Activities at Overslade House Care Home

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."

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.

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!

After almost 26 years of continuous service at Overslade House Care Home in Rugby, Warwickshire a much-loved Carer Team Leader, Dee Langham has decided to retire.

Staff and residents at the home sent Dee off in style with flowers and presents to thank her for many years of dedication. Staff got together and held a party for Dee with food prepared by Head Chef, Corey Leake. Everyone at the home has very fond memories of Dee and she will be sadly missed.

During her time at Overslade House, Dee has worked her way up from being a Care Assistant to Team Leader. 

Dee said: “Overslade House Care Home is like a family to me and although I’m looking forward to retirement, I’m really going to miss everyone here so much, I have to say I would not have stayed 26 years if it wasn’t for the fact I was so happy here!”

Violeta Baesu, Senior General Manager at Overslade House said: “Dee is one of those people who was born to care for others – she has such a huge heart and was greatly loved by the individuals living at Overslade House Care Home. She was an inspiration to her colleagues and we will all miss her. We wish her all the best!”

Here at Overslade House, residents spent a lovely afternoon with family and friends. They enjoyed virtual live theatre from the Barn Theatre in the Cotswolds, with a performance of 'Some Mothers Do Ave Em'.

Residents enjoyed fresh popcorn and tasty ice cream during the interval and there were lots of belly laughs. The actors playing Frank Spencer and Betty were absolutely brilliant!!

Keep your eyes peeled for more of these events soon...we already know we have A Christmas Carol from the Old Vic Theatre London in December and we can't wait!

World Animal Day is celebrated yearly on October 4th to align with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and animals. So here at Overslade, we decided to arrange a little visit to the home.

Residents here at Overslade were thrilled to meet the The Alpaca Pals again, who stayed with us for a whole 2 hours.

The Alpacas visited residents in their rooms and lounges and some of the residents were able to feed carrots to Dante, the cream Alpaca and Hagan, the chocolate Alpaca.

The Alpacas behaved impeccably again and we're already looking forward to the next visit!