Activities at Ritson Lodge Care Home

One of our favourite singers Chris was back to entertain residents and staff this week at Ritson Lodge. 

Our live music programme is an essential part of our varied activities calendar and we are fortunate to enjoy a range of music entertainers. Our Activities Coordinators ensure that every resident is able to enjoy activities designed for them. 

Shoe box challenge complete. Ritson Lodge residents, families, and staff filled shoe boxes with toys and other gifts to be donated to those in need at Christmas. We managed to collect a huge range of donations and these will all make a difference to the families involved. 

We are proud to have played our part for this fantastic cause. Thank you to everyone who donated with us.

In February 1971 Britain adopted a decimal currency. This was a momentous event for the whole country, with every man, woman and child having to change the way they used money. Handling and chatting about pre-decimal coins can be a positive and nostalgic experience for people who lived through the changeover so, as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, the Royal Mint Museum has developed reminiscence sessions.

The reminiscence session takes the form of a ‘Museum in a Box’, which contains replicas and original objects from the time for people to handle. Each object is fitted with a special micro-chip which, when placed on the box, play audio clips specific to that object. This can be a fun and stimulating activity, giving people who lived through the changeover an opportunity to talk about their memories.

At Ritson Lodge we had a fantastic time last week with this. All of the younger members of staff were absolutely stumped trying to identify each coin and became very confused when challenged to add them up, or provide change to a transaction - whereas most of our residents (and some older staff) could still do this after a bit of thinking!

Yesterday, Barchester held it's annual Care Awards to celebrate the fantastic individuals and teams that work so hard to ensure all our residents receive the very best care.

Ritson Lodge won the prestigious Team Of The Year award for Barchester's Central Division - meaning that they came out on top of the 75 homes in the division.

This week decided if we were to be the National Champions. Whilst sadly Ritson did not win the National Team Of The Year award we were very proud to have gotten so far and honoured to be in such distinguished company with the other divisional winners.

We celebrated by watching the award ceremony, dressing up in our evening wear, sipping some bubbly and enjoying the wonderful catering provided by the kitchen team.

We make sure that every resident gets to be a King or Queen for their birthday at Ritson Lodge. 

This week we said a huge Happy Birthday to Betty who had a great day with a tea party, cake, balloons and music. 

At Ritson Lodge we believe that variety is the spice of life, so we aim to have a wide range of activities that allow residents to brush up on old skills, experience new things, and have lots of fun.

This week we have held a wine tasting masterclass, provided by Barchester Healthcare's Divisional Hospitality Manager, Christophe Noel, and we have also held our regular flower arranging club which gives residents the opportunity to develop new skills and decorate our beautiful home.