Activities at Cubbington Mill Care Home
Every day we run different activities throughout our home. The activities are designed and adapted to each individuals personal needs. The activities are designed to mentally and physically stimulate the people we care for and also to enhance their life skills and feelings of purpose and self-worth. The activities encourage interaction on a one to one basis, in small groups, in large groups and some are designed for the whole home including staff to be involved in.
We are registered with the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) which ensures we are able to achieve and continually progress to enhance the quality of life for those we support in the home. We provide entertainers such as singers, musicians, magicians, puppeteers, poets and dancers. We also have regular exercise classes and arts and craft classes. Relatives and visitors will be able to see what me make in these classes on display around the home. We have regular trips out on the mini bus to visit garden centres, enjoy high tea, visit the butterfly farm and spend the day at the zoo with a picnic. We encourage the local community, schools, colleges and relatives to come and join us for activities, tea and cake and to visit to share their skills as much as possible.
Staff from across the home are always willing to help and share their knowledge and skills across a whole range of activities we have had everything from carers preforming Bollywood style dancing to cooking classes from the chef. We feel activities are a vital part of the residents lives to ensure they are stimulated mentally and entertained.
Rose Tucker
Hi my name is Rose and I am the activities coordinator at Cubbington Mill!
I have been working in care since I was 17 and very passionate about my role, always trying to do bigger & better. I am one of Cubbington Mills Dementia Champions. I'm very privileged to work with the wonderful people and residents at Barchester's Cubbington Mill and hope we all make some lovely memories together! I LOVE to find out about residents interests & hobbies through tools like the “Getting To Know Me Booklets”.
We are always open to new ideas. If you would like to get involved in any of our Life Enrichment activities or have a skill, or project you'd like to share with our residents, please click here to contact me direct. New entertainers and community links are always welcome.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Cubbington Mill Care Home
Intergenerational Bingo
Residents had great fun playing a game of bingo in the dining room virtually with the pupils from Princethorpe College. Using Zoom, the sixth from students called out numbers and played alongside our residents, kindly donating prizes to the winners of the bingo game also! Residents wanted to say a big thank you to all the pupils who made them laugh with their silly hats!
The pupils of Princethorpe College would regularly visit the home before restrictions so this has been a brilliant way for residents to keep their connections and sense of community with the local school.
Harvest Festival Baking
Residents and staff members at Cubbington Mill Care Home celebrated the Harvest Festival recently by working together to design and bake their own Harvest Festival salt dough bread decorations and display for Barchester’s special seasonal competition.
Head Chef, Oliver Hopkins and Activities Co-ordinator, Hannah Fawcett helped residents to plait, twist and mould their salt dough into Harvest themed creations. Residents had great fun feeling and squishing the dough in their hands, they were able to get creative with added sensory fun.
Oliver used coco powder to give the dough a darker colouring and contrast against the white, this made the plaits stand out and gave them a great effect once brushed in egg wash and cooked. The coco powder once baked filled the room with a delicious chocolate smell.
After foraging for clippings from our garden with the help of our maintenance man, Waldemar Stezycki, the flowers and leaves were added into a wicker basket alongside the dough decorations. This beautiful display has been placed in our newly decorated foyer area for the postman, staff, residents and essential visitors to see!
Nationial Arts in Care Homes Day
This year’s theme for Arts in Care Homes Day is #CreativeCommunities. We started our morning by video calling our friends over at Overslade House.
Residents took part in a colouring activity to create the 2020 #ArtsinCareHomes poster. After a good chit chat, the sheets were ready to be put together to create the poster in support of this fantastic day!
We continued the festivities into the afternoon with a creative writing workshop, where residents wrote a poem based on the Autumn Equinox, Poetry has been a fantastic outlet and yet another way to get creative for #AICH2020.
The day was a great opportunity to reflect on the creative activities we provide for our residents and staff. We have done some great things during COVID-19 and enjoyed getting creative!
All aspects of the arts are explored in our home and it has been important for us to work with the local community with each project. We’ve become pros at card making, creating our own designs for Carers Week back in June and giving these to the hardworking members of staff at the home.
We were part of Creative Mojo’s ‘Your Face, Your Way’ community project, where residents saw their drawings showcased online!
Mexican Fiesta
Staff and residents at Cubbington Mill have celebrated Mexican Independence Day by putting on a Mexican fiesta and themed dining experience.
The dining room was decorated with beautiful bright colours which filled the room top to bottom... even the odd cactus made an appearance!
Head Chef, Oliver Hopkins, cooked traditional pork carnitas with molè and pineapple pico de gallo. This authentic dish was made with Oliver’s homegrown ancho and pasilla chiles!
While enjoying their meal, a virtual mariachi band played in the background... residents even had their own maracas to add to the beautiful music.
To look the part, they wore sombrero headbands and moustaches to further immerse themselves in this Mexican experience! Ending the afternoon with a game of pin-the-tail-o-the-donkey and cactus ring toss, followed by a singalong.
Peanut the Companion Cat
Peanut looks, feels and sounds like a real cat. Our new pet has built in sensors that responds to motion and touch; realistic soft fur, cat-like movements and technology thats sounds and feels like real purring.
Residents have been so excited to meet their new robotic pet. Peanut has had a grand tour of the home and is already getting very comfortable in the lounge, interacting and getting a pet from residents as they benefit from the therapeutic aspects of this fantastic technology.
To decide the name, staff and residents at Cubbington Mill put their choices into a random name generator, which chose Peanut to be the perfect fit for our new kitty!
Notting Hill Carnival
Cubbington Mill hosted their very own Notting Hill Carnival with steelpan drum music was playing, decorations galore and delicious traditional Caribbean foods to choose from. Residents have loved reading Notting Hill Carnival facts and looking at pictures from the event as they wore their handmade masks and headbands.
Celebrating and learning about different cultures is really important to staff and residents here at the home. They are immersed into rich culture and are able to learn about things that they don’t already know through music, film, food and more!
It has been a fantastic day full of colour and fun and residents cannot wait to see which culture they will be learning about next!
