Activities at Mortain Place Care Home
Our activities team are great at building the activities programme around the likes and interests of the people we care for. Ensuring that our social events offer fun and adventure is part of the ethos of our home; it’s important that those we support can enjoy an active and social lifestyle. Of course, there will always be those who prefer peace and quiet, and in these instances, a cup of tea and a chat are always welcomed.
Alex Leftley
I was working in the print trade when a friend of mine became very unwell and I had to find a nursing home for her. Due to the dedication of the staff, my friend had another 18 months and I was able to take her out after being house bound for many years.
I felt that I wanted to do a job that made a difference and became a carer. I went back to school and redone my GCSE,s and then went onto do my level 3 diploma and am always enhancing my skills and knowledge. I came to Mortain Place as a senior carer on Normandy Gardens and worked my way up to Community Lead. I have chosen to move to the activities team to help support the life enrichment programme and help improve the life experience’s of our residents.
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 Mortain Place Care Home
Elf Day
On Friday 6th December, people all over the country dressed as elves to spread festive cheer and raise money for those affected by dementia, organised by the Alzheimer’s Society. Here at Mortain Place we joined in by donning Christmas hats and glasses, singing along to music, and playing mischievous Elf games.
Teams raced against each other to do the Elves' jobs; sorting bags of skittles into individual colours, and wrapping up presents with their wrists tied together! The winning team was decided as the final game came to a close, when they battled to see who could empty a box of tissues with one hand the fastest, creating a flurry of snow all over the place.
We wrapped up with glasses of fizz and a dance to the festive music!
Naming Home Communities
Mortain place care home opened on 9th October 2019 and we had 4 communities in our new care home that were looking for new names, so we ran a competition with local Age concern staff and visitors to name our communities.
The entries came in thick and fast and from those we chose a winner who is Jenni Obinkwo who works for Age Concern in Eastbourne, Jenni came up with the names based on "Mortain" place these are Pevensey, Launceston, Montacute and Normandy which were administrations owned by Count Mortain.
Jenni was presented with her gift of a Hamper from Doofley's Deli in Eastbourne town by Karen Howell General Manager of Mortain Place care home.
First Christmas Fayre at Mortain Place
We organised a Christmas Fayre at Mortain place and the turnout was huge, it was opened by the Mayor of Eastbourne Steve Wallis. The mayor met with the residents and we had lots of local retail stalls and games' stalls, run by our residents and their families.
Father Christmas saw 100 children who all got a present from Santa, the day was a huge success and we raised £900 for local charities.
Christmas Tree
Doreen our very first resident in our new Mortain place Care home donated a 12ft Christmas tree for our home, which was planted outside the main entrance, the staff decorated the tree under Doreen's watchful eye, getting the star on top was the difficult part!
Dementia Café
We had the grand opening of our new fortnightly Dementia Café of Memories and Dreams at Mortain Place care home, it was officially opened by local celebrity Sheik Abid Gulzar and we also had Barchester’s specialist on Dementia, Leon Smith who was available to support and answer any questions.
We all enjoyed afternoon teas and our activity room was running along with our new Magic table, which everyone had a really fun time playing along with.
We will be running our café every 1st Thursday of the month at 2-4pm and every 3rd Thursday of the month 10-12 noon, everyone is welcome whether you’re a family member, a carer or a friend of someone who has someone with Dementia. Bring everyone along to a safe and warming environment to chat, have coffee and cake.
Pink Tea Party
We recently held a Pink Tea Party in the orangery at Mortain Place, to raise money and awareness for the charity Breast Cancer Now. Residents and staff donned items of pink and posed for photos, whilst enjoying pink decorated cupcakes, pink wafers, and pink lemonade.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, singing and chatting together.
