Activities at Derham House Care Home
Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.
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
I have worked in the care sector for many years. I am fully trained in dementia awareness, and I have also trained as a dignity champion. I have been working here at Derham House since March 2019, and I am really enjoying my role here.
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 Derham House Care Home
Welsh Clogging in Essex?
National celebrations and family-friendly events are just some of the ways that we ensure the residents at Derham House remain connected with their loved ones and the wider community.
In celebration of St David's Day, we were joined by the talented Ella Brown who performed some traditional Welsh Clogging.
The dance was originally performed by farmers and slate quarry workers and often came in form of a competition where dancers would show off their stamina and athleticism. Our Residents enjoyed the performance clapping and tapping to the music.
Enable!
We are finally paper free! Enable is here.
For the last few weeks, our transport team at Derham House have been working hard transferring all our original care plans from paper to Enable's online system.
Staff have finally got their hands on a device that has all our residents in one place. It’s a little confusing and we constantly have our torches on but give it a few days and it will be like we have always had Enable. We can continue to deliver the highest premium care to all our residents.
Together in Musical Expression
Our residents enjoyed a morning expressing themselves with music, accompanied by the talented Rob and Marc from T.I.M.E.
T.I.M.E. is founded by the belief that music is for everyone. Amazingly, just listening to music can ease the pain, motivate, improve your sleep quality, reduce stress, elevate your mood, improve cognitive performance and much more.
But when we perform music, our brain's activity multiplies tenfold. “Music is therapy. Music moves people. It connects people in the ways that no other medium can. It pulls heart strings. It acts as medicine”
Life is brew-ti-ful with a cup of tea!
Another new activity for 2025, afternoon tea at Proper Vintage with Wendy & Co.
Step back in time to your Grandma's parlour, full of proper old-fashioned wallpaper and ornaments. Our residents were in for a treat or two.
Afternoon tea for four, and wow, what a variety, from finger sandwiches to so many cakes. It was difficult to choose, and we all had scones to finish it off, with lashings of tea, of course!
Residents thoroughly enjoyed themselves and Molly kept saying, "You have done us proud!"
Meaningful Memories
What started as a general chit-chat with a resident and a family member turned into home-made apple strudel.
While chatting with Dina she was telling us how she used to love cooking her traditional Austrian dishes. Schnitzel, Sacher-torte and Apple Strudel amongst other dishes. So that was where the idea came to, for Dina to create her traditional Strudel for all to enjoy.
Dina wrote out all the ingredients needed, and we spoke to the chef, who was obliging and supportive. Dina was in her element and super excited on the day, getting her hands dirty (as they say) kneading home-made filo pastry from scratch, then adding cooking apples, cinnamon and mixed fruit, folding it into a parcel ready for the oven, and baking an extremely tasty Apple Strudel.
It made her and her family’s day, bringing back lots of beautiful memories of baking for family and friends.
Musical Bingo
Eyes down for our first game of musical bingo of the year. Great to see a few of our residents turning up as well as a few family members.
It’s perfect for our residents who love music, but who might not be able to dance their hearts out any more (or if they do, it’s not pretty). It’s also a great way to make new friends.
Whilst the social benefits are hugely important, studies have proven that, for older people, playing bingo helps keep the mind sharp, and improves hand-eye coordination.
Overall, bingo is a great way for older people to keep socially and mentally active!
