Activities at North Park Care Home

Staff and residents took part in a fundraising waxing to raise money for Darlington under 9’s Football team new seasons strip. General Manager, Lisa Frame challenged the homes male colleagues to have a part of their body waxed by residents, staff and friends to ensure we reach our target of £600. Everyone was very supportive and were there to cheer on the participants as they began the fundraising challenge.

Ben Patterson Implementation Lead at Barchester said “I loved my time at North Park Care Centre, so taking part in this challenge with old friends was a must. It was been a huge amount of fun watching everyone squirm until it came to my turn…” Steve Hagan Lead Maintenance Manager said “It’s for such a great cause. I’m very glad to be able to do my bit to raise as much as possible for this worthy cause.”

Here at North Park we enjoy a wide range of activities tailored to groups as well as the individual.

Our residents on Memory Lane enjoy multi-sensory activities one of their favourites being fruit tasting. we also incorporate this with life skills washing, chopping and preparing before turning it into smoothies, moose’s or ice-creams. For a change we utilized the Oomph fruit quiz and mirrored the fruits in the quiz with the same from the kitchen. Residents then looked through the pictures, using their sense of sight guessed the fruit. Residents were then able to touch, taste and smell the fruits while talking to each other about their favourite.

Residents across our services had a wonderful time joining Cadbury for an interactive virtual talk on their fascinating 200-year history.

Residents joining learnt interesting facts about the chocolate giant, shared memories, and reminisced about their favourite sweet treats.

It was a heartwarming experience filled with laughter, nostalgia, and plenty of chocolatey goodness!

Here at North Park we enjoy turning the ordinary into the extraordinary!  Residents often  tell care staff “well I didn’t expect that to be so much fun”

One such time was our recent supper club - Residents were expecting cards, dominoes and chess, chequers instead they were met by fancy decorations, a table of home-made snacks and their favourite tipples. There was also poker, black jack and roulette.

Residents enjoyed themselves late into the night and were still chatting about the fun they’d had over breakfast the next morning.

To celebrate National Pet Day we invited staff, families and friends as well as the larger community to send in photos of their Fur-babies, Feathered Friends and Canny Critters.

We had an amazing response and the voting for the winners took two days. It was such a hard decision and as resident Kath said “oh I feel awful choosing as they are all lovely in their own ways.”

It was really close at the end but our residents did a great job, all winners received some treats and a certificate with their owners getting a bottle of wine.

Residents across our homes and hospitals had a fantastic time with vocal coach Dan Cooper from Biiah as he led an amazing sing-a-long session for residents to enjoy. Residents who joined the event were able to learn different techniques as they sang the famous ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ by Jimmy Cliff and ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles. Across our homes there were smiles and laugher all around. The session was such a success and was great for the mind, body and soul.