Activities at Ottley House Care Home
At Ottley House, we offer a person-centred activities programme, and aim to match residents' abilities and interests with meaningful activities of the correct degree of challenge that promotes their health and well-being. We also provide visual, tactile, audible and olfactory sensory experiences. There are weekly music/movement therapy sessions, 'Oomph' sessions, and arts & crafts classes to help improve, maintain and refine motor skills. We enjoy regular visits from entertainers, musicians and animal therapists, as well as pub nights, 'food from around the world' days, and minibus outings to places of interest.
Alex Evans
My name is Alex and I am the Activities Co-ordinator at Ottley house care home.
I am passionate about enhancing the lives of our residents the home and aim to bring a smile to their faces through different types of activities. My personality is warm, enthusiastic, bright and bubbly and i aim to share this each day at work. I am keen to involve the residents in the decision making within the home to enhance their experience through gathering their likes and dislikes. Come and join us for our life enrichment programmes which promote social interaction, mental stimulation and physical well-being.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Ottley House Care Home
Getting Ready for Christmas
Throughout November we’ve been doing many activities to get ready for the festive season.
One of the first activities we did was decorating wooden Christmas ornaments for the trees so each resident could have one with their names on. One resident commented they hadn’t done painting since they were in school and forgot how fun it was.
We’ve also had a demonstration from one of our chefs, Milen, who showed our residents how to make a Christmas cake. They all enjoyed tasting the ingredients.
Our dementia residents have enjoyed making Santa countdown to Christmas clock faces and helping with making centre pieces for the dining room tables for Christmas day. We’ve had a busy month and our residents are so excited to see what December brings.
Holy Communion
On the second Sunday of every month, we have a Holy communion service.
The residents look forward to this service every month where they receive communion. We have a priest come in who is a family member to one of our residents.
Communion means togetherness, and it’s a ritual to show peoples togetherness of Christians and God. At communion the priest gives individuals bread, which is a symbol for Jesus body being broken and wine, which is a symbol of Jesus' blood being spilled. They do this because it's the two signs Jesus shared at the last supper before he was crucified.
Our residents cherish the moment every time they have communion. The priest always has a nice message for our residents to think about too.
When the service is getting close to an important celebration, such a Christmas or Easter, the priest themes the communion around that time, and the residents say it makes that service even better.
The residents really enjoy having the communion as it make them feel together and that they all have something in common.
Celebrating Bonfire Night
On Tuesday the 5th November, our residents wanted to have fun and celebrate bonfire night.
We spent the day learning about the history of Bonfire night. Learning the history of things is one of our residents' favourite things to do.
As the day went on the residents were getting all excited as they were chatting to each other about it.
One resident said its been years since they’ve done any sparklers. At around 5.30pm the residents that wanted to have a go with sparklers came to the lounge. We went out the back of the home and they all lit up with joy as each sparkler was lit. Even the staff got involved.
Everyone tried to spell their names but it was harder than we all thought. It was a great day and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Poppy the Cockatiel
In our home we have a cockatiel called Poppy who's been in our home for around 10 years and our residents love her, we got her when she was only a baby.
They love to sit and have chats about their lives and days to her. They see Poppy as part of their family and their friend.
They look forward to when we have her out flying around the lounge, but we have to make sure the doors and windows are shut or she might get out.
One of the residents' favourite visits is when Poppy comes around to their rooms and they get to see her on a 1-1 basis.
Poppy makes them smile and helps to make their days brighter when they can hear her singing down the corridors.
Celebrating the care awards
On Wednesday 23rd October our amazing nurse Jo Hicks was up for Barchester’s Nurse of the year after winning divisional winner earlier in the year. Jo is an amazing nurse who puts 110% into all work she does, whether that’s supporting family’s, residents or members of staff in the home. We decorated Ottley with a banner and balloon art. All our residents and staff were excited to celebrate. We had a buffet so we could watch the award and all wore masks and had signs up. It was a really great day and we were really proud of what Jo does for the home.
The Alb donating pizzas!
The Alb is a local pub and restaurant, recently, they kindly donated lots of fresh, delicious pizzas to the home for residents and staff to enjoy.
Who doesn’t love pizza!? There was pepperoni, Margarita and many more flavours to choose from.
The staff and residents said it was lovely to connect with the local community in this way and we all hope we can do this more in the near future.
Upcoming events
Countdown to Christmas
Counting down the days to Christmas with a fun filled month ahead and we extend a warm invitation for you to join us as we get into the festive spirit. Merry Christmas!
