Activities at Henford House Care Home

Celebrations have been in full swing at Henford House, as one of its residents, Jean Andrews reaches her 101st Birthday.

A champagne reception was held at the home and guests enjoyed a 3 course lunch and special 101st birthday cake.

The birthday girl, said: “I was very happy with the place settings, I had David my son on my right and my daughter Jennifer on my left. My other son Stephen at the end of the table and my daughter in laws in between. I was very happy with my 3 course meal and my wonderful birthday cake”.

Natalie James, General Manager of Barchester Henford House added: “We’re delighted to be celebrating a truly remarkable woman as she reaches this amazing milestone. Jean is such a popular resident who always has an interesting tale to tell, and we look forward to hearing many more as she breaks into her next century.”

Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together on 22nd October at Henford House to enjoy a community lunch.

The hospitality team at Henford House served a 3 course roast turkey lunch with all the trimmings, which was enjoyed by everyone who came to the event.

Guests included 30 members of Warminster Stroke Club. Everyone was offered a glass of wine with their meal and was given a goody bag to take away which included information on our monthly coffee morning and lunch club.

Henford House care home, in Warminster, was a den of ghoulish activity as the home’s spooky Halloween party got in to full swing.

Staff, residents and guests got in to the spirit of things with live musical entertainment with Dave Dawson in the afternoon followed by a children’s fancy dress party with games and a delicious Halloween buffet.

General Manager, Natalie James cackled: “Our residents and staff love an opportunity to dress up and what better time of the year to do this than Halloween? We’ve had a whole range of tricks and treats for the people that live here and their guests today and we have all really enjoyed every moment of it!”

Ivorine Cairns, resident at Henford said: “It has been a fun day. It was wonderful to see everyone go to so much effort to get in spirit. I really enjoyed seeing the children in their costumes running around enjoying themselves”.

Maureen Hinton gave a wonderful demonstration along with explanations of good ways to identify long lasting flowers and plants, innovative ways to prolong the life of certain cut flowers and how to identify herbs and plants which can add to the aroma of any displays.

She also explained and showed examples of preserved plants and shrubs to enable them to be used out of season, and gave instruction on colouring plants which was of great interest.  

Everyone also had the chance to smell some of the herbs and plants that were used in the displays.

Afterwards everyone indulged with the cheeseboard which contained a number of different cheese and chutneys, and was accompanied with biscuits and fresh bread - and of course the obligatory glass of wine or two was also available.

Karen Sawyer, General Manager at Henford House care home, said: “This has been a huge success, and we now have new ideas of displaying our flowers.  We were especially impressed with the displays Maureen created in keeping with our food theme out of wine glasses and wine bottles.”   

My name is Katharine Hardy and I have been fortunate to be the Gardener at Henford House for 30 years. The gardens and grounds were originally established many years ago when it was a private house and I have added some new features for our clients to enjoy.

The Residents are encouraged to enjoy the garden when weather is good and Debbie our Activity coordinator helps me with occasional Garden clubs where we encourage our Residents to plant up hanging baskets and balcony troughs for all to enjoy.

Even if someone cannot use their hands well they can choose plants and colours and sometimes we have a tasting session of potatoes we have grown in pots snacks with   herbs or spices and soon we are going to have an apples tasting session with apple juices produced locally.

 The home presented me with my 30 year award earlier this month plus a lovely weeping Cherry,  Prunus ‘Snow Showers’ for the garden which will planted soon.

Residents, loved ones, friends and staff members at Henford House celebrated the Harvest Festival by donating a food hamper to a local charity.

The occasion was also marked with a service taken by Margaret Collins and Piano playing from volunteer Pam. Hymns “Come ye thankful people come”, “We plough the field and scatter”, “Now thank we all our god” were sang along with readings read by volunteer Pam and resident Nancy Green which really helped everyone at the home get into the spirit of the festival. Food donations brought in by visitors and staff were gifted to Warminster food bank which were very well-received.

The Harvest Festival is a celebration of food grown on land and, traditionally, a time for families and communities to get together and bring food to the less fortunate. It dates back to the fifth century, where it was common for the harvest season to be celebrated with a huge feast – and from then the tradition grew and evolved.

Karen Sawyer, General Manager at Henford, said: “Staff, residents and friends of the home all donated very generously to the harvest hamper and it really is heart-warming to see how much people care about helping others who are less fortunate. Thanks to everyone who contributed. It will all be distributed to where it is needed most within our community."