Activities at Chester Court Care Home

Staff and residents at Chester Court care home, celebrated Easter with a whole host of different activities including dressing up, decorating the home and holding an Easter raffle.

Residents at Chester Court enjoyed an eggs-tensive range of Easter activities, from participating in the Easter raffle, completing egg painting and bunny crafts to playing a bunny ring toss game and receiving chocolate gifts from the Easter bunny. Residents also tucked in to a delicious Sunday roast followed by Easter cake prepared by the home’s chef John.

For residents at Chester Court care home in, Bedlington the long awaited reunion with one family member has become a reality, as one single named visitor is now allowed to visit each resident in their bedroom.

There has been much anticipation of this moment by families and residents alike.  Guidance was issued by the Government on March 4 and Barchester Healthcare, who run Chester Court care home, is proceeding with a safe and cautious approach to visiting. Strict protocols are in place with all visitors required to have a negative Lateral Flow Device test result before being allowed into the home, and infection control measures and social distancing in place for every visit, with hand holding allowed but not recommended.

Despite the need for testing and social distancing, it was still welcome news for so many residents and their family members to be able to meet in the comfort of their bedroom.

Residents and staff at Chester Court celebrated all things Irish for St Patrick’s Day this week. The home was decorated with shamrocks and everyone got dressed up in green to mark the day.

Held on March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day actually observes the death of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, but the day has come to be a huge celebration of Irish heritage and culture.

Staff and residents at the home marked the day by all staff wearing green, having Irish music, Irish quiz, virtual tour around Ireland’s beautiful landmarks, and finally watching some Irish dancers in river dance.

Residents at Chester Court have had a lovely afternoon celebrating Mother’s Day with flower arranging followed by making their very own heart shaped chocolates with multi-coloured sprinkles. To mark the day they celebrated with special cakes and a choice of rose wine, white wine or non-alcoholic wine. Everyone had a brilliant day enjoying their special treats whilst reminiscing about their childhoods and talking about their own children.

A carer at Chester Court care home in Bedlington has received a prestigious 15-Year Service Award in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for 15 years.

Emma Thompson, now carer, started at Barchester in March 2006 and has worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years.

Jane McFarlane, Employee Services Director at Barchester said: “I’m always pleased to hear stories about the long service of Barchester staff and am delighted Emma has achieved this milestone. It is dedication like this that ensures our residents are provided with a happy place to live.”

Residents of Chester Court were delighted to receive a gift from their local Age UK Northumberland branch.  The activities bundle contained puzzles from Sudoku, word ladders and searches – firm favourites with a number of residents! Also, included in this fun-filled activity pack were exercises, origami, poems and general fact leaflets and colouring in pens to complete the books.  The residents are now busy enjoying their gift over cups of tea and delicious slices of home-made cake.  Thank you Age UK Northumberland.