Activities at Harton Grange 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.
Marius Sidoriuc
Hi, my name is Marius, I am the activities coordinator here at Harton Grange. I joined Barchester's family in 2021, as I found their approach and standards on dementia very interesting. Since early 2022 I work for Barchester as both activities coordinator and care assistant. In 2018, I started my journey in health and social care as a care assistant and very soon after, I completed courses on dementia and activities (NAPA, level 2) and I worked as both activities coordinator and care assistant in Kent. I'm also an apprentice in health and social care. I've met some amazing people that have guided my understanding of dementia.
The most important thing for me is to see our residents achieving a meaningful raison d'etre, living as they like and to benefit from a range of activities starting from Namaste to reminiscing and spiritual needs (such as praying or listening to hymns), art and craft, armchair exercises, music therapy or finger nail pamper sessions.
I like to acknowledge that I am working as a part of a whole team, including the fantastic management, hospitality and maintenance departments, promoting a person centred approach for each resident and we are glad to know each persons preferences and abilities in order to plan how the day will look with them. One way we are able to do this is through our residents' and family' meetings where we try to let everyone have their say about the way they want to live and the activities they take part in.
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 Harton Grange Care Home
A Wintery trip to the sea.
After a few days with so much fog and temperatures below freezing point, we decided to go out and to have a Christmas afternoon tea. We had a very cosy afternoon at Hill Top Farm. Jean, David, Hilda and Moira said they want to admire the sea and enjoyed cheese scones and hot drinks. It was so great to see a large blanket of snow and a calm sea.
Christmas Jumper Day
It is so beautiful to see people smiling and feeling the Christmas spirit... We celebrated Christmas Jumper Day in our own way, feeling great and not being just another day. We put on not only our festive outfits, also smiles, very good moods and with our residents we made a very special day. In the morning we had a singalong of Christmas carols when Judith joined us singing, dancing and making jokes.
Despite being a new festive day (since 2012, with the aim to raise money for children), our residents enjoyed the atmosphere. Olga and Marian were happy in their Christmas jumpers and even William smiled when Thomasina made a remark about his beautiful jumper.
Our Christmas Village
Ho, ho, ho, hooooo... Santa Claus hasn't come yet but we, as very good elves, have started to prepare ourselves for when he'll be here...
Our plan is to have a little Christmas village. So, we dusted our little houses, we made gingerbread and we are going to raise a gingerbread house in our little village.
We don't have a river; we don't have birds yet... Everyone is welcome to use their imagination and to give us a helping hand to make our little village.
Of course, because Christmas is about Jesus' birth, we are making a little manger too...
We had a fantastic time together with children from Park View School and their teachers...and we are looking forward for the next sessions.
A virtual trip to Donkey Sanctuary
Across our services, Residents enjoyed a fantastic virtual tour of the Donkey Sanctuary Manchester. Residents were thrilled to meet the lovely herd of donkeys, including Henry and his best friend Tiny Tim and to learn more about their every day care. They were introduced to the sanctuary’s work and the impact they make to the lives of donkeys in need worldwide. The virtual experience was truly enjoyed by all.
A Visit from our little friends from Park View School
We have spent a wonderful time with our new little friends from Park View School. We made decorations for Elf Day, played dominoes and even had fun using one of the interactive apps on our Digital Rainbow, the giant tablet. It's magical to see children helping our residents to cut out paper for paper chains, for bunting, making the paper chains and bunting or having conversations.
I want to say thank you so much to Laura and Kayleigh, the wonderful teachers from Park View School, for their contribution in these activities.
Tynemouth Aquarium
Unimaginable shapes, surreal colours, a mysterious world of diversity... Yes, this is the undersea habitats with thousands of such colourful aquatic organisms in a range of shapes and sizes and belonging to different branches of the tree of life. We dive into our minds and let our thoughts be immersed in this little universe. Audrey was wondering if this is real and Margaret said certainly yes, it is, but Moira completed saying what is promoting this huge diversity of species...
Anne, more poetic, said this is amazing and Andrew, more practical, asked himself looking towards us how many potatoes we'll need in order to have one of the large river fish for our Friday fish and chips lunch....
Ah, but the spectacle didn't finish before being splashed by the seals at their midday show. We saw how much they like fish and possibly even fingers and enjoy to play by splashing the water....
This was our experience at Tynemouth Aquarium…
