Activities at Park View Care Home

It was November 2024, and we were contacted by Barking and Dagenham College, who we have been collaborating with on a variety of projects for the past three years, when a student, Ketty Welsh reached out to us and asked us if she could do a project on a resident, Henrietta Hedges. The project would be about her life as a dancer and her roller coaster of life experiences she had to share. 

Once we had everyone’s approval, Ketty started to visit Parkview so she could get to know Henrietta, slowly assisting her to remember her life story with support from the staff of Parkview and Tasha, Henrietta’s sister. Every time Ketty visited she uncovered another story, with many making us all have fits of laughter, but they were always interesting, and with each visit Ketty took some photographs of Henrietta posing, reminding her of her days under the spotlight and of how much she loved the camera and the camera loved her. 

After several visits, Ketty had got to know about Henrietta’s amazing life. The college decided to turn the project into an exhibition for all the other photography students to learn from. The date had been set for 11th February and finally the day was here with all those involved being extremely excited as so much work had gone on in the background to make this possible. Once Henrietta was ready, wearing some beautiful, elegant, theatrical clothes that Tasha had brought in especially for the exhibition, herself and some of her friends from The Parkview all took a gentle drive to the college and arrived at the venue where we met the photography tutor, students and Henrietta’s brother and sister all waiting for the star of the show. 

Soon enough, the exhibition started with some sensual, mesmerising ballet music as a projector showed several slides of the photographs that Ketty had taken of Henrietta and a number of narrative slides that told Henrietta’s life story in her own words. Also displayed at the exhibition was a number of very old and rare costumes that had been worn by Henrietta’s dance tutor for everyone to look in amazement at how wonderful they all were. As a surprise for everyone, Tasha was asked if she could talk about Henrietta’s life on her behalf, as they had both attended the same dance school with Tasha still teaching and also being a qualified ballet examiner. 

She started Henrietta’s story with some pictures of Henrietta performing and how she started ballet at just 3 years old and from that how she had starred in a production that her mother had directed at a local theatre called Godspell. Then she shared how Henrietta and Tasha had joined the Russian dance school of Legat, who at that time the head teacher was Mrs Bartell and was the same person whose estate had provided the dance costumes on display. After Henrietta had trained as a professional ballet dancer, she was off around the world, parts in several productions with her favourite being a tour of Australia in the production HAIR. 

At around the age of 27 Henrietta decided to have a change of direction and wanted to work as a dresser for theatre and film, where she got to meet many famous people with her favourite people. She got to dress Clarke Peters and Albert Finney whom the latter she became smitten over with Henrietta remembering how he used to wine and dine her and treat her like a princess for over two years and only lost contact after the end of filming. 

Henrietta at around the same time, also made hairpieces for many famous West end musicals and wrote several songs. Tasha ended the talk about Henrietta’s life by saying how she had always been artistic and loved the world of dance and the arts with a deep passion that had been passed on to Henrietta and all of her brothers and sisters by their mother and father. As the exhibition had come to a close, Henrietta received a standing ovation from all the students and college representatives. After saying a few tearful goodbyes, we took a slow journey back to Parkview, reminiscing on our amazing Henrietta’s life story.

The impact of the exhibition made Henrietta feel special and purposeful, boosting her confidence through the roof, showing how some residents have had life experiences and stories to tell that could amaze everyone and anyone with Henrietta being just one of our many shinning stars. Everyone present at the exhibition found Henrietta’s life journey very emotional, as we all re-lived her life in dance. The feedback from Henrietta’s brother George said how elegant and stunning she looked on such a special night. Tasha summed it up by saying it was magical for her. It is feedback like this that continues to inspire us to go beyond the call of duty to bring stimulating life enrichment to enhance the quality of life so all our residents feel loved, cared for and part of the Parkview family, creating memories they can treasure forever.

It was 25th January and time for James's planned outing. After discussions with James about possible options, we decided to visit an aircraft museum in the village of Shenley. Once James was ready to leave, we took a comfortable drive to the De Havilland Air Museum, which has a rich, deep-rooted history of the timeline of aviation in Great Britain. 

The family were involved with many inventions, including the moth that revolutionised the 1920s, the mosquito, a wooden aircraft used in World War 2, the comet, a pioneering passenger jet, and the DH.82 tiger moth, one of the most famous aircrafts of all time, used to train pilots for World War 2 plus many more. 

Once we arrived, we took a slow walk around looking at all the different aeroplanes, engines and propellers. James was interested in knowing the history of each plane and from which era they were from. So, we spent time finding out the information on each aircraft. After we had walked around the whole museum reading up on each aircraft and engine, and how they had changed the world of aviation for Great Britain, we decided to make our way to the on site coffee shop so we could have some refreshments. 

Then James chose an orange Fanta, maltsters and a ham and cheese toasty so we could relax and reflect on our favourite parts of the museum. Before we left, we decided to go to the gift shop where James picked model helicopters and two model aeroplanes for us to build together as an extra activity. We then took a gentle drive back to Parkview, where we had the opportunity to think back about our day out. The impact of this activity stimulates James to have new hobbies and interests, increases his alertness, social skills, communication, independence and empowerment to make choices, also decreasing his anxiousness and frustration, thus encouraging James to have an overall calmness about himself. 

The feedback from James about this new type of activity is that he enjoys being directly involved in helping hand pick each trip. This has demonstrated a positive change of direction in his quality of life so that he receives person-centred care activities that impact on his mind, body and soul, allowing us to have the pleasure of delivering life enrichment, to give James a purpose and feel loved, cared for and part of the Parkview family. 

Bill went to London to see only fools and horses!

Bill had watched the programme since he was a kid and was so excited when they brought out tickets, he had to go, and he had to be front row! 

He had the best time!

Barchester’s Park View Nursing Home, in Dagenham, got in the Christmas spirit by hosting a Brass Band concert in the Nursing Home for residents.

The Christmas celebrations were in full swing with the Brass Band, festive food, and special visitors including Barking & Dagenham Mayor and Provider and Quality Officer Brenda Ebenezer. Residents enjoyed a feast of festive foods prepared by the home’s chef, before they danced and sang along to the music. To bring the concert to an end, one of our residents completed a special performance singing his all-time favourite ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra.

Senior Manager, Renata Kindereviciene said: “Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year and our fantastic residents love to get festive so we’ve pulled out all the stops.  It is so lovely to see them all getting into the Christmas spirit, it’s definitely my favourite time of year.”

Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.

Park View Nursing Home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Park View Nursing Home provides nursing care, residential care, respite care. 

After several discussions with James about his interests, he requested to go out on more trips one to one, so after some planning, we decided to make this a regular activity so that we can stimulate James' mind, body and soul with a variety of trips and activities. For the 5th January, we arranged his first trip, and we decided to take him to a beautiful natural history museum in the village of Tring that was once owned by a member of the Rothschild family. After a gentle drive, we arrived at the museum. 

James could not believe his eyes at all the amazing animals from all around the world. He marvelled at all types of bears, monkeys, tigers, lions, birds and even elephants. James was so impressed he asked if I could get him some paper and a pencil so he could draw the polar bear on display. As we continued to walk around, we also got to see lots of sadly extinct animals, such as the dodo, the great Moa and many others which we helped James read and understand the descriptions of all the animals and the different countries that they were from. 

James continued to be mesmerised throughout the immersive experience, enhancing his alertness, reducing his anxiousness and leaving James with an overall calmness about him. Sadly, once we had completed walking around the whole museum, we decided to stop for some refreshments in the onsite coffee shop, giving us the opportunity to reflect on our day out and what bits we liked the best. James mentioned that he loved the feel of fox's fur and was surprised how soft and thick it was. 

After we had finished our refreshments, James requested to go into the gift shop. After a look around, James selected a Lego dinosaur for us to build together, some top trump cards of the animals we had seen, a t.rex replica egg and a display of the planets in our solar system. We then decided to take a slow drive back to Parkview as we remembered our fun day out. 

The impact of this activity helped James to feel independent, empowered to make choices for himself and confidence in a personal-centred care environment overall, leaving James with a sense of purpose. James always gives us positive feedback and shows his excitement and gratitude, inspiring us to continue to go above and beyond so he feels loved, cared for and part of the Parkview family.

Parkview drove into London to see the Christmas lights turn on and all the beautiful decorations in London.

The residents love the drive around in the mini bus and we even stopped for fish and chips on the way home!