Activities at Oaklands Care Home

We were thrilled to welcome into the home Michelle’s animal therapy project, who brought an array of animals in for our residents to enjoy. This was an activity in which we were also fortunate enough to take the animals around the rooms to visit residents cared for in their beds to ensure they are included within our home's life enrichment programme.

As you can see from the photos, the animals brought great joy to so many. There were also some residents who were reluctant and needed a kind, caring, reassuring word that all would be fine, and it helped some to overcome fears.

We are making the most of the glorious spring sunshine here at Oaklands and are getting out exploring our local area. We took a 10-minute drive to Milton Country Park and had a wonderful day walking around the lakes and spotting the various forms of wildlife, from robins and squirrels to the swans and the cormorants all sitting on the trees overlooking the lake. We found these quite scary looking!

Kate and Sarah also took the opportunity to prove that just because you live in a care home life doesn’t stop, neither does age matter, as they enjoyed time on the basket swing and see-saw and all you could hear was laughter and squeals. 

Here are some photos from our adventures here in Oaklands where we've been focusing on what our residents need and enjoy. 

Some needed a coffee and a chat in reception, others needed a walk and fresh air, while lots wanted to read or listen to a story. Here at Oaklands we pride ourselves on focusing on the individual and what they enjoy and engage with the best.

We love our half-term visits from our Oaklands staff children, who bring so much fun, happiness and laughter into the home, not to mention energy. Here you can see residents enjoying a painting activity together so simple yet so much fun for all involved.

Kate used to work in a school, so this brings back fond memories for her, and she said “today was a good day with lots of fun”.

We celebrated valentines in style at Oakland’s with a trolley of love, visiting every resident throughout the day giving individual cards, gifts and chocolates. 

Kate, one of our residents, loves to help and enjoyed helping us push the trolley around and give out gifts and, alongside that, she was reading the cards to residents who are no longer able to read for themselves.

We were then fortunate to have Marcus come and sing and entertain us for the afternoon with his Michael Bublé tribute act. We had singing, clapping, dancing and even some ladies enjoying a cuddle and a kiss with him. We really felt the love in the room!

We had a marvellous trip out to the Ely riverbank to catch up with the local fishermen, as both Keith and Ray have been keen fishermen all their lives.

We all enjoyed the surroundings we were in, the sun was shining and reflecting off the water, and it was just gorgeous. 

We enjoyed the walk up and down the river chatting to the locals and seeing what they had caught. Sadly, only one of the fishermen Dave had caught, which we found funny, as it annoyed the others and some were packing up to go and find a better spot. 

We took some time to look around and could see the Cathedral in the distance. We had a great morning and look forward to going again.