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

Local Folk Group Shares a Traditional Joy

We had the absolute pleasure of being entertained by members of the Denver Windmill Acoustic Session. It was an absolute joy listening to a variety of instruments and seeing all these incredible jig dolls from this local group. Jig dolls have loose limbs that step dance or 'jig' on the end of a vibrating board.

Residents sang along to several songs they knew and loved from when they were little. These sparked many memories which we shared throughout the session.
Betty said, "It was just marvellous. It was such a joy to meet and swap stories together. I had a brilliant time".

Halloween celebrations

Barchester’s Hickathrift House care home, in Marshland St James, is a den of ghoulish activity as the home’s spooky Halloween celebrations get into full swing. Residents and staff are getting into the spirit of things by holding a pumpkin flower arranging afternoon with Bargain Bridal Boutique.

Corrine, owner of Bargain Bridal Boutique, visited the care home with numerous artificial flowers of various types and colours for the residents to use for their pumpkin flower arranging. Corrine, her daughter and grandson supported residents in making stunning floral displays for the home’s communal areas.

Alzheimer's Awareness Month

As part of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month which takes place throughout September, staff and residents created stunning Forget Me Not crafts and other creative activities that help spark memories. The forget me not flower is long associated with dementia. Everyone enjoyed sharing their anecdotes when they took part in a range of crafts including knitting, wreath making, aqua painting and designing sensory collages. The beautiful pieces of artwork is on display at the entrance of our Memory Lane unit for all to see.

Being creative gives a lovely balance of expressing yourself, a sense of achievement and pure joy for people with dementia. It not only helps with cognitive functions but reduces stress and sparks beautiful memories of pets, nature and an array of other topics.

102nd Birthday Celebration

Norah was joined by her family to celebrate her 102nd Birthday. It was an incredibly special day. It started with opening presents and cards, reminiscing about past birthdays and looking through photographs of Norah's life. In the afternoon, we hosted a special cake and coffee treat with Norah's family in our Snug. All the staff came to sing Happy Birthday and deliver her favourite flavoured cake, Victoria Sponge.

Happy Birthday, Norah from everyone 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.