Activities at Iddenshall Hall Care Home

As a gentle introduction to our upcoming Country-themed days, we held a French evening at Iddenshall Hall.

The newest member of our Activities Team, Helen, dressed up for the occasion and served French bread with Brie and Camembert, as well as red wine, whilst treating the residents to a showing of Les Miserables on the main screen in the Lounge.

Both staff and residents enjoyed the food and the culture. Earlier in the day Helen had put together a French-themed quiz which the residents enjoyed during the afternoon.

For Easter this year, we celebrated with an "Easter Bonnet" show from the Memory Lane Theatre Company. Joe and Susan put on a great show with lots of singing and dancing and plenty of audience participation. They even had Lynne (our Senior Activities Coordinator) dress up as an Easter bunny and dance around, much to everyone's amusement.

As always, they put on a great show and residents from both Iddenshall Hall and Beeston View had a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

Simon Ellams, Chef at Iddenshall Hall and Beeston View Memory Lane Community has received a prestigious Long Service Award from Head Chef John Pomfret in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for 10 years. Also, Mareck Grzechowski had been voted by staff and visitors as employee of the month for March for always being helpful, nothing is too much trouble. Finally, for February, Jennifer Antrobus was voted Employee of the Month for always putting other's first, whether it being a resident, relative or staff member!

On Friday 26th February we held our monthly Coffee Afternoon at Tarvin Community Centre. This months theme was a "Quiz Afternoon".

We took some of the residents from Iddenshall Hall and we were joined at the Community Centre by some members of the local WI, a lovely local resident from Tarvin and her friend and also some mothers and their toddlers from Tarvin school came along. We did word search puzzles, anagrams, proverbs and a general knowledge quiz. Those who joined in enjoyed themselves and we all enjoyed freshly made cupcakes, made by our chef Sean and lots of tea and coffee.

Next months theme is "Pampering", we will be doing manicures, foot spas and massages so everyone will be getting spoiled.

We enjoy regular games of dominoes at Iddenshall Hall, it is one of our more popular activities and the residents even have their own little groups that they play in on days when activities are not available. We have been trying to encourage the residents to take the initiative and to do things they enjoy at times of the day when, for one reason or another, activities can't be with them. We leave Domino sets out in the conservatory and in the Chapel Room for the residents to help themselves to. Ruby and Thelma play almost daily and they have their own set of rules which we all try and stick to when playing in a larger group.

When playing dominoes, you have to participate communally. Rules have to be discussed and agreed upon and there will inevitably be discourse with other residents during the game. You also have to learn some simple courtesies such as taking turns and learning to be a gracious winner as well as loser. Dominoes can also be played in teams, so it will help residents to better understand how to work effectively with other people.

When playing dominoes with the residents, it gives us a chance to spend quality time with them. It will also help them to develop their listening as well as thinking skills, worked on their fine and gross motor development.

We have had another visit from Kevin Percival, AKA "Shaky", at Iddenshall Hall. "Shaky" is a lively character who is full of energy and vitality. He dances around for over an hour whilst entertaining the Residents with songs from Elvis, Stevie Wonder, Buddy Holly etc… all songs that the Residents can relate to. "Shaky" does his entertaining because he likes to see people smile and because he loves it so much. He arrives, with all his equipment, on the bus. He once said to me; "I will perform officially for an hour but any time I stay after that hour is free, this is because your Residents are more important to me than the money" it is for this reason that the Residents like him so much because his warmth just comes across so naturally.

"Shaky" is popular with the staff here too, because he is so entertaining, staff often go out of their way to make time to stand and watch him for a while, just to brighten their day!