Activities at Lochduhar Care Home

Staff and residents at Lochduhar were treated to an exciting live streaming tour of Knowsley Safari, hosted by Engagement Assistant, Verity Dann.

Knowsley Safari has been welcoming visitors for 50 years since it opened in July 1971.  Situated in the Knowsley area of Merseyside, the safari park is home to 750 animals on a 550 acre site, it boasts the longest safari drive in the UK.

Verity’s workshop took a peek behind the scenes at Knowsley to find out what it is really like to work in such a demanding yet rewarding world.  Residents discovered what a day in the life of a keeper entails from feeding time with the giraffes and meerkats through to training sessions and everything in between.  Verity explained some of the conservation projects that Knowsley Safari is involved with and how this is positively affecting some of the world’s most endangered species.

Staff and residents at Lochduhar in Dumfries  were treated to an interactive virtual floristry masterclass courtesy of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski, from Blooming Haus. 

Blooming Haus started with a small pop-up shop in Chelsea.  They have since blossomed spectacularly on to the floristry scene as ‘floral engineers’, carving themselves an outstanding reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative floral design studios. The company is the vision of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski and his business partner, Michael Dariane. The pair bring a completely fresh approach to floristry and their ambition to push the boundaries of traditional floristry has laid the foundations of Blooming Haus’ success to date.

Residents and staff at Lochduhar celebrated World Bee day with the homes maintenance, Robbie

kindly showed residents the way he keeps his bees. He showed us his protective clothing, his smoke puffer, combs and other tools he uses. Robbie also made a short video so the residents could watch this. Robbie also brought us some honey in for the residents to taste. Our residents took a keen interest and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Lochduhar were treated to a photographic tour and talk about the era of ocean travel by V&A Dundee Curator, Charlotte Hale.  The presentation forms part of a series of six talks and virtual tours that V&A Dundee is hosting for Barchester Healthcare’s care homes and private hospitals across the UK.

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Barchester’s Lochduhar 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, Lochduhar head chef 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 Lochduhar 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.