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

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.
Read our brochure

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

Wisbech Annual Rose Fair

Staff, volunteers and residents had a lovely time on Thursday 30th June when they went to visit the Rose Fair, which is held every year in Wisbech. We were lucky enough to have beautiful sunshine for the day and the ladies especially loved looking at all of the fantastic flower displays in St Peters Church. They also spent some time looking at the stalls and ended the day with a cup of tea and biscuits. We always enjoy our visits to the Rose Fair and can't wait until next year's. Enid kept everyone entertained with her scarecrow impressions.

Gardening Club

The gardens are looking beautiful thanks to our fantastic gardener, Gerry, who had some help from our weekly gardening club; the residents love getting stuck in.

Hickathrift is 'going up' in the world

Hickathrift House were pleased to unveil a new lift for the use of both residents and staff. This new lift is purpose-built and replaces the previous lift which has been retired just short of its 50th birthday. The new lift is more streamlined and is easier for everyone to use. Residents who regularly use the lift said that it is a much nicer lift than the previous one. Head of Maintenance, Haydn Hammond, was pleased to cut the ribbon with the help of lift engineer, Lawrence.

Dementia Awareness Week gets off to a flying start!

On Monday 16th May, we were sent back in time with an amazing show from Lula Mae, who entertained us with songs from the 40s. The residents and staff loved every minute, joining in with some singing and dancing. We always cherish Lula's visits and look forward to welcoming her back again soon. It was a great start to Dementia Awareness Week.

Garden Club is Back Outside

The sun was shining, which meant Hickathrift's Gardening Club was able to get outside and start to work on the courtyard planters. They worked really hard and had a well-deserved cup of tea at the end.

Hickathrift House say Goodbye and Good Luck to Retiring Unit Manager

After almost 25 years of continuous service at Hickathrift House, much-loved Unit Manager, Elizabeth Wade has decided to retire. Staff and residents at the home sent Liz off in style with presents, cake and a party with singing from Trudie Mason to thank her for her years of dedication. Everyone at the home has very fond memories of Liz and she will be sadly missed. During her time here she has worked very hard to work her way up from a Care Assistant to Senior, to the Assistant Care Manager, and then Care Manager. In 2005 Hickathrift joined Barchester Healthcare and Liz became the Unit Manager on Memory Lane in 2008. Liz said: “Hickathrift House is like a family to me and though I’m looking forward to retirement, I’m really going to miss everyone here so much!” Susan Scarlett, General Manager at Hickathrift House said: “Liz is one of those people who was born to care for others – she has such a huge heart and was greatly loved by the individuals living at Hickathrift House. She was an inspiration to her colleagues and we will all miss her. We wish her all the best!”