NewlandsBarchester Healthcare

Activities at Newlands Care Home

Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.

Activities within our home are tailored around the requests of residents. Our Activities Coordinator holds regular activity meetings to seek new thoughts and ideas. The home is committed to offering a varied range of activities for all residents, from hand and nail care to gardening for those who have green fingers. We carry out reminiscence activities, including planned entertainment days, bringing the seaside into the home or dance hall meetings.

We hold strong links with the community, especially schools and local children's sports teams, who visit the home to provide entertainment and engagement with residents. We also maintain relationships with the church to ensure that residents’ spiritual beliefs are met. Externally, we have our own minibus, and outings are planned and carried out, again tailored to residents’ preferences, whether it be shopping, visits to the local pub, tea and coffee afternoons, or a scenic day out in the lakes and lovely countryside that surrounds us. However, the fun does not stop at the residents we care for, but we also hold events to involve family and the wider community.

Read our brochure ‘Life-enriching activities’ for more information about life in our care homes.

Read our brochure

Hlabekile Nyoni (Nayoni)

Activity Coordinator

Hlabekile Nyoni known by everyone as "Nayoni" is the Activities Co-Ordinator at Newlands Care Centre as of December 2023. Hlabekile joined the Barchester team in August 2023 on a part time basis then later became fulltime at the end of December 2023.

"Nayoni" says, ‘ I love sharing my ideas and knowledge to make residents life at Newlands enjoyable and memorable for them and their families. Each day is a different day and each resident is different therefore I always put that into consideration when coming up with activities that can suit each individual. I am so glad to work with a great team throughout the home, from housekeeping, clinical, care, kitchen, maintenance, admin and managers all play a pivotal role in my work. With my strong artistic background I find it easier to come up with creative ideas. I love my job here at Newlands.

Celebrating life at Newlands Care Home

Happy father's day!

It has been all about the men in our home, the ones who brighten our days with their smiles and conversations. We would love to wish every dad, father figure, granddad and great-granddad a Happy Father’s Day.

We also remember those Dads who are no longer with us, but are always in our hearts. We celebrated Father's Day at Newlands with a social afternoon, live entertainment and tasty treats. We were entertained by one of our residents, Alan’s son. Alan could not hide his excitement and joy, he had been waiting for this day and he expressed his joy.

Newlands goes digital

We’re excited to announce that our brand-new digital clinical system, Enable, is officially live! This is a big step forward for our care home – helping us deliver even better, more efficient, and more personalised care for our wonderful residents.

Our amazing staff have been gearing up for this moment with training, teamwork, and a lot of excitement. Enable will make care planning smoother, documentation smarter, and communication stronger – all while keeping residents’ wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. Everyone is excited and curious.

Tour de Barchester

We had a great time welcoming our cyclists to our home for their last stop of day 1. Our residents, staff, our community friends and the Mayor of Workington, Cllr David Farrar were on hand to welcome this amazing team. What better way to do so other than to throw a BBQ party with live entertainment?

Our residents had an opportunity to chat and spend time with our cyclists and our guest (The Mayor of Workington, Cllr David Farrar, with his consort Cllr Allan Hodgson). This really brings the spirit of the community together. A lovely time was had by all.

Dementia Disco

Residents, families and staff had a wonderful time celebrating Dementia Action Week by throwing a Dementia Disco. Sasha the entertainer kept everyone on their toes, jiving and singing, taking us back in time.

All Barchester staff are dementia-trained, but in addition, every Barchester home and hospital has a dedicated Dementia Champion who is on hand to offer help, guidance and practical solutions to families who need additional support.

Claudia's 80th Birthday

Residents and staff celebrate with Claudia on her 80th birthday. Staff managed to get Claudia outside to surprise her in the garden, where other residents were waiting for her. She mentioned how lovely it was to have the sun kiss her skin. She hadn't felt that in a while.

Claudia hasn’t been outside in more than a year. She mentioned how special this made her feel to go outside. Asked about how she felt about being 80, she replied “I feel 18 years old”.

VE Day celebrations

We marked the anniversary of VE Day at Newlands in style by throwing parties to remember our two units. Our gardens were specially decorated for the occasion with flags, banners and bunting.

It was a fabulous day enjoyed by all. Hands were clapping, feet were tapping and those with magical voices showed them off. Our residents had a lovely time seeing the staff giving it all on the dance floor and our manager could not be outdone.

Easter Celebrations!

The Easter bunny has been out doing the rounds delivering Easter eggs to all our residents and staff for them to enjoy over the Easter weekend. Our residents and staff enjoyed the Easter bonnet parade as well as our residents got to enjoy and showcase their lovely creations.

The atmosphere was at its best with everyone excited about this time of the year and the welcoming of Spring.

Mini-police visit!

We had an honour of welcoming the mini-police from Victoria Junior School at the home. The Mini police had some amazing Easter goodies for our residents, who were very happy to receive them.

The children got some advice from our residents on how to approach life. One of the advice was from Jim who told the children to listen to their teachers, work hard, get good jobs and pay their taxes.

Easter Cake Competition

The home is so thrilled to have won the Residents Easter cake completion for the division. The cake was a joint effort from the residents and when they heard they had won, there was jubilation everywhere.

The residents were excited and couldn’t believe it, but they sure acknowledged that they deserved it because they worked hard on it. They will use their winnings to have good games.