Activities at Hunters Care Home

A fascinating, educational afternoon today as we welcomed the brilliant Sarah Davies from Managing Memory – Information & Education Service - IES to Hunters for the first time to talk about dementia awareness.

Sarah was very knowledgeable and provided an informative session to both residents and staff about the different types of dementia and the wide range of symptoms. As well as an insight into how somebody with dementia might be feeling and behaving.

Residents were able to ask any questions or queries they had, and we all came away with a much better understanding of the disease.

A fantastic session last week as we were given some helpful tips and advice from the brilliant Charlotte Berry, a local Physiotherapist who is a good friend of many of us here.

Charlotte made everyone feel safe and gave lots of great ideas for keeping our residents as active as possible even whilst watching TV in their rooms. A great afternoon and a fun way to empower our residents to keep moving.    

Our visits from Clare from Walks With Hawks are always special and yesterday was no exception. We were reacquainted with Buzz the Aplomado Falcon, Henry the Barn Owl, Pickle the cheeky Burrowing Owl as well as meeting the beautiful Mocha, the Chaco Owl. 

As usual, Clare handled the birds expertly as well as kept us all informed about the birds' habits and characteristics. So much fun and as popular as ever, the smiles say it all. Thank you, Clare, we are already looking forward to the next visit.   

What an amazing afternoon yesterday at Hunters as we welcomed the Cirencester & Stroud faction of The Good Afternoon Choirs for the first time to sing for us. Led by their fantastic leader and pianist John, the choir was in fine voice with a brilliant set that had us all singing along. 

A huge thank you to all the members of the choir and with the sun shining through, it was a real treat for our residents.     

Another fantastic performance from Philip Heyman and his viola last week that had us all mesmerised.

In front of a packed dining room, Philip once again provided us with an afternoon of magical and emotional music. Our residents all had a wonderful time, even calling for an encore at the end. Thank you, Philip, we will see you again soon.    

A lovely literary-filled morning as we welcomed local novelists, Elizabeth White and Malcom Brooks to Hunters for the first time.
Elizabeth has written a book based on her local knowledge of the area and Malcom has written murder mystery books inspired by things that have happened to him.

Thank you both for giving us a fascinating insight into what inspires you and your own process of writing and getting your books published.      

A fantastic afternoon yesterday as we were joined by the brilliant Shelley from Mini Concerts and her tribute to The Beatles.

Shelley had us singing and dancing along to all the hits from the Fab Four, whilst telling us the stories of how the band and the music came together.

Such a fun afternoon that got us all smiling and reminiscing.      

Our fantastic Bake Sale could not have gone better today, with plenty of delicious treats on offer, all snapped up by residents, staff and visitors. This, plus a raffle open to everyone. It really was a great day of fundraising, with all donations going to the Barchester Charitable Foundation.      

Thank you to everyone who donated bakes and to everyone who gave money today towards a great cause.

Chocolate was the word of the day as our residents had fun making delicious Easter cakes over the weekend. 

This has become a bit of a tradition at Hunters over the last few years, with residents not needing any excuse to have fun with chocolate! Lots of joy and laughter mixing, decorating and of course eating these yummy treats just in time for Easter.    

What a special treat we had on Saturday as we were visited by the amazing children of Thomford Academy in Swindon. Our residents were thrilled to be introduced to each fantastic member as well as enjoying simply brilliant performances. 

The Thomford Academy teaches acting, singing, dancing and musical theatre for ages 4–18. We were all blown away, not just with how talented the children were, but also with how happy and confident everyone was. A wonderful morning. Thank you to Dee and Nicki and all the performers. You were fantastic!    

One of our favourite places to visit, Dragonfly Café at Lower Moor, is perfect for relaxing on a sunny day. It's always popular with our residents, and you can see why. Beautiful scenery, a host of wildlife as well as fantastic, friendly staff serving up delicious food and drink.

So much fun watching the dragonflies chase each other, the beautiful swan family and even the elusive heron made an appearance.
A lovely afternoon spent with friends and definitely not our last visit to this special place.

Another wonderful afternoon of live music from the always brilliant Rob, The Piano Hedgehog. The dining room was full of residents singing along to some classic songs, including a moving tribute to celebrate VE Day.

Music remains such a great way of bringing us all together and today was no exception. 

Fun in the sun on the weekend as we took advantage of the weather and had a great game of Molkky in the garden. 

Always popular with our residents and the friendly competition always raises a few laughs. Just so nice to be outside enjoying some beautiful weather with friends in lovely surroundings. All topped off with a delicious ice cream.

We were joined by six little "Easter Bunnies" yesterday as we enjoyed our regular visit from the wonderful children from our neighbours at the Abbey Farm Nursery. With a helping hand from our residents, the bunnies enjoyed a fun Easter Egg Hunt in the garden, working together to win some chocolate treats. They then showed their creative skills by making Easter sun catchers for the residents to put in their rooms before the obligatory story time and a game of sleeping bunnies. 

So much fun, these weekly visits have become extremely popular and a very important part of the week for everyone.          

We have been making the most of the drier weather over the last couple of weeks and visiting our neighbours at the wonderful The Organic Farm Shop, Abbey Home Farm.

Residents had lots of fun exploring the shop, buying some treats before enjoying a nice cuppa and cake in the café. All whilst reminiscing about getting out and about in Cirencester in years gone by. Lots of fun, it was great to get out in the sunshine and have a relaxing time with friends.