Activities at Harton Grange Care Home

All of us at Harton Grange would like to wish Alec and Joyce a very happy 75th Wedding Anniversary on 11th November. We all joined in celebrating the special day with a party with music from Pete Johnson as well as enjoying some lovely cake with a photo of the happy couple on it. 

Joyce and Alec first met when Joyce was singing carols on Christmas Eve when they were both teenagers, and they have been together ever since. We hope you both had a wonderful afternoon, and we wish you all the very best and to many more years of marriage.     

We have had a wonderful afternoon of music and dance with Alex Hall coming to visit us. It is always a fun afternoon and Alex really gets us singing and dancing. 

Our residents loved to sing and dance along to the amazing songs and Alex always walked around and danced with as many as possible. Thank you for coming along, Alex, and we can’t wait to see you again.  

Residents at Harton grange care home in South Shields run by Barchester Healthcare, are celebrating Housekeeping Week, which takes place from September 14th - 20th. Residents wanted to thank all the wonderful housekeeping staff at the home, whose hard work and dedication make a real difference to the lives of those living there.

Housekeeping Week is an annual event held every year during September.  The week is dedicated to recognising the efforts of hard-working housekeeping staff around the world.   Staff were treated to gifts of wine and chocolates for all their hard work
 

What a wonderful afternoon we had with Andy's Animal Adventures, who came to visit us for an amazing afternoon showing us some animals from all around the world. 

There were lizards, geckos, chinchilla, snakes, tortoises and Rio a blue and yellow Macaw. We got to handle the animals, and it was so lovely to spend time with them. Thank you so much Andy for a lovely afternoon, and we can wait to see more animals next time.

Well Mamma Mia, what a lovely afternoon. We spent it dancing and singing along to ABBA and all the disco hits. We want to thank Chris for a wonderful afternoon and for taking us all back to the 70's. 

We all got dressed up in our best 1970’s get up and loved dancing along to the best hits from the 70’s with Dancing Queen and Stayin Alive getting us all up to boogie.    

Neil and Suzanne visit Harton regularly in partnership with Equal Arts. In this session Neil worked with Les and Annie to make a wonderful wooden Christmas tree and Suzanne made some lovely bath salts with Dot, Faith and Nancy. 

Annie said she can't wait for Christmas to be hear and her advice is to prepare early. It is very important to keep creative even in older age it helps with motor function and keep your mind sharp as Dot always say.

Aloha!!! We have all had a fantastic day watching Elvis perform on our Hawaiian Day. We all got dressed up and enjoyed a Blue Hawaii cocktail and some lovely burgers, hot dogs and pizza made by the kitchen team. 

We have all loved the day singing and dancing along to Elvis hits. We were also joined by some of our friends at Bedewell Grange Care Home, which was the cherry on top. 

Harton Grange  marked the anniversary of Victory over Japan Day in style with a special invitation to attend the local Town Hall with other veterans to see the unveiling of the unforgotten Army Statue for the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. This marks a significant milestone in history.

This day is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by millions of soldiers and civilians during the war. As we reflect on this 80th anniversary, we honour the bravery and resilience of those who fought and remember the lessons learned from this pivotal moment in history.

Walking alongside Daft as a Brush, Cancer Patient Care Charity and incorporating their Annual VJ Anniversary Memorial Walk, the service took place outside the Town Hall, South Shields at 10.45am on 15 August 2025. This also included the unveiling of “The Forgotten Army” statue, gifted to South Tyneside by the Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care Charity to mark the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day.
 

Happy Father's Day from Harton Grange. Our gentlemen enjoyed a full English breakfast, a bar of chocolate and cards to celebrate the day. Thank you, Liz, for making such a lovely breakfast. After breakfast, we asked all of them what their favourite thing about being a Dad was. 

We want to say Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, Father-in-Laws, Step Dads, and father figures out there. We thank you for all you do.

Harton Grange won the Foundation Hamper for raising the highest amount of money supporting their Regional Director, Dannie Tsoneva, who took part in a recent fundraising event for the foundation where she competed against other Regional Directors at a Cook Off. 

The cheque was presented by two residents, Irene and Dennis, who recently celebrated becoming 102 and 100 respectively. 

Dennis, David and Les who are all veterans and live at Harton Grange, went along to West Park for a service for Armistice Day. It was an emotional event, but all three were honoured to be able to be there. Les served in the Army, David served in the RAF and Dennis served in the home guard in WW2. 

After the service, we were invited to the Veteran Hut to meet other veterans and also the deputy mayor. Being a part of the community and spending time with our local veterans is something that the veterans at Harton absolutely love. Dennis loves to chat about his time on the home guard with them and Les enjoys telling stories. 

On VJ day we had the privilege of being invited to our Town Hall with Veterans from Harton Grange. This was to see the unveiling of the unforgotten Army Statue for the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which we celebrated today and this marks a significant milestone in history. VJ Day, or Victory in Japan Day, commemorates the end of World War II in Japan when Allied forces accepted the unconditional surrender of the Empire of Japan. 

This day is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by millions of soldiers and civilians during the war. As we reflect on this anniversary, we honour the bravery and resilience of those who fought and remember the lessons learnt from this pivotal moment in history. 

We have had some visitors at Harton Grange with Joy, our Head Chef, bringing along her lovely cats, Bella and Saffy. We all loved playing with the cats and holding and petting them. 

A lot of the residents that live at Harton Grange love animals and had cats of their own over the years, so it brought back so many memories. Thank you, Joy, for a memorable morning that we will all remember.

We went along to the Armed Forces Day Event at South Shields. Dennis and Les both loved the morning and we got to meet other veterans, speak about old memories and watch the parade. It was a lovely morning even though it was a bit windy. In 1941 went to sign up to go to fight in World War 2 but was told he was of more use to the industry as he worked in the dock, so he sign up to the home guard. 

Les served in the army and did his national serve which he said was fantastic. We want to send our deepest thanks all those and the families of those who have served and are currently serve in the armed forces. The sacrifice you all make are appreciated and those lost will never be forgotten.

On May 19th, Dennis celebrated his 100th birthday. We spent the day celebrating with entertainment and fun. Dennis had a lot of visits from family and friends and received his telegram from the King as well as gifts and cards. 

He says his secret to a long life is hard work and that he "never missed a day’s graft in his life". Dennis worked on the docks at the Middle Dock in South Shields and had a huge fascination and love of the history of South Shields and its people. Dennis, you are a truly marvellous man, and we hope you enjoyed the day and your evening out with family.