Activities at The Dales Care Home
We understand that the people we support have passions and interests that could be difficult to pursue after moving into a care home – but that doesn’t mean we don’t encourage them to try! Some hobbies can define a person, so our Activities Coordinators are dedicated to ensuring that everyone we support is able to do what makes them happy to the best of their abilities. Social events are organised with individual tastes in mind and with the idea that residents have the opportunity to try new and exciting things.
Kay Thompson
Hi, my name is Kay and I am the activities coordinator here at the Dales. I joined the team in June 2021 and I love spending time with the residents each day, delivering meaningful activities that keep our residents active and social stimulated, more importantly we have fun! Our life enrichment programme is varied and we have lots to do!
Before I joined the home I was a lecturer teaching young individuals with high needs, it is very different being an activities coordinator but it does help with understand how to ensure everyone is happy each and every day in everything that we do.
I look forward to meeting you when you visit our home.
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 The Dales Care Home
Music & Movement
Residents and colleagues at The Dales, as part of a community challenge to celebrate social care heroes, created a ‘flash mob’ sequence. As part of a 'Movement & Music' morning, staff dressed in bright colourful attire to the delight of residents before hosting a dance off with a conga around the home's corridors. The sound of laughter and song could be heard everywhere!
Jolly Trolley
The Dales have recently bought a Jolly Trolley to liven up the activities in the home. Our interactive trolley supports a whole host of activities such as bingo, church service, singing, dancing, quizzes, beach themes, reminiscence and much more. Our residents are enjoying it so much!
Raising Funds for the National Institute of Blind People
The Dales celebrated the birthday of Louise Braille, who was a French teacher and inventor of a system for reading and writing for the blind or visually impaired. His system remains unchanged to this day, and is known worldwide simply as braille. In acknowledgement to this, the Dales has been collecting stamps that are given to the National Institute of Blind People to support raising funds. Georgina Reddiough, administrator and Maxine Elliot, housekeeper, have been the driving force behind this and have collected over 7000 stamps over the last few months, from various places across the world!
Dawn Johnson, General Manager said ‘Thank you to all that have supported this cause, staff, residents and relatives. This is a fantastic achievement! We are still continuing to collect the stamps and are grateful of your support for this cause.'
Christmas Bake Off
Residents at The Dales have enjoyed a bake off earlier this week as they made their Christmas cake as part of Barchester’s annual cake competition which prompted them to reminisce about their cooking and baking days.
The Residents all really enjoyed weighing out the ingredients and mixing them together, chatting as they went. Later, once the cake had cooled down, they also enjoyed making Christmas crackers and other festive delights for Christmas.
The Residents commented on how great they all looked, with one commenting: “This is so lovely, it reminds me of when I used to help my mum cook.” Dawn Johnson, General Manager said “It’s amazing seeing our Residents getting such enjoyment out of activities and I loved hearing all of the memories that it helped bring back.”
Christmas Fayre
Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together at The Dales to enjoy a Christmas Fete that was held in the home’s grounds on Saturday 30th November. The Dales hosted a variety of activities throughout the day, including a visit from Santa himself who delivered presents to everyone.
Throughout the afternoon everyone was able to wander the various stalls to purchase those last minute gifts before enjoying musical entertainment and refreshments which were enjoyed by everyone who came to the event and the guests from Dementia Friends Skipton.
Resident, Nita Wignall, said, “I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surrounded by lots of great people, and the refreshments kept flowing. Staff did a great job, not just on the day, but organising the event and getting everyone together.
Raising Funds for Dementia Friendly Skipton
Staff, relatives, residents and residents enjoyed a fundraising day for Dementia Friendly Skipton. Families, friends and people from the local community were invited to join all at the Dales to have an afternoon of fun with various stalls including a traditional raffle and tombola. After an afternoon filled with fun, music and laughter, the residents, relatives and staff had lots of social time while enjoying cake and drinks.
Dawn Johnson, General Manager, said: “Our Memory Lane community is at the heart of the home, along with our frail elderly community and so it’s very important that we do something special to support our local Dementia friendly community. We are very proud to be an active part of what they do. We have all really enjoyed making and eating the cupcakes and there have been some fantastic stories being told by the residents about what they got up to in their youth! We are proud to say that we raised £300.00 for Dementia Friendly Skipton”.
