Activities at Orchard House Care Home

Orchard House was filled with happiness and love in celebration of Valentine’s Day. This special day was celebrated with residents spending the morning creating some beautiful things in a Heart and Craft session. The home even had a tree celebrating the occasion and displaying all the wonderful things that have been created.

Each resident received a chocolate gift and a red rose in recognition of the day, and it put a smile on every face. Staff were not forgotten either with all of them receiving a chocolate gift too.

In the afternoon a delicious Valentine's cream tea was had, complete with pink wine and homemade scones. Whilst enjoying the food, everyone had the change to take part in quizzes and themed games.

There was time for reminiscing and marriage stories were shared, Bill - a resident at the home said:

“I was rowing my girl in a boat on the river proudly showing off my muscles. When we got back to the jetty she climbed out of the boat, and as I went to do the same, the boat moved and I fell into 6 feet of water! I was very embarrassed, but my girl found it funny and she is now my wife and we have been together 70 years!”

Here at Orchard House, we had a fantastic time celebrating a second “Christmas” recently. Sadly, during December the home was in lockdown, so the Activities Team swung into action to replace what was lost.  With the help of the wonderful Kitchen Team, a “Christmas” party was organised, complete with a delicious homemade buffet.

The home hosted two “Christmas” parties, one for each floor of the home, a Christmas tree was set up in the dining room, Christmas music was played, and the tables were laden with themed crackers, delicious food, and a plentiful supply of alcohol to get the party going.

After the meal, there were party games which made everyone laugh and a good old fashioned sing song to traditional carols. Fun was had by all.

Staff and residents at Orchard House had a fantastic time celebrating International Chocolate Cake Day on January 27th, surely one of the best days of the year!

There was a chocolate themed quiz, and residents enjoyed whipping up delicious chocolate cupcakes.

Head Chef Claire Daffern was most certainly the star of the day making the most amazing chocolate cakes for residents to enjoy. They were a sight to behold, got all our taste buds tingling and they were absolutely delicious.

Hardworking staff weren’t forgotten either and a lovely range of chocolate cakes was provided for them to enjoy, which brought a smile to their faces.

General Manager, Kim Fleming said: “International Chocolate Cake Day has to be one of the best days of the year, who doesn’t love a good chocolate cake? Everyone’s eyes lit up when they saw all the cakes, especially the ones that Claire made, she is a diamond cake maker.”

Residents at Orchard House, Newport, celebrated Squirrel Appreciation Day by inviting in Tracy Dove from Zoologica to give us a fascinating talk about Red Squirrels on behalf of the IW Squirrel Trust. Not many people realise that there is such a thing as Squirrel Appreciation Day, however with our thriving, and protected, Red Squirrel communities, we regularly get to see these magnificent creatures.

Tracy showed us a DVD that highlighted a year in the life of a squirrel.  This led to many fantastic questions from the residents, and we had a wonderful discussion which then led onto nature in general and what we can do to help.

Residents learned many key facts, and some that really surprised them, such as, only 1 out of every 6 squirrels will make it past a year old, and that they need extra food put out for them during spring when their food sources are scarcer.

Resident, Pauline, said: “I was very interested in this talk. I discovered that female squirrels only come into season twice a year for one day at a time, which was very surprising, also that they eat the bones of dead animals for the calcium.”

General Manager, Kim Fleming, said: “We work very hard to ensure that we offer a broad and balanced life enrichment program. Visitors like Tracy, are very welcome, as they help us to engage with the residents, and foster their interest of the outside world, which has been particularly important in these Covid times.”

Debbie Webb, Head of Lifestyle, said: “We have at least 2 of them who visit our grounds and delight residents with their antics on almost a daily basis.  We learned today about the Squirrel Project and are keen to report our sightings to them, and residents decided that we should put out more bowls of water and hazelnuts to help keep them healthy.”

Residents of Orchard House Care Home have been participating with Year 2 children from Broadlea Primary School in an art project.  As part of their Personal Development Learning, the collaboration gave the students a purposeful reason to learn how to paint portraits.  The residents were only too happy to help and had their head and shoulders photographed ready to send to the children.

The children enjoyed looking at other portrait artists, then learned to draw and painting facial features. They spent many weeks studying the photos of the residents and then replicating them. To make them extra special, the children wrote a little note to wish the residents Happy New Year.

Emily McCarty, Y2 teacher, said “the children have had many discussions about how Covid has affected the elderly. The children were really excited to do something nice for the residents.”

The residents were so pleased to receive their portraits and eager to share them with each other and with staff.  Some put them up on their wall straight away, others spent a long while studying them intently, but all were so delighted.

General Manager, Kim Fleming, said “We are so grateful to the students of Broadlea Primary for their delightful portraits, I know that the residents were thrilled. We are thankful to the school for creating a way that our residents can interact with the community, which is something we are always looking for. Residents particularly find intergenerational projects fulfilling.”

Head of Lifestyle, Debbie Webb, said “These portraits have had a huge impact on our residents, the buzz around the home that day was wonderful, and there was so much laughter and so many smiles, everyone interacting together, it really made the day special.”

Resident, Malcom, said “the portraits were simply marvellous, there was such attention to detail which is wonderful in children so young, there are lots of budding artists in that school.”

Broadlea’s Art coordinator, Ali Bonnick, said “it was lovely to make links with our local community and show how art can have a real purpose, like being used to reach out to others and make them smile, rather than just being something made in a classroom and taken home.  Hopefully this has allowed pupils to realise that art has an important place in the world and how powerful its effect can be.”

Staff at Orchard House Care Home have entertained residents with their Christmas antics this December. On Elf Day staff dressed up as elves and their jingle bells could be heard all over the home, the residents could certainly tell where the staff were! Sascha Powell was voted by the residents as the best dressed elf, and she won herself a bottle of wine!

After some Elf crafting from the residents, there was a hunt the elf game. As many of our residents require wheelchairs, the game was adapted to suit. Residents had to close their eyes, staff then hid some elves, and then the residents had to see if they could spot them! There were some very creative hiding places!

The highlight of the day was when residents threw snowballs (polystyrene ones) at the “naughty staff elves”. Residents had so much fun and were quite worn out by the end. Snowballs that made contact with the elves were logged and we had a grand winner, Lillian Prowse, who hit the most elves and won herself some chocolate!

Lillian, a resident, said “What a wonderful day, I really enjoyed throwing snowballs at the staff – what a great Christmas activity”, needless to say this will now become a yearly event!!

Christmas Jumper Day gave staff another opportunity to dress up for the residents, with a variety of Christmas outfits being worn.  Staff added all sorts of Christmas accessories too, and the residents enjoyed admiring all the outfits being sported.

Resident, Sheila, said “It’s always lovely when the staff dress up, it makes the place brighter and more cheerful”.