Activities at Overslade House Care Home
Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.
Our activities team is dedicated to organising a variety of events and activities and adapting them to suit the capabilities of those we support. Our goal is to improve quality of life by providing activities that are tailored to residents' own interests.
At Overslade House, we encourage local people and businesses to participate, as well as our staff and relatives, in order to keep them involved as part of a wider community. We strive to enhance the quality of both mental and physical stimulation through weekly minibus excursions, PAT dogs, quizzes, Zumba classes, arm chair line dancing, musical entertainers, pamper sessions and much more.
We definitely have something for everyone!
Julie Bateman
Hi, my name is Julie, and I'm the lead Activities Lead here at Overslade House. I've been an entertainer for over 25 years which has given me a great foundation for meeting people from various backgrounds, and has also helped nurture my social skills.
I love animals, and have two Dachshunds of my own who, like me, love meeting new people. I'm looking forward to bringing them in to meeting all our lovely residents here at Overslade.
I'm a bit of a social butterfly and enjoy visiting National Trust locations, attending the Theatre, singing and dining out. Over the years I've even been an 'extra' on TV!
Living life to the full is my motto, and I wish to instil this in all our residents, whatever your ability there is something new to learn or try. Life is for enriching and enjoyment. I look forward to getting to know you and your loved ones. We are always open to new ideas, if you'd like to contact me please call the home on 01788 522577 or email me direct on overslade.activities@barchester.com - New entertainers always welcome.
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 Overslade House Care Home
Christmas at Overslade House
Well, what a wonderful December we had with our Countdown to Christmas.
We had Live Virtual Theatre from the Old Vic in London, A Christmas Carol, visits from Hill Street Community Centre, Brooke School and Harris C of E School who joined us for our Carol Service. Residents enjoyed lovely Christmas Lunches out at Princethorpe College and Draycote Water. We had live entertainment from The Salvation Army Brass Band, Rugby Male Voice Choir, The Rugby Phoenix Ukulele Band and the Mini Concerts Christmas Show.
On Christmas Day, all presents were delivered by Santa and his helpers, wonderful food consumed and smiling faces everywhere. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming with friends and relatives looking stunning in their sparkling Christmas attire.
Many thanks to all the staff who helped to make this happen.
Warwickshire police join residents for supper
Overslade House offers Blue Light Breakfast and supper.
During January, we had a surprise visit from Warwickshire Police, who joined our residents for supper and chatted with our residents about what was happening in their local community. Our residents really appreciated the visit and said they felt safer knowing Community Support Officers were patrolling the local area.
Our doors are open any time for our Blue Light Services with hot drinks and copious supplies of home-made cake as a thank you for the services they provide for the safety and wellbeing of our residents.
Meeting the Alpacas
On Thursday, 16th January, Overslade House was joined by the team from J&J Alpacas for an exciting virtual meet-and-greet with their adorable alpacas.
‘JandJ Alpacas’ is a family-run alpaca farm in Dry Doddington, home to a herd of 134 alpacas and 2 llamas.
Residents really enjoyed meeting these furry friends and learnt some fascinating facts about them too. For instance, they live until they are 18–20 years old, they only have one row of teeth at the bottom and a plate at the top, their fur used for wool is not oily to the touch, and you can usually guess what colour a baby Alpaca, called a Cria, will be from the pairs that you match for breeding.
Residents also met some lambs and were asked to name a new addition.
Care Home's Christmas Fayre and School Visits Bring Local Community Together!
Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together at Overslade House to enjoy a wonderful Christmas Fayre.
There were all kinds of stalls on offer manned by volunteers, friends and family and lots of local stall holders came along to sell their wares too. There were lovely craft items, fabulous knitwear, Wood crafting, the list goes on!
The team at Overslade House care home would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who either manned a stall, and who came along to support the home. There was a fantastic atmosphere and in total the home raised over £40.00 for Dementia Uk with crafts made by our Memory Lane Residents, which is brilliant.
Residents were also thrilled to have visits from Brooke School who came to sing carols to the residents and also from Hill Street Community Centre who came to meet the residents, play games and meet Santa, who was one of our residents’ son Stephen Smith and who gave up his time voluntarily to meet the children.
Violeta Baesu, General Manager at the home, said: “At Overslade House, we are dedicated to making sure that the home is a hub of the local community, and these events, along with everyone’s hard work, have definitely paid off. It was a resounding success! I am so proud of everyone involved, it was a fantastic team effort."
Simply the Best
Wednesday 23 October, at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, the highly anticipated Barchester Care Awards 2024 luncheon took place, where the National Winners in each of the 18 categories were announced. Dr Pete Calveley, CEO of Barchester, came up to the stage to give a welcome speech. These awards recognise the best of the best across many skills in Barchester. The Divisional Winners for each category came together to find out who was named National Winner 2024.
Over 5,250 nominations were made by residents, relatives, staff and friends of our homes and hospitals.
The Lifetime Achievement award, was presented by Mike O'Reilly, General Counsel and Director of Quality, Risk and Compliance. The Lifetime Achievement award goes to a person who has been with Barchester for 20 years or more. Additionally to their commitment to Barchester over the years, the Lifetime Achievement award also recognises the delivery of care or support that goes over and above their job role. The recipient of this award goes the extra mile to make a difference to those around them, in their care or support office role.
The winner is Mandy Smith from Overslade House. Congratulations!
Julia Atherton, Director of Nursing and Dementia, presented the Registered Nurse of the Year award for 2024. This award recognises the dedication, commitment and professionalism of the Registered Nurse across all of our services. This individual acknowledges and is committed to achieving success by delivering the highest standards of care. They demonstrate the value and importance of leading a dedicated care team, in addition to showcasing outstanding clinical and leadership skills. This nurse is able to demonstrate a sustained track record of delivering high-quality person-centred care and making continuous quality care improvements.
The winner is Merline Geevamony from Overslade House. Congratulations!
To receive one award is a great achievement but to receive two for the same home is AMAZING!!! Once again well done Mandy Smith and Merline Geevamoney we are all so proud.
Remembrance Day Commemoration
Residents at Overslade House watched the placing of wreaths at the cenotaph on Sunday morning and were entertained by Gemma and her sentimental war time journey in the afternoon.
Overslade House had a Remembrance Quiz supplied through Oomph Wellness too! Did you know Big Ben’s clock face numbers are 60cms high?
We had a service and hymns conducted by The Gift of Years Rugby. This was followed by a 2 minute silence and the unmistakable, wonderful sound of a Hurricane doing a fly past over our home.
Today, the Hurricane is rare, with just 15 airworthy examples in the world. Fewer than five more are likely to be restored in the next 10 years. Meanwhile there are about 45 Spitfires flying, with another 25 under restoration.
What a pleasure it was to see and it sounded amazing!
Residents created a lovely work of art with Creative Mojo remembering the animals lost during the war. A Remembrance Day poem was written by Overslade House and our reception was adorned with poppies!
