Activities at North Park Care Home

We enjoyed a wonderful virtual introduction to the world of robots with V&A Dundee Curator, Kirsty Hassard.

Kirsty talked us through the history of robots and their early beginnings, the presentation traced the fascination of all things wired and wonderful and considered what the future might hold for our relationship with a multitude of mechanical machines.

It was absolutely thrilling to learn what robots can do now and what they might be able to do in the future.

We had a lovely time exploring the amazing gardens of Blenheim Palace through a virtual talk, hosted by the Historian - Antonia Keaney.

We enjoyed a virtual look at how the gardens at Blenheim have developed over the past 300 years - from the formality of Henry Wise through to the ‘natural’ landscape created by Capability Brown and beyond.

Everyone was very impressed by the many jewels hidden within the 150 acres of beautiful gardens.

Staff and residents at North Park care home in Darlington have been celebrating la fête nationale or Bastille Day on July 14, the most important date in the French calendar.  Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, which was a symbol of the monarchy and the freeing of the prisoners held there. 

The home was decorated with French flags and residents took part in French-themed activities throughout the day including a French history session, quirky facts, practicing some French phrases, and having quizzes throughout the day.   Residents enjoyed authentic French cuisine prepared by our head Chef Kyle Aylward as well as feasting on French pastries and other delicious titbits. Residents also enjoyed a French cheese and wine tasting afternoon where staff dressed in berets with strings of onions or garlic around their necks which everyone really enjoyed. 

Lisa Frame General Manager at North Park care home said: “We’ve all had great fun celebrating Bastille Day, the home looks lovely decorated with French flags and we’ve been dancing to French music and tasting French wine and cheeses.  It was lovely to watch videos of previous parades and fireworks on YouTube.”

We were able to virtually dive into the impressive wildlife of Dartmoor Zoo.

We explored its grounds and learnt about the unique history of the park from the zoo’s educational team. The culmination of the tour was the live tiger training demonstration, which was wonderful to see and enjoyed by all.

Our residents were delighted to see amazing photos and short videos of the animals and take a peek inside their home.

Residents and staff at North Park care home in Darlington have been cheering on their home sides throughout the Euros.  The home has been decked out with flags and residents have been enjoying all the action over the past three weeks.  Everyone at the home has been so excited that Gareth’s boys have been playing so well!

Fans of the beautiful game at North Park were delighted to be able to watch this year’s fixtures after the disappointment of last year’s tournament having to be postponed.  Residents and staff have been getting together to watch the matches and celebrate with a cold beer and footie-inspired bar snacks whipped up by head chef, Karl Aylward.

Lisa Frame, General Manager at the home, said: “We have loved watching the Euros, we have watched pretty much all the matches – lots of our residents are footie fans.  It has been fantastic to be able to cheer on all the home sides and England did really well to get so far in the tournament.”

We took a wonderful virtual trip to Iceland’s Puffin Rescue Centre at the Beluga Whale Sanctuary.

We were able to virtually meet some of the rescued Atlantic Puffins and to learn interesting facts about their care and unique lives. We took a peek into their lives in the wild, the Puffling rescue program in the Westman Islands, and how SEA LIFE Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary’s team takes care of these charismatic little birds each day.

It was a very exciting experience, enjoyed by all.