Activities at Highview House Care Home

Residents from across the home and their family members joined together on Memory Lane for the first annual Country Music Showdown.   With a special guest performance by residents’ favourite Willie Doig on the stage designed for the occasion, staff dressed as cowboys and sheriffs and served a specially themed spread.

The Country Showdown is just one of many themed events happening at Highview House throughout the year.

Fergal Naughton and Mary Ellen McPhee have been crowned Dementia Champion of the Year and Learner of the Year respectively for the North East Division in the Barchester Care Awards and are both through to the national round of judging.  

The Barchester Care Awards celebrate the staff who go the extra mile for the benefit of the 13,000 residents living in Barchester’s 261 care homes and private hospitals across the country. Categories range from ‘Registered Nurse of the Year’ and ‘Carer of the Year’ to ‘Dementia Care Champion’ and ‘Activities Coordinator of the Year’.

Over 5,000 nominations were received from homes and hospitals across the UK. All entries were a very high standard and both Feral and Mary Ellen are over the moon to have been named the winners for the North East Division beating hundreds of other nominees.

Residents and staff were left rolling in the aisles after playing host to Theatre Presto’s travelling summer pantomime.  Residents were entertained (oh no they weren’t! / oh yes they were!) by a performance of “Oor Boabie: Brooned Aff Abroad”, based on the madcap adventures of classic Scots character Oor Wullie.

Residents from the home were joined by relatives and staff as they enjoyed the timeless tale full of magical twists, fun, laughter and adventures.  The performance marked the latest event in a long-running relationship between the Scorguie care home and the Edinburgh-based entertainers.

Residents from Highview House were plain sailing with a recent riverside cruise organised by the team at the home. The cruise, organised in conjunction with The Seagull Trust, started from the Tomnahuirch bridge, and sailed along the Caledonian Canal, taking in views of the waterway, yachts and Inverness-shire countryside. 

The residents were serenaded by local musicians, and were fortunate enough to be accompanied by a pair of herons.   As one final treat, resident Frank Birss, 81, took the helm for the return passage.

Fergal Naughton and Mary Ellen McPhee have been crowned Dementia Champion of the Year and Learner of the Year respectively for the North East Division in the Barchester Care Awards and are both through to the national round of judging.  

The Barchester Care Awards celebrate the staff who go the extra mile for the benefit of the 13,000 residents living in Barchester’s 261 care homes and private hospitals across the country. Categories range from ‘Registered Nurse of the Year’ and ‘Carer of the Year’ to ‘Dementia Care Champion’ and ‘Activities Coordinator of the Year’.

Staff and residents are celebrating because their wonderful Managing Director, Fiona Fagan, from Barchester’s North East and Scotland Division, has stepped completely out of her comfort zone to compete in the Barchester Charitable Foundation Cook Off 2024.

Fiona went head-to-head with the Managing Directors from Barchester’s four other divisions and cooked up a storm to raise a phenomenal £24,595 for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation which helps connect vulnerable people and those living with a disability to community groups in their local area by providing grants to improve mobility and quality of life.  Each year the Foundation distributes thousands of pounds to individuals, small community groups and charities across England, Scotland and Wales.