Activities at South Chowdene Care Home
Our home is always full of life, and we can thank our wonderful Activities Coordinators for this. Dedication to creating a unique and interesting activities programme is what sets us apart from other homes. We always take into consideration that some people would prefer to pursue their own interests, which is why our team strive to incorporative activities that cater to a wide range of tastes and hobbies. Our trips out are always fun and exciting as well, and residents are guaranteed to return with stories to tell their loved ones!
Niki Powell
I arrange meaningful activities for all of our residents based on their likes and interests. I love sharing fun times with our residents, their families and with staff. I thoroughly enjoy chatting with residents about their hobbies/interests as well as reminiscing in small groups.
Our activities extend beyond the home with trips to places of interest, places residents have enjoyed throughout their lives eg. Seaside, parks, garden centers, as well as craft/ art workshops at libraries and general interest talks around the area.
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 South Chowdene Care Home
Love is in the air for Valentines!
South Chowdene was filled with flowers, cards and sweets in celebration of St Valentine’s Day.
Staff and residents celebrated the day of love by joining with Art Diamonds to make Lego red roses to place in vases they had decorated themselves and personalised for their family members. A heart-shaped decoration was created out of fully recycled materials and there was a fantastic party with live entertainment from Gilly singing and dancing along to decorating the home and gifting each other home-made sweets, cakes and treats.
Reading Day!
We were incredibly happy to welcome Year 6 from Larkspur Community Primary School to read to us and discuss favourite books. Residents were keen to find out what sort of thing young people are now reading, and some residents brought their beautifully bound and sometimes signed books to show the youngsters.
There was a lot of discussion about life at school now compared with life at school for our residents – some of whom were evacuated for quite a bit of their school time and sometimes couldn’t get to school.
It was also a great opportunity to get to know penpals who we have been writing to for a while now but haven’t actually met in person.
Valentine's Tea Dance
Residents from South Chowdene joined other community members at The Soundrooms in Gateshead for a Valentines Tea dance. It was great to see people we knew from previous Tea Dances but also to meet new groups and find out about them.
We were treated to a delicious full Afternoon Tea with endless cups of tea which were much needed as we sang along to Jay with his fine selection of love songs. There was a little time for some dancing before settling down to watch Calamity Jane.
We left The Soundrooms feeling thoroughly relaxed and having had a lovely social reminiscence of previous times.
Valentine's Crafts
Residents had a lovely morning getting decorations ready for the Valentine's Party. We had already made a recycled heart but the lego roses were certainly a step further!
Residents designed their own vases using glass pens, ribbon, stickers and pebbles which were then filled with beautiful red lego roses.
Residents and staff alike found the roses quite fiddly, but there was a huge sense of satisfaction looking at the finished product, and we all had a fantastic time. A huge thank you to Joe, Coleen, and Phiippa.
Home present cheque to local charity
South Chowdene recently presented Elders Council of Newcastle received a grant of £320 for the cost of refreshments for arts related activities for the members of this charity aimed at improving the lives of older people.
The grant was awarded by Barchester’s Charitable Foundation, a charity that helps older people and adults with disability or mental health problems across England, Scotland and Wales by offering grants to help people connect or re-connect with others in their local community.
Colouring Competition
Children from our partner primary school were very keen to show off their colouring talents as they made Christmas scenes as well as their own compositions, bringing the season to life.
Children from the junior school submitted fantastic entries which residents had a very difficult time judging and deciding on a winner for each age group. Eventually, they managed to pinpoint down to one picture as a winner for each age group and prizes were given out at the very first celebration and achievement assembly of the year when the winners were overjoyed to receive their prizes.
Upcoming events
March
Join us as welcome the spring months and look ahead to the life enrichment and community events coming in March.
Coffee Morning - last Tuesday of the month
We extend a warm invitation for families, friends and neighbours to join us at our monthly coffee morning, last Tuesday of the month from 10.30 am.
Could you be a Volunteer?
Do you have spare time? Could you make a difference to someone's day to day activities? We'd love to hear from you.
Calling all Emergency Services - Take a break on us!
Calling all professionals - come and take a break on us! There may be a cake or two available...
