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
Shrove Tuesday
Residents and staff enjoyed Pancake Day with a variety of delicious pancakes as well as a flipping contest!
White chocolate pancake, maple syrup, Nutella, strawberry and of course the classic lemon and sugar were just a few of the pancakes enjoyed.
Our winner of the flipping contest was our lovely John and he managed 10 flips in a row! He got to enjoy the first pancake after all the fun of decorating and flipping.
He chose the classic lemon and sugar flavour and savoured every mouthful.
Everyone was definitely pancaked out after all that and looking forward to next year’s Shrove Tuesday!
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Fountains staff and residents celebrated the Year of the Ox with a variety of interesting activities throughout the week.
They created their own art work based on the symbols of positive words and were all fascinated that each symbol represented a different word.
Good fortunes were written and handed out to each other in lucky red envelopes.
The home was decorated and paper lanterns were made to add to the traditional decorations.
There was an afternoon enjoying traditional dragon dancing and residents even had a go too! They marvelled at the vibrant costumes.
There was a delicious Chinese banquet made by our hospitality team which included Spring Rolls, Chicken in Black Bean Sauce, Special Fried Rice, Vegetable Chop Suey and Prawn Chow Mein accompanied by Prawn Crackers.
The week was concluded with traditional Tai Chi which is a Chinese Martial Art as well as a form of meditation and it was a relaxing end to the celebrations.
Happy Lunar New Year from the Fountains Family.
A Palatial Valentine experience
Staff and residents at Fountains were treated to a Valentine’s themed talk and tour of Blenheim Palace, hosted by Antonia Keaney, the Palace’s social historian and author as part of their Valentine celebrations.
Intriguingly entitled ‘The Ladies of Blenheim Palace, Lust and Laudanum’ Antonia’s Valentine’s themed talk focused on the lives and loves of the ladies of the Marlborough family, usually overlooked in favour of the men. Beginning with Sarah Churchill, the indomitable First Duchess, and continuing through the centuries with the adventures and mishaps of some of her successors, the talk also looked at the achievements of some of the women and discussed the thwarted talents and potential of others.
Our residents thoroughly enjoyed it.
Love is in the air
Valentine’s Day was filled with romance, love and chocolate at Fountains!
Our residents made chocolate shaped hearts for their loved ones.
Families visiting in our visiting suite were greeted to gift bags with the heart shaped chocolates to take away and enjoy. They loved the surprise treat and everyone felt the love.
Lunch was served and our resident couple were treated to a private fine dining experience.
They enjoyed a three course lunch with bubbles and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They said how special it was to spend time together and they loved the themed room.
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone – we hope your day was filled with love, friendship and of course, Chocolate!
10/10 rating
Fountains Care Home in Shirley, Solihull have received a score of 10/10 on carehome.co.uk which is the maximum score available and places us 1st in the District!
This score is calculated by using reviews and comments which resident’s families and friends have kindly taken the time to complete.
We are delighted families have recognised how hard all our staff work at Fountains to provide a welcoming, happy and caring home.
You can take a look at our reviews and comments by clicking on the below link:
https://www.carehome.co.uk/carehome.cfm/searchazref/654322333912
We are extremely proud to have received such an accolade in our 1st 12 months of being open and it is a true testament to the Fountains family! Well done to everyone.
Knit and Natter
A new club was born at Fountains this week following the arrival of a new resident.
Cath is a keen knitter and knits really beautiful dolls for friends, family and the community.
She had kindly donated dolls to Fountains last year for our residents to admire and enjoy.
She wanted to share her love of knitting with her new friends and neighbours so “knit and natter” was born.
Cath demonstrated the 2 simple stitches that all knitting is based on- the knit and purl stitch.
There was quiet concentration in the room whilst everyone picked up their needles and wool to have a go.
It was a lot of fun and something new for the majority involved.
We’re looking forward to next week’s session.
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.
