Activities at Pentland View Care Home

Staff and residents at Pentland care home were treated to an interactive virtual floristry masterclass courtesy of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski, from Blooming Haus. 

Blooming Haus started with a small pop-up shop in Chelsea.  They have since blossomed spectacularly on to the floristry scene as ‘floral engineers’, carving themselves an outstanding reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative floral design studios.

Staff and residents at Pentland View were treated to an armchair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s furniture company, followed by a mindfulness session led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.

Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980’s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackletons as their Health and Wellness Adviser.

Shackletons and Diana both celebrate the importance of exercise, a healthy diet and mindfulness, particularly in later living. Diana has been working with Shackletons since 2019 to promote their bespoke seating. She has produced a series of exercise videos extolling the virtues of gentle exercise in a Shackletons chair.

All at Pentland View said a special thank you to the pupils of Pennyland Primary School, and their teachers who have formed a "Penpal Club" with some of our residents. They started writing to each other before lockdown, then continued to send our residents lovely letters and cards over the past year. Our residents especially enjoyed the handmade boxes of sweets they received for Christmas. The pupils also sent a lovely message to our staff, as seen in the photo.

We have some keen gardeners at Pentland View, and recently we have been planting some flowers and vegetables from seed. Watch this space to see how our garden develops! The last photo shows some flowers our residents planted last year

Staff and residents at Pentland were treated to a photographic tour and talk about the era of ocean travel by V&A Dundee Curator, Charlotte Hale.  The presentation forms part of a series of six talks and virtual tours that V&A Dundee is hosting for Barchester Healthcare’s care homes and private hospitals across the UK.

Charlotte’s presentation took residents on a journey through V&A Dundee’s inaugural exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed and Style. Though the golden age of ocean travel has long since passed, the ocean liner still remains a potent symbol of 20th century modernity. The talk explored the romantic and remarkable age of ocean travel through the design stories of the Titanic, Normandie, the Queen Mary and the Canberra, from their engineering and interior design to the creation of an aspirational lifestyle and the stunning fashions worn on board.

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Pentland were treated to an interactive virtual cookery demo courtesy of chef, Alex Connell, from Vegetarian for Life.

Alex says “It was an absolute pleasure to be able to prepare these dishes for the Barchester residents and even more so because they got to taste them, despite my not being able to be there in person. Thanks to all the chefs in Barchester homes across the country who supported me to deliver this really lovely activity.”