Activities at The Dales Care Home

Staff and residents at Barchester’s The Dales in Skipton were treated to an interactive virtual floristry masterclass courtesy of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski, from Blooming Haus. 

Blooming Haus started with a small pop-up shop in Chelsea.  They have since blossomed spectacularly on to the floristry scene as ‘floral engineers’, carving themselves an outstanding reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative floral design studios. The company is the vision of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski and his business partner, Michael Dariane. The pair bring a completely fresh approach to floristry and their ambition to push the boundaries of traditional floristry has laid the foundations of Blooming Haus’ success to date.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s The Dales were treated to a photographic tour and talk about the era of ocean travel by V&A Dundee Curator, Charlotte Hale.  The presentation forms part of a series of six talks and virtual tours that V&A Dundee is hosting for Barchester Healthcare’s care homes and private hospitals across the UK.

Charlotte’s presentation took residents on a journey through V&A Dundee’s inaugural exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed and Style. Though the golden age of ocean travel has long since passed, the ocean liner still remains a potent symbol of 20th century modernity. The talk explored the romantic and remarkable age of ocean travel through the design stories of the Titanic, Normandie, the Queen Mary and the Canberra, from their engineering and interior design to the creation of an aspirational lifestyle and the stunning fashions worn on board.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s The Dales care home in Skipton were treated to an armchair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s furniture company, followed by a mindfulness session led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.

Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980’s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackletons as their Health and Wellness Adviser.

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Barchester’s The Dales care home in Draughton were treated to an interactive virtual cookery demo courtesy of chef, Alex Connell, from Vegetarian for Life.

Chef Alex whipped up some tasty, healthy vegetarian snacks in a live, interactive cookery demo.  Much to residents’ delight, Patrick Bonus head chef  had prepared the same recipes so that residents could try all the dishes. Residents sampled delicious, light and summery veggie dishes including Borlotti bean and dill pate, Greek fritters with Tzatziki and Coronation 'chicken' pastries. All finished off with a sweet and simple but totally yummy banana bread.

All the staff at The Dales would like to thank a residents family for sending in such a thoughtful box of goodies all the way from Scotland.

Virtual Reality week, last week Kevin Green, Chef brought in his Virtual Reality Console. Whilst the rest of the world is in lock down the residents at the Dales were able to go travelling around the world. They went to New York, sat with a pride of lions on a safari, had a picnic by the lakes of Italy and the most popular was when they went deep sea diving.