Activities at South Chowdene Care Home

Residents at South Chowdene Care Home care home in Low Fell, run by Barchester Healthcare, are celebrating National Carers’ Week, which takes place from June 7-13. Residents wanted to thank all the wonderful staff at the home, whose hard work and dedication make a real difference to the lives of those living in their care.

Carers Week is an annual event to raise awareness of caring, highlighting the challenges carers face, and recognising the contribution they make to our residents, families and communities throughout the UK. The theme for Carers Week this year is ‘Making caring visible and valued’ - to shine a light on all those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to care for vulnerable people in our communities.

South Chowdene residents took this event very seriously ensuring we attract bees, use their honey creatively and above all taste products made from honey. It all started a couple of days before the 20th when we had a go at making honey and chocolate truffles which had to set in the fridge and residents kept asking if they were ready to taste yet?

We got our green fingers out and planted some Forget me nots. They are currently in small pots but will be planted out in the garden when they are strong enough to attract bees into the garden.

After the planting, we took a well-earned rest and had a cuppa and slice of honey cake made by our chef Babs,  which Peggy in particular found exceedingly good – move over Mr Kipling!

South Chowdene residents managed to celebrate both days at once concentrating on Shakespeare in the morning and St George in the afternoon. We watched some fantastic clips of Shakespeare plays and discussed our memories of having seen them before or having studied them at school. Babs in the kitchen made us a very English meal to get us in the mood for the St George’s quiz and England quizzes. We were able to get outside for these and apart from soaking up some sun, we enjoyed getting to know a lot of interesting facts and found out who we would take to a pub quiz.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s South Chowdene care home in Gateshead 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. The company is the vision of Master Florist, Michal Kowalski and his business partner, Michael Dariane. The pair bring a completely fresh approach to floristry and their ambition to push the boundaries of traditional floristry has laid the foundations of Blooming Haus’ success to date.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s South Chowdene 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.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s South Chowdene 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.