Activities at Laurel Bank Care Home

Residents at Laurel Bank have been discovering their creative sides recently with regular art therapy classes. The paintings are designed to be simple, yet effective, so that anyone can take part and produce a masterpiece! The sessions are kept small to allow people to concentrate on their work, and the paintings are lovely. Many residents now have them brightening up their bedroom walls! Watch this space for an art exhibition opening up in the future

Local charity Vision of Adventure were thrilled to be invited to Laurel Bank recently for Afternoon Tea with our residents, where they were also presented with a cheque for £9,955 from the Barchester Charitable Foundation.

Vision of Adventure run activity courses for visually impaired people, and residents were in awe as Jill Corso, Managing Director, talked about how they had organised a canoeing expedition down the River Spey last year. “What a lovely afternoon, and an incredible charity!”, said one resident.

The Chroma Harp Duo performed a selection of soft and relaxing music for the pleasure of residents at the home. Residents really enjoyed the concert, which was a little bit different to the usual singers and performers that visit the home, and even had a chance to play the harps afterwards. One resident said “What beautiful instruments, and what wonderful music! We’re really lucky to have such talented musicians perform for us, and it was lovely to have a go [on the harps’] afterwards!

Residents at Laurel Bank got to play their part in a wonderful show this Christmas, when a local theatre group came to perform ‘Alice in Wonderland’- oh yes they did! Residents had the chance to get dressed up and get involved in the pantomime, which was followed by carol singing and mince pies afterwards.

Everybody thoroughly enjoyed getting into the Christmas spirit with this time-honoured British tradition.

Resident and lifelong Dolly Blues fan, Joseph thoroughly enjoyed returning to the football stadium Giant Axe at the weekend to watch Lancaster City's FA Trophy match.  A lifelong supporter of Lancaster City FC, Joseph has attended many matches over the years including both home and away games. He has fond memories of The Dolly Blue Pub, and used to be a well known friendly face in and around the ground.

However, he has been unable to attend games for the last few years...until now!

With the help of staff from Laurel Bank care home, Joseph attended the FA Trophy replay on Saturday against Stourbridge.

Joseph thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, despite the cold, although was a little bit disappointed with the result – Stourbridge won 2-1.

Joseph said "It was a bit of a shame, the lads didn't really grow into the game," he said. "They had a great chance to equalise at the end, but it just wasn't their day."Still though, it's been very nice to be back at the club, and to see that some of the old faces are still here too."

Staff at the home were delighted to be a part of making Joseph's dream come true, as they knew how much it meant to him, and they all wanted to be there to see the smile on Joseph's face.

The home would like to thank club secretary Graham Dockerty in particular for his warm welcome and his help in organising the day out, and also the rest of the staff at the club as a whole for being so hospitable.

Lyndsay Scott, General Manager at the home, said: "We want everyone we care for to know how important they are to us here at Laurel Bank. It was so nice to see how happy Joseph was – and the staff loved being a part of this as well."

Staff and residents had a Wonderfully Wicked Halloween Party. Local children were welcomed into the care home as Trick or Treaters in the evening. The children visited resident's rooms in search of sweet treats.  Residents thoroughly enjoyed see the little monsters and ghouls in and around the home. The kitchen provided some delicious homemade cakes and biscuits, whilst residents carved pumpkins with the activities team.

One resident said “It was lovely having the children knock on my door, Halloween used to be a scary time of year when I was at home, but I feel completely safe here at Laurel Bank.”