What types of care does Hickathrift House Care Home offer?

Hickathrift House Care Home offers Residential care, Dementia care, Respite / Short stay.

Activities at Hickathrift House Care Home

Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.

We have two Activities Coordinators here at Hickathrift House. We have a wide range of activities within the home, including musical entertainment, arts & crafts, clubs for like-minded people, such as flower arranging and gardening, board games, baking (where the best bit is the eating afterwards!), and we celebrate special events throughout the year. We also have trips out on a regular basis using our own minibus, where we find out places of interest each person would like to visit.

It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these activities as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join in with activities and events as often as they can.

For the less mobile residents, we unique one-to-one session, such as simple chats over a cup of tea, reading or listening to music. Activities are some of the most important aspects of a care home, so it is essential that our team are dedicated to ensuring that residents are entertained, and that life at Hickathrift House is fun and active.

Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Kat Colangelo

Activities Lead

Hello, my name is Kat and I am the Activities Lead here at Hickathrift House.

Since 2017 I have been working in the field of well-being and I am passionate and enthusiastic about enriching all our of residents' quality of life.

As the Activities Lead at Hickathrift House, my focus is learning about each of our resident's likes and dislikes and supporting them to remain receptive and active in addition to supporting them to engage with our local community friends.

I organise activities to stimulate the mind, body and soul in an enjoyable, comfortable way. My aim is to diversify and increase activities ensuring that there is something for everyone - from Wine and Cheese events, excursions on our home Mini Bus as well as individual bespoke person-centered activities.

Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.

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 Hickathrift House Care Home

BBC Proms Celebrations

To celebrate the BBC Proms residents and their loved ones sampled some delicious snacks and mocktails in the sunshine while listening to the wonderful Singing Gardener's Proms & Musical performance. It was a lovely show sparking memories and conversations while also testing our knowledge on which song is from which musical.

At 7 pm residents and staff gathered around the TVs in communal areas, ready for the BBC Proms. We spent the following morning discussing our favourite parts over a cup of tea and cake.

Rosie, a resident said, "My husband and I always watched the BBC Proms together which was very special to me. I've loved continuing this tradition with my friends at Hickathrift House and it was made even better with a live singer to launch the night."

Emily does charity chop

Activities Coordinator, Emily Jackson from Hickathrift House Care Home in Marshland St James has taken part in becoming a ‘super-hair-o’ for The Little Princess Trust

On Thursday 7th September at Hickathrift House Care Home, Emily had an incredible 22 inches of hair cut off for The Little Princess Trust charity. The Little Princess Trust provides real hair wigs to young people and children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments or other conditions such as alopecia.

Home hosts Summer Fair

Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together at Hickathrift House Care Home to enjoy a wonderful Summer Fete held in the home’s grounds on 26th August. Hickathrift House care home hosted a variety of activities throughout the day, including a book sale, games, a tombola, BBQ, local businesses and craft stalls as well as a local entertainment company KJ Entertainments who did face painting, balloon modelling and singing, which were enjoyed by everyone who came to the event, including the Mayor of Wisbech, Peter Human.

Staff and residents at Hickathrift House made everyone feel welcome and were delighted to see different generations having fun together. Visitors enjoyed plenty of refreshments; a delicious BBQ, and mouth-watering salads all washed down with plenty of tea and coffee prepared by the Head Chef and General Manager, who were hard at work making sure that a great time was had by all – it really was a team effort!

Jean's wish

The trip all started when Jean was considering her wish for our 'Post A Wish' initiative. Staff suggested an array of places and ideas around animals as Jean adores all types. When we heard about the baby tigers it confirmed her choice of Banham Zoo! Residents and staff got up close and cuddly with a number of animals including meerkats, zebras, giraffes and baby tigers when they took a trip to Banham Zoo.

The residents particularly liked tigers and thanks to the persistence of Julie, carer, we didn't leave without getting front-row seats to these beautiful animals and the new baby tiger. Jean said with joyful tears, "They're so beautiful." In between seeing the animals, everyone enjoyed a scrumptious meal of whatever they wanted on the menu from jacket potatoes to handmade sausage rolls.

Jean said, "I had such an amazing day. The best day I could have ever wished for."

Pony animal therapy

Residents had a spectacular time meeting beautiful Daisy, and her fantastic owner, Nicky, from Miniature Dreams! Many were astonished by how well-behaved and majestic Daisy was and loved reminiscing and sharing stories with Nicky. They both brought so much joy to residents and staff in communal areas and rooms at Hickathrift House.

Spending time with animals supports motor skills and dexterity as well as increases happiness. At Hickathrift House we organise a range of animal therapies that appeal to residents from puppy parties to petting zoos.

Daisy, a new resident said, "Daisy, the pony, was just so beautiful. I loved showing my family the photos and everyone sang the Daisy song to us both. It was such great fun."

Celebrating all book lovers

We celebrated National Book Lovers Day with an array of activities throughout the week. Our activities included a book trolley, poetry reading, attending a local book club at Marshland Hall & Tearoom and repurposing our old beloved books in our craft club. Residents have been immersing themselves in books that they've chosen and loved discussing the storylines in one-to-one chats with each other and staff.

We have also launched our community book swap which locals can explore our fabulous trolley outside the entrance of Hickathrift House. Everyone is able to grab a new story and swap their beloved books so residents can enjoy a new book.