Activities at Cookridge Court Care Home

We were delighted to join Blooming Haus’s Christmas Wreath Making Masterclass, where Master Florist, Michal and his business partner - Michael showed us the best method to create beautiful festive wreaths.

Following the tips and ideas learnt during the amazing virtual experience, we were happy to put our skills to a test and to enter the #BarchesterChristmasWreaths competition.

We all had a wonderful time creating our festive wreath/s.

Thank you @bloominghaus for helping our residents flow into the true spirit of Noel.

Cookridge Court in Leeds commemorated the signing of the Armistice Day agreement on the day that the guns finally fell silent.  They joined the rest of the United Kingdom in holding a two-minute silence at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month.

As well as marking Armistice Day by wearing poppies and observing the national two minute silence, residents took part in therapeutic activities including a beautiful live event from the English National Ballet and an afternoon tea with the staff. 

Florence, a resident at Cookridge Court said: “It is very important that we keep the memories of those who fought alive and that we also think about those involved in conflicts around the world today.”

Chef, Lindsay is an ex-military Chef. Lindsay served with the Royal Logistic Core for 5 years, in which she toured in Northern Ireland and also in Kosovo. Lindsay said “Today was an honourable day to be able to work alongside the residents at Cookridge Court and been able to take the two minute silence with other team members and residents together.”

It was a special day, enjoyed by all. 

We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a short clip of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.

An ENB Company Dancer, recalled their account of performing in the piece and provided context to the themes. To bring this element to a close, some of the specific hand movements from the duet were demonstrated by Jennie Harrington - Artistic Coordinator.

Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.

The session incorporated the national two minute’s silence at 11am to mark the exact time the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War in 1918.

Residents and staff enjoyed Bonfire party this week. We endulged in the traditional bonfire food, pork pie & mushy peas or a hot dog with all the trimmings, followed by some homemade Parkin, all freshly cooked by chef Lindsay.

We watched a brilliant low noise firework display, Thankyou to Andy our one of our Maintenace team members for assisting with these.

Florence, our Resident ambassador said, “I have had a wonderful evening and Thankyou to everyone who made it happen”. 

More great times and memories made at Cookridge Court.

Here at Cookridge Court we got into the spooky Halloween spirit and enjoyed a live performance from Emma James this, followed by a Halloween party served with a brilliant buffet lunch, cooked by Chef Lindsay.

Some of our residents preferred to paint and decorate pumpkins and to dress up for the occasion, others got involved in themed quizzes and games, and enjoyed watching Halloween films.

We all had a spooktacular time.

Residents had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.

Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.

Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.