Activities at Fountains 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.
Louise Crooks
Hello I am Louise, my first role with Barchester was caring for our residents. Previously I worked in an early years environment for 17 years where I organised activities and events. I am thrilled to now be Activities Lead and being able to continue enriching the life’s of our lovely residents here at Fountains.
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 Fountains Care Home
Christmas Light Switch On
We had a very special event at Fountains last night… A little later than planned but we were finally able to switch our Christmas lights on!
We celebrated with our families and community and what a wonderful night it was.
We had a visit from Santa thanks to Shirley Lions, and a beautiful choral performance from St Patrick’s Church Choir and a visit from Santa’s helper thanks to Pampered Ponies. It was a night full of festive fun.
Our residents were delighted to welcome the Mayor of Solihull - Ken Meeson as our guest of honour to turn our lights on and officially begin our festive celebrations as well as Local Councillor Karen Grinsell.
We had some amazing stalls too from Bramble Bees Florist selling homemade festive wreaths, ‘Kay Meadows - Kay’s Little Gift Shop’ selling the most beautiful decorations and photo frames.
We also had Age UK Solihull selling their own Christmas cards and Handmade with Love’ selling their most amazing handcrafted Christmas gifts. There was a very popular raffle too with wonderful prizes donated by family, staff and Tesco, Stratford Road Gillian Smith
There Were Festive Games Such As ‘Guess The Weight Of The Cake’, ‘How Many Sweets In The Jar?’ and a festive wine bottle game too.
Of course no celebration would be complete without our fantastic Kitchen Team getting involved. They made homemade Winter-Spiced Soup, Turkey & Cranberry rolls - which were just delicious.
Hot Chocolate bombs with Marshmallows, Mulled Wine, Gingerbread Men, Rocky-Roads and Festive Cupcakes too!
It was an evening full of fun and festive cheer. So a very big ‘Thank you’ goes out to our families, volunteers, friends, and wonderful community for braving the bitterly cold weather and celebrating Christmas with us.
Blenheim Palace Virtual Tour
Fountains residents enjoyed a spectacular virtual tour of ‘Blenheim Palace’s Christmas Decorations and Outdoor Lights Trail’ this afternoon.
The event was organised by our Life Enrichment Team at Barchester. We also had Antonia Keaney - Social Historian at the Palace guide us through the tour.
We began with exploring the Nutcracker inspired Palace rooms. Each room was so exquisitely decorated and filled with hidden surprises for our residents to spot.
We then ventured outside and explored the ‘after-dark illuminated trail’. The stunning light display and the sounds of festive songs filled the room with the joy of Christmas.
Thank you to Antonia and our Life Enrichment team for a wonderfully festive afternoon.
Christmas Craft Workshop
Residents and staff at Fountains enjoyed taking part in a Christmas Craft Workshop. We made our very own Festive Tote-bags.
It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon listening to festive music as we created our handmade bags.
Our residents enjoyed sharing stories about their favourite festive memories and discussing what they are most looking forward to this year.
I think you will all agree that the finished bags look fantastic!
We are looking forward to filling them with homemade gifts for our friends and family.
Christmas carols
Fountains residents enjoyed practicing our Christmas songs and Carols ready for our Light Switch on next week.
Everyone’s favourite was of course Jingle Bells!
Elf Day
In celebration of Elf Day, our residents at Fountains have been getting creative and making their very own hand-made Christmas Cards.
Throughout December these lovely cards will be ‘for sale’ in our Reception area – perfect for sending to loved ones relatives and friends in the community.
All of the money raised from card sales will go to The Alzheimer’s Society - a charity very close to our hearts here at Fountains.
Feel free to make purchases, leave donations and spread some Christmas love and cheer from all of our residents.
Happy Elf Day everyone!
Time to socialise
Fountains residents very much enjoy spending time in our cafe for a coffee morning.
After a walk around the grounds it’s the perfect place to socialise with friends.
Freshly baked cakes are made daily by our wonderful kitchen team too!
This week we relaxed in the cafe, reading our newspapers and taking on a challenging quiz as well. It was great fun for all.
Upcoming events
Reminiscence Cafe
Please join us for our monthly Reminiscence Cafe where we will pick a topic and talk about our memories, whilst making new friends and enjoying some refreshments.
July
Hello July! - we have another month filled with activities for our Residents and community to enjoy. Please come along.
Don't Dine Alone
We know meal times can be a lonely time for some people, that's why we're inviting local older people to join us for lunch every Friday from 12.30pm.
Room for Hire
Looking for somewhere to hold your meeting or event? We have a meeting room that is available for free to members of the local community and professionals.
