Activities at South Chowdene Care Home

Families are the foundation of society.  Now that restrictions are lifting, it is more important than ever that families get to spend as much quality time together as possible.  Staff and residents of South Chowdene Care Home in Low Fell spent International Day of Families celebrating their own families and thinking about the families of others.

International Day of Families takes place on 15th May.  It was established by the UN in 1993 to raise awareness of the issues faced by families across the world. International Day of Families highlights the important role than families play in communities and recognises the changes that family structures have undergone over the years, and are continuing to experience.

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

Chef Alex whipped up some tasty, healthy vegetarian snacks in a live, interactive cookery demo.  Much to residents’ delight, South Chowdene head chef had prepared the same recipes so that residents could try all the dishes. Residents sampled delicious, light and summery veggie dishes including Borlotti bean and dill pate, Greek fritters with Tzatziki and Coronation 'chicken' pastries. All finished off with a sweet and simple but totally yummy banana bread.

Residents at South Chowdene had great fun from the ‘get go’ during the Aintree Meet selecting horses they thought would win and cheering them on to the line. We had a few ‘warm up’ races in the days leading up to the Grand National but then it was time to really get serious and study some form in order to pick the winner. Residents really got into the spirit wearing their best frocks and donning hats to spur their horses on. Ros Friend picked the National winner and enjoyed the glory as well as her prize.

Residents got incredibly creative over the Easter period not only making Easter cards for our Penpals at Larkspur primary, but also making cards for Great-Grandchildren as well as decorations for the home. Residents battled it out to produce the best Easter basket and enjoyed painting chicks and rabbits for the Season Tree and ‘Rabbit Farm’.

After all this hard work it was party time on Good Friday and a chance to relax a little to read the letters and cards our Penpals had sent to us. Those who had made Easter Bonnets took part in the Bonnet Parade on Easter Monday with Edna coming out as the winner for her design and hard work and Evelyn Corrigan came in a very close second. Well done both and a big Thank You to everyone who helped make the home look festive for Easter.

Barchester’s South Chowdene Care Home, in Low Fell, celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi, which takes place on March 28th and 29th.

Holi is a fun-packed festival that marks the end of winter and the start of spring, it focuses on love and new life.  Holi celebrates the Hindu god Krishna and the legend of Holika and Prahlad.  One of the messier festivals, Holi is also known as the festival of colours and is celebrated by the throwing of colourful powder paint and coloured water along with singing and dancing.

On this relatively quiet St Patrick’s day around and about, South Chowdene residents really showed some Irish spirit over an Irish quiz and pitting their wits against each other in an Irish fun facts knockout. There was fiddle music to warm the tapping feet up before residents experienced some awe inspiring Irish dance. Residents in rooms were also serenaded and we thought a few might go through the ceiling they were chair dancing and foot tapping so hard!

Residents were ready for Steak and Guinness pie and had a Baileys Knickerbocker Glory to wash it down with. The Irish cookery masterclass attendees just couldn’t wait for the tea trolley though to give the tray bake and Baileys Tiffin they had made a try. Those who felt that missing out Soda Bread during real bread week had their dreams come true as Soda Bread samples appeared on the tea trolley.