What types of care does Kirkburn Court Care Home offer?

Kirkburn Court Care Home offers Nursing care, Dementia care.

Activities at Kirkburn Court Care Home

Here at Kirkburn Court, we aim to facilitate a personalised programme of meaningful activities, which are designed to promote independence, social stimulation and cognitive function. We strive to create a comfortable and safe environment where fun, creativity and individuality are encouraged. We feel it is important for us and residents to place value on yesterday, today and tomorrow – which is why we invest heavily in getting to know residents and learning their life history.

Our inclusive, yet respectful ethos is reflected in the wide range of activities we offer – ranging from larger structured group activities to one-to-one sessions. Our monthly activity programmes are extremely varied, but some of the activities you may expect to find include concerts, crafts, games, exercise sessions, reminiscing and outings. We also have a strong relationship with the local community and often invite external guests into the home, including performers, schools, and choirs.

Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Claire Burden

Activities Coordinator

I began my career with Barchester in December 2017. Having worked within the teaching profession for the preceding 8 years, I feel that I bring a range of transferable skills to the activities team.

I strongly believe that the provision of activities is about so much more than just structured, planned events – capturing and celebrating the little moments in daily life, such as enjoying a chat and a cup of tea together, are equally as important.

Activities, no matter how big or small, should be at the heart of every home and that individuality should be celebrated. In addition, I feel that activities should take a person-centred approach, which is why I enjoy spending time with the residents and learning about their preferences and their history.

My own interests include football, politics, crafting and drinking tea, and I enjoy nothing better than engaging with residents on these topics! I aim to bring energy, a friendly smile and a willing ear to the home each day.

Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure

Activities and Events Partnerships

As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies

Life at Kirkburn Court Care Home

Visit our Facebook page to keep updated with all the activities in our home

Horse racing comes to Kirkburn

In honour of this year’s Grand National, we held our own ‘Kirkburn National’ this month. Our finest hats and jewels were adorned, before taking part in our own DIY horse races. We had several winners throughout the day but it was King Sandy who won the coveted ‘Kirkburn Cup’ with the most victories – “I must be afa lucky” he exclaimed. There was even some fierce competition between staff members too!

Easter fun

April began with a series of Easter festivities. Great hilarity ensued as we decided to relive our youth and decorate some hard boiled eggs for rolling – some interesting face designs emerged! We also completed an Easter egg hunt with some chocolate bunnies as prizes – they did not last long! Our residents also coloured in some lovely Easter pictures which we displayed throughout the home. Activities Coordinator, Claire Burden, said “the egg decorating was the real favourite this Easter, there was so much laughter which was lovely to hear.”

Reunion time

March has brought great excitement here to Kirkburn as we have been permitted to begin welcoming back visitors. The first day of visiting was an emotional day for our families, residents and staff and we were delighted that after lots of hard work and behind the scenes preparation, the day ran very smoothly. Pictured alongside our deputy manager Heather is Jim, who was absolutely delighted to come in and visit his lovely wife Kathleen. Jim summed up the experience by simply saying “that was magic!”

Baking Masterclass

This month has seen the debut of our new mobile table top oven. This has been a great addition which allows our residents to be even more involved in our cooking activities. We decided to try our hand at cupcakes and we were delighted with the results! After successfully making a batch of cakes we then added some decoration and it wasn’t too long before all the cakes had been devoured! Activities Coordinator, Claire Burden said “The residents really enjoyed being able to watch the cakes as they cooked and there was great excitement to see how they were going to turn out.”

Nutrition and Hydration Week

This month has also seen us celebrate Nutrition and Hydration Week. Keeping a focus on healthy eating and drinking, we decided to experiment with some new fruit smoothie recipes. Residents once again donned their aprons and tested out their culinary skills with some fruit preparation, weighing and measuring. We made three different varieties and after lots of taste tasting, the cranberry and raspberry variety came out as the overall favourite. One resident, Morag said “they were so refreshing and tasted better because we made them ourselves!”

Pancake Day

This year’s Pancake Day was celebrated by our residents and team members trying their hand at making a few batches of pancakes. Our Activities Coordinator, Claire, is well known as being the world’s worst cook, so the residents’ very much took the lead with this activity. Once the batter had been expertly made by our resident’s, they then had to oversee Claire’s cooking of the pancakes! It was agreed by all that the pancakes were a great success and there were plenty of volunteers on hand to try a sample! Activities Coordinator, Claire Burden, said “the residents did an amazing job of making the batter and it was a real team effort – I even picked up a few baking tips from them along the way!”