jet.  It was then up to Scott, our Activities Co-ordinator to make it happen!

Arthur got his chance to sit in a cockpit of a 1955 Hunter F4 Jet that was a front line fighter jet of the 1950s. Arthur said it was such a tight squeeze to get in and out of the cockpit, but it was a great experience to learn the controls of the jet.

His fellow Resident, Fred tried on the pilot’s helmet and got to see a Spitfire up close, which was a great opportunity, he said he didn’t realise how big the aircraft was.