Activities at Mount Vale Care Home
Our specialist activities staff are committed to organising a mix of activities and events for residents and the local community to get involved in, including trips out to local places of interest in our minibus and visits from PAT dogs, entertainers and musicians. It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities as best as possible, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join with activities and events as often as they can.
Louise Chapman
Hi my name is Louise I have been working at Mount Vale since 2010. I am the activities co-ordinator, I am here to promote the wellbeing of our residents and ensure they have a variety of activities to get involved in. I love finding new creative ways to engage our residents and involve our local community.
I am a dementia champion for the home and enjoy continuing to learn and find more things I can do to help promote the wellbeing of our residents.
I love spending time with each individual getting to know them so I can add individual needs into our plans. I love building strong relationships with our residents and families.
I am a crafty person and can be found doing diamond arts and lots of other creative things when I am not at work. I love spending time with my family and going for walks with my dog Dottie and cuddling my cat Loki.
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 Mount Vale Care Home
Christmas Party Celebrations at Mount Vale
This week, Mount Vale were in full Christmas spirit with our Ground Floor Christmas party!
It was an enjoyable afternoon with lots of fabulous food hosted by our fantastic Chef and team, a Christmas quiz by our lovely Becky in Activities, and of course lots of Christmas carols to sing along to.
It most definitely is the most wonderful time of the year!
Gingerbread House Day
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Mount Vale care home in Northallerton love any excuse to get creative so when they found out it was Gingerbread House Day on December 12, they didn’t need any persuading to get cracking!
The staff and residents asked head chef, Danny to whip up a big batch of gingerbread for them and then got busy decorating! They had a fun filled afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the gingerbread.
General Manager, Helen Lewis said: “We were all so excited when we found out there was a Gingerbread House Day, what a fantastic excuse to spend the day making gorgeous festive decorations. The best thing about it is that, now that we have judged which gingerbread house we like best, we get to eat them all – delicious!”
Magic of the Nutcracker
We experienced the magic of the Nutcracker with a special interactive workshop led by English National Ballet Associate Artists.
Our residents were able to take a magical journey thorough Edwardian London and to learn more about the enchanted Nutcracker characters: Clara, the Mouse King, and her valiant Nutcracker doll.
The session included a chair-based dance workshop, clips of the ballet on stage and a Christmas carol sing-along, truly enjoyed by all.
Christmas Truffle Making at Mount Vale
We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Steve Wilkes from Unilever for an exciting immersive Christmas experience.
Our residents were welcomed with chocolate treats as Paul and Steve took them on an exciting chocolate truffle making and biscuit decorating journey.
To finish off the Christmas special event, our residents enjoyed a themed quiz and a singalong.
We all had a wonderful time.
Oomph! brings some fun to Mount Vale
Barchester Healthcare has teamed up with Oomph!, an organisation that aspires to improve older people’s quality of life.
The activity sessions are based on a range of themes, from chairobics and chair cheerleading, to ‘Strictly Fun Dancing’ – a class which uses well-known dance moves and popular songs.
Barchester Activities Co-ordinators have been trained by Oomph! in a Level 2 'Exercise Leadership in Care Homes' qualification, which is endorsed by Skills Active – the sector skills council for active leisure and learning. These sessions are designed to help residents build relationships with one another, increase their mobility and enhance mental stimulation.
Regular exercise improves cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness, bone and functional health and reduces the risk of unhappiness and cognitive decline. The Barchester homes taking part in the pilot are already noticing a difference to residents' quality of life, with classes showing a proven increase in levels of social interaction and mental stimulation among those taking part. From the most recent surveys, 100% of residents have stated that the Oomph classes have had a positive effect on their health and happiness.
Virtual Bauble Workshop
We all had a wonderful time joining Jennifer Owen - founder of Goldfinch Floral Studio for a creative floral bauble workshop.
Jennifer transported our residents to the out of the ordinary world of flowers and crafts and demonstrated how to create stunning hand-made baubles filled with dried flowers and grasses.
Our residents enjoyed filling and decorating their own glass baubles and their unique creations will be displayed at the home for everyone to enjoy.
Upcoming events
Professionals Lunch
Join us for a light lunch and network with other local professionals.
Countdown to Christmas
Counting down the days to Christmas with a fun filled month ahead and we extend a warm invitation for you to join us - all welcome.
Merry Christmas!
Could you be a Volunteer?
Do you have any spare time and could make a difference? If you are interested in Volunteering we'd love to hear from you.
Community Cafe
We extend a warm invitation for you to join us at our popular community cafe -
Emergency Services - Take a break on us!
Calling all emergency personnel - come and take a break with us! There may be a cake or two available .....
