Activities at Kings Park Care Home

We were channelling our inner George Formby here in the home recently, as we were very excited to welcome through our doors members of the Ferndown Ukulele Society.

We have invited this fabulously musical group of individuals to come along and use our top floor dining room for their rehearsal space each week and in exchange, they have agreed to put on a concert for our residents every few months - It's a win, win!

Just having this wonderful group coming into our home is truly lovely and after their sessions they will be stopping off for a chat and a cuppa with our lovely residents too.

This week we have been busy raising money for this year's Barchester's Charitable Foundation's Tour De Barchester...

With the cycling challenge well under way, having finished yesterday's first leg in Sherborne at our sister home, Trinity Manor Care Home - Barchester Healthcare after a gruelling 65 miles, today we went down to our other sister home, Parley Place Care Home - Barchester Healthcare to cheer on the cyclists after this morning's push from Upton Bay

Residents from Kings Park went along on the home's minibus, to welcome the cyclists as they came in for a pit stop, before heading off again.

Earlier in the week we held a cake sale to raise funds for the event - Thank you to all of the those who supported this, but if you didn't manage to come along, then you can still find out more about our Charitable Foundation, the Tour De Barchester and donate here: -

https://www.bhcfoundation.org.uk/tour-de-barchester-2023

Did you know it's actually Volunteer Week from the 1st - 7th June?

Take a look here: -

https://volunteersweek.org/

Word has certainly travelled around Ferndown Upper School that Barchester Healthcare's Kings Park is the place to come for a fun time, as we recently welcomed the lovely Sophie into our fold...

Sophie, a VIth form student at the school, is looking to study medicine in future and once she realised that we were able to facilitate with a little volunteering work for her in the elderly care sector, she was quick to come along to the home and see for herself.

Intelligent, caring and VERY personable, make for what we all think are wonderful attributes in any doctor and we are so happy to have Sophie come along and spend time engaging with our lovely residents.

Sophie, we already value you as a wonderful addition to our home and love having you here!

Say 'Hello' if you see her about our home when you visit.

With other Ferndown Upper Students, Kayla & Chloe already volunteering here at Kings Park, we are building quite the team - But there's always room for more!

Do let us know if you wish to learn more about volunteering opportunities at Kings Park!

Following on from our previous post celebrating Stan's special 101st birthday trip, whilst Stan was off exploring with his family at leisure, some of our residents were also enjoying a mooch about Beaulieu, National Motor Museum...

Reminiscing our way around caused so much nostalgia and discussions about first cars, favourite cars, parents' cars and much more!

We saw some VERY famous cars, such as, Bluebird, as well as cars from on screen such as Del Boy's Robin Reliant from Only Fools & Horses and Mr Bean's Mini.

Sheila could not contain herself and was adding more and more to her car shopping list on the way around, whilst Alan was very happy at seeing a simple black Riley, which he was all too familiar with.

By a clear mile, everyone's favourite was definitely the car made famous by the late Sally Anne Howes and very fabulous Dick Van Dyke: Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang! Did you know that there was actually six different Chittys used for the original film, one of which is in the museum? Another Chitty in the museum is a actually a replica used for driving on special occasions. It is also said that Chris Evans also owns a driveable Chitty too!

When Kings Park resident, Stan, was recently asked for his birthday wish, he responded: 'A trip to Beaulieu would be lovely.' So his wish was our command...

Getting to work to organise this very special birthday trip, Home Services Advisor, Rebekah Goddard, quickly reached out to Beaulieu, National Motor Museum, who were incredibly helpful in making this trip an extra special one!

Upon arrival at the museum with Stan's son and daughter-in-law, as well as two of our other residents, Alan & Sheila, Stan was met by the most wonderful sign placed in the foyer by the lovely staff at Beaulieu, with everyone there wishing him well - Such a delightful way to start his trip.

Upon entering the museum itself, Stan met with tour guides Nick & Paul, who bent over backwards to ensure he was given extra special treatment during his time there. Sharing their knowledge about the various cars on display, Stan was then led down to a stunning Rolls Royce, where he was invited to climb inside, much to Stan's awe and delight!

Finally, Stan was taken to see a very special vehicle, a Maxwell Charabanc 1922, which also donned advertising for the Motor Museum and coincidentally was built the year of Stan's birth.

A HUGE THANK YOU to the Beaulieu team for going above and beyond to make this trip a very memorable one - Stan and Kings Park are so very grateful to you all!

At Barchester Healthcare's Kings Park we love making wishes come true!

The residents of Kings Park absolutely love a jigsaw puzzle - we have always got one on the go in our cafe area...

With that in mind, Activities Assistant, Tracey, jumped on the jigsaw train and decided to make things a little more interesting for our residents!

We are very excited by what she has come up with - personalised Kings Park puzzles!

So now, instead of just piecing together a puzzle, they have now have to guess who or what the puzzle is - There may be one or two familiar faces or visitors in amongst some of the puzzles that Tracey has created and the best bit is, she can keep adding to our collection!

What a clever bean she is!

Our residents are already loving doing these puzzles, but if you happen to be visiting the home, then do grab a puzzle from our basket in the cafe area and help a loved one enjoy it!