Activities at Henford House Care Home

Pudding club was enjoyed by many this month, indulging in fruity trifles, cheesecakes and gateaux and to work off the puddings some of the residents wanted to join volunteer Penny Bradshaw complete her Christian Aid walk.  Penny has been visiting residents in their rooms for some time now and been telling them that she was fundraising for Christian Aid in their 70K in May annual event. Penny is an Anna Chaplin minister to the elderly linked to Christ Church in Warminster and had to walk 70K in a week and over time invited some of the residents to join her to walk the last quarter KM to finish the challenge.  The residents walked the final to the finishing line and very happy to have been part of it,  Penny hoped to raise £200 with the support of Christ Church and Henford House and has managed to raise £551 so huge congratulations to Penny for raising so much money for Christian Aid. 

VE Day celebrations are very important to some of our residents, and it is special to recognise this day.  The fascinating part about these celebrations is hearing stories from those that can actually remember it and tell you their memories, for some it is hard to believe that people went through the war.  For a group activity an activity book is printed which displays the facts and photographs of that history which sparks many conversations and reminiscing.  The residents enjoyed a good old traditional sing along with Sophie playing piano and accordion singing all the war time favourites and the sun shone for everyone to enjoy high tea outside on the patio.

Aprils Pudding Club was an exciting eventful day!

Head of Maintenance Colin Marsh at Henford House is taking part in the Ride-100 cycle race across London and Essex to raise money for Barchesters Charitable Foundation which supports hundreds of vulnerable individuals and small charities in local communities, helping to prevent isolation and loneliness.  Colin is a keen cyclist but admits it has been a while since he took on a challenge this big!  The 100-mile challenge is one of the uks most famous challenge rides, taking place on Sunday 26th May this year.  We are all very proud of Colin and wish him luck and  to support Colin we had a day of fun in Henford where everyone could do some cycling! The bikes came in and throughout the day staff, residents and relations peddled like mad! The sponsor form is filling and donations are greatly appreciated.  The reward for all the cycling was to indulge in the delicious puddings brought in for this month’s pudding club, the theme this month was Colin the Caterpillar, we thank all involved who took part to make the day such fun.

Residents and staff enjoyed a talk delivered by Iain and Harriet who are volunteers saving the toads along Lower Marsh Road by Smallbrook Meadows which is the road where Henford House care home is in Warminster.  The slide show demonstrated everything you need to know and learn about the toads and the importance of their existence.  The group of volunteers is expanding showing a passion to move the toads in to a more quiet environment to live a quiet life especially at the time of breeding.  Many toads are destroyed along the road due to traffic and Toad Patrol are currently applying for the road to become access only at the time of breeding and they are gaining more and more signatures daily to support this application.  The residents and staff found the talk and slide show absolutely fascinating and also feel very strong of the importance to help save the toads.

The weather is now getting brighter and is really encouraging to get out and about, over the last few weeks our residents have been very keen to visit our local garden centre in Crocker ton, on arrival you walk through one of many areas displaying beautiful flowers and shrubs to buy which always sparks discussion as some of the residents may have grown these or been very fond of some of these.  Always a tea/coffee cake stop at the lovely café where all the staff are so accommodating and a look around the shop if anyone wants to purchase anything and if the weather is dry then a walk around the lake to see the ducks and geese.  Another resident was very keen to join a local chat café which we have managed to find and do.  Being amongst the community and meeting new people is so wonderful and our resident has kept it up and now making new friends and really looks forward to it.

The weather was kind and the sun shone for the children to attend the Easter Egg Hunt at Henford House on Saturday morning.  It was so lovely to see so many families arrive, Henford House has offered the egg hunt to the community for a number of years and was great to see some families return and see the children growing up!  Many chocolate eggs, baby chicks and bunnies were hidden all around the garden.  The children lined up with their bags ready to hunt. The residents enjoyed watching all the children running around the garden from the lounge windows.  They successfully found all the chocolate and were very pleased with themselves. Well-deserved drinks and cakes were enjoyed back inside the home and the children spoke with the residents showing what they had found.