Activities at Hunters Care Home

The return yesterday of some of our strangest, yet most popular visitors as we welcomed back JJ's reptiles exotic encounters to Hunters. Jordan and Tyrese were on hand to introduce us to an amazing range of incredible creatures including stick insects, Zeus the corn snake, Lilo the royal python and Steven the scorpion. Not to mention getting reacquainted with "Big" Barry, the 12-foot Burmese python.

It is always fascinating to see our residents become absolutely fearless, and they get up close and personal with these wonderful reptiles.

Thanks as always to Jordan and Tyrese for a brilliant afternoon.

One of our favourite games here at Hunters is Hoy! Matching playing cards in a bingo-style way with the chance to win yummy prizes. 

It’s even better when we get the chance to play outside in the fresh air and sunshine with our friends and family.

Just the right amount of friendly rivalry, laughter and fun, as the tension builds, and we all await the next winner!

Flower Arranging always brightens our days and still such a popular activity for our residents. Nothing better than relaxing with a cup of tea, creating beautiful arrangements and engaging in meaningful chat. The flowers bring colour to the communal areas for everyone to enjoy.

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.      

A great session yesterday as we were joined by the brilliant Cheryl from Specsavers, who gave us some help and advice on eye health. Cheryl was fantastic and spoke about the different afflictions that can affect our eyes, what can be done to help, as well as discussing the current individual eye care needs of our residents and staff.

Residents had the chance to ask questions and even got to go away with a goody bag at the end. 

Another Hunters Summer Fête done and dusted, and wow, what a great day it was!

Despite the heat, we all managed to find some shade and enjoyed great music, dancing, cars, motorbikes, farm animals and food. Not to mention craft stalls and the always popular tombola. Thank you to everyone who came along and either entertained us, brought stalls or animals or cars. We hope you enjoyed it.

Lastly, this is always a huge team effort, with thanks to our maintenance team for getting the grounds looking fantastic, our kitchen team for keeping us all fed and watered with a delicious BBQ, and to our housekeepers, carers and nurses for making sure our residents were well looked after all afternoon.

A truly brilliant day and, once again, the highlight of our year!
 

Staying healthy and staying hydrated is the key this week and our residents enjoyed a nutrition session led by our own Head Chef Leo.

Leo spoke about how we can all eat and drink a little better, whilst giving our bodies everything they need. Our residents got to sample some delicious fruit smoothies and snacks that are a healthier alternative to biscuits. We have spent the week keeping our residents comfortable and well hydrated in the extreme heat.
 

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. 

Another wonderful musical afternoon as we were joined by the brilliant Philip Heyman playing his viola.

Philip was fantastic as ever, performing a mixture of classical, pop and opera songs that got us all tapping our feet and singing along.

Thank you, Philip, we will see you again soon.  

Another lovely visit from our wonderful Pets As Therapy dog Lix and her owner Louise.

Lix always brings joy and big smiles to everyone she meets and our residents can't wait to make a fuss of her.

Such an important part of our routine here at Hunters and Lix and Louise are part of the family.

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.