Activities at Laurel Bank Care Home

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Barchester’s Laurel Bank care home in Lancaster were treated to an interactive virtual cookery demo courtesy of chef, Alex Connell, from Vegetarian for Life.

Chef Alex whipped up some tasty, healthy vegetarian snacks in a live, interactive cookery demo.  Much to residents’ delight, Laurel Bank’s head chef Grant Pritchard had prepared the same recipes so that residents could try all the dishes. Residents sampled delicious, light and summery veggie dishes including Borlotti bean and dill pate, Greek fritters with Tzatziki and Coronation 'chicken' pastries. All finished off with a sweet and simple but totally yummy banana bread.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Laurel Bank care home in Lancaster were treated to an armchair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s furniture company, followed by a mindfulness session led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.

Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980’s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackletons as their Health and Wellness Adviser.

Everyone here at Laurel Bank was thrilled to welcome our first live musical guest since before the pandemic! Local singer Ashleigh Wood was fabulous at our VE Day party in the garden where we all enjoyed afternoon tea including homemade scones with jam and cream, exactly what we needed in the glorious sunshine!’

A nurse at Laurel Bank Care Home in Lancaster has received a prestigious 25 Year Service Award in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for 25 years.

Regina Kiziuk started at Barchester in May 1996 and has worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years.

As part of Barchester’s Life Enrichment Programme, team members and residents at Laurel Bank enjoyed an exciting virtual talk, generously hosted by Five Sisters Zoo.

The residents had the opportunity to explore and learn more about the animal life at the zoo and the important conservation, rescue and education work carried out at the grounds of the zoo.

Five Sisters Zoo was officially established in 2005 with just a small collection of rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, and pigs. Since then the zoo has grown into an exciting collection of over 160 different animal species from all around the world.

Here at Laurel Bank we had a fabulously fun garden party to celebrate St. George’s Day. The sun was shining, we enjoyed a delicious buffet thanks to our head chef, Grant, and there were games for everyone to join with prizes for both residents and staff!