Activities at Hethersett Hall Care Home

We welcomed relatives back to visit their loved ones here at Hethersett Hall. We are following the Barchester and government guidelines to ensure the safety of residents, relatives and staff. It was a very special moment when residents were reunited with their families, despite not being able to greet one another with a hug. We are very pleased to offer these visits and to see such moments of joy. We are still offering Skype calls to relatives where necessary.

We are very pleased to announce our home has remained free of Covid-19 and all staff and residents are keeping well. This has been a difficult time for everyone but we have tried our very best to maintain a sense of normality and routine in our residents daily lives. Activities staff have supported residents to maintain important contact with their family and friends through video calls every week along with activities to keep up everyone’s spirits. We are very grateful to have such a wonderful and dedicated team who go above and beyond every day to keep our residents happy and healthy.

We had a relaxing afternoon piecing together some personalised jigsaws made by Activities staff. Residents of Memory Lane enjoyed putting together a puzzle of their favourite photos. We found this to be a great activity to look back and reminisce on fun times taking part in activities or fond memories of loved ones.

Earlier this week we spent some time in the courtyard planting herbs in our new planters that our maintenance team made for the residents to enjoy. We planted rosemary, curry plants, chives, lavender, and coriander.  The residents will enjoy taking care and watching them grow and in turn meeting physical and sensory needs.

The staff and residents of Hethersett Hall made the most of the beautiful weather by having a picnic in the garden. Staff prepared tables on the veranda for residents to sit and enjoy a Pimms and lemonade with their lunch. Our chef Camelia cooked a choice of burgers, BBQ chicken, chips and variety of salad followed by sweet treats for dessert including ice creams. The sunshine and delicious food - what more could you need! A great day for all!

Alan Thomson and his wife Audrey have been a residents of Hethersett Hall since 2016 and in that time Alan has shared many lovely stories with us. Alan is such a gentleman with a fantastic sense of humour.

Alan joined the Territorial Army in April 1939 as signalman Thomson 2579091 in the Middlesex Yeomanry.
He was called up in August and was sent to Egypt the following year where he started training for desert warfare. By 1941 he was on his way to Greece as a motorcycle dispatch rider. He was part of the evacuation from Greece to Crete and then went on to Palestine, then to other areas of the Middle East where he took part in the terrible battle of El Alamein, onto Italy, finally ending up in Germany in 1945.  This was where he was on VE Day 1945 and he was not demobbed until April 1946. 

Alan has never dwelt on or complained about the hardships or bad experiences of the war. Instead, he likes to tell some funny stories, including the time when he hid behind a tree to avoid a German Stuka. It wasn’t until the plane veered away, the pilot probably, as Alan says, with a smile on his face, that he realised how thin the tree was, and being the only one for miles around was hardly much of a hiding place!  Alan was completely alone as he was riding his motorbike to dispatch messages from one place to another.