Activities at Newton House Care Home

Barchester’s Newton House care home in Grantham has been shortlisted in the Amazing Activities Co-ordinator category of the Stars of Social Care Awards.  This award category is specifically to recognise amazing activity organisers and teams who go above and beyond in providing a meaningful and person centred activities programme.

The awards were presented by Josie Gibson and took place on June 15th at the Marriott Hotel in London and whilst the team were not crowned the winners of their category they were still happy to be nominated.

General Manager of Newton House care home, Sonia Fairhurst said: “It is so wonderful for the team to be recognised for doing the job that they love, this really is a team award for everyone who works in the activities team - we are a family and we all support each other.  I am so lucky to work with such brilliant people and to have such lovely residents. They are always winners in my eyes!”

Residents across our services enjoyed a fantastic virtual tour of The Deep, an award-winning aquarium in Hull.

Our residents dived into the underwater world of some fascinating creatures such as sharks, turtles and stingrays.

It was a truly immersive and educational experience that brought the wonders of the ocean right to our screens.

Staff and residents celebrated all things India by hosting a ‘culture day’ inspired by their Indian staff members.

To start the day off residents, families and members of the community enjoyed a ‘friendship group’ where they were joined by two staff members Poonam and Rajani who were on hand to talk about the Indian culture and finished off with a fun quiz to summarise their discussions on topics such as India’s history and famous landmarks. Residents then tested their artwork skills as they drew their own henna designs before taking part in a ‘Bollywood workout’. Residents were also treated to some Indian cuisine including Jalebi, Barfi and Papri-Gathia.

Staff members Poonam and Rajani both provided amazing entertainment throughout the day and even brought some of their own traditional Indian dress for residents to try on and treated them to some Bollywood dancing.
 

A day dedicated to celebrating the anniversary of VE Day.

Joining together for reminiscence, facts & quiz time was a wonderful way for residents to share their stories of this important date.
Here are a few of our wonderful residents memories on VE Day…

‘I remember the night well, we was all dancing on the hill’ - Betty

‘I would count the aeroplanes on a night time and then count them again in the morning to see how many had made it’ - Pat

‘It was the first time I had ever seen a black and white television, I was working in the nurse’s home in Lincoln county hospital on VE Day’- Pat

The celebrations continued as we danced the afternoon away with the incredibly talented Emma Kelsey Vocalist performing a variety of songs including Vera Lynne which was very apt for the occasion.
 

A morning venturing out to the beautiful Wyndham Park, walking around the grounds and enjoy the stunning sensory garden. Some wonderful conversations were made about the history of the park and its surrounding areas.

Speaking about fond child hood memories, Joan spoke how she would go down the park and how she would go to the outdoor pool for swimming lessons with school, the teachers would stand by the pool in their coats, as the children had to break the frozen pool to get in.

Residents also enjoyed visiting the lovely cafe for refreshments before heading home

Before this we took a little detour, as Joan had said she would like to see what the house she was born in was like now, she was very surprised to see that it was just the same from outdoors  

 

Staff and residents were buzzing when they celebrated World Bee Day on May 20th. Created by the UN, World Bee Day is an annual global event raising awareness of the importance of bees and beekeeping for the survival of our ecosystems.  Three out of four food crops across the globe rely on bees and other pollinators but those pollinators are under threat from human activities.

Residents and staff, who were dressed in yellow and black, had a bee-rilliant time learning about the history of bee-keeping and the importance of bees for food production from an informative documentary on their online activity platform Oomph Wellness. Residents then went on to create bee themed sun catchers which will be displayed in residents’ bedroom windows and also planted sunflowers in the garden for themselves and of course, local bees, to enjoy.