Activities at South Chowdene Care Home

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.

Residents at Barchester Healthcare’s South Chowdene Care Home, in Low Fell, celebrated Mother’s Day with music, reminiscence and laughter as well as lots of treats. The home was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and balloons for the occasion.

Staff at South Chowdene Care Home arranged daffodils and chocolates for every resident as well as music as messages from family (as far afield as New Zealand) were given to residents off the ‘Season tree’. Residents were treated to special ‘Mother’s Day’ cupcakes and tried a variety of sparkling drinks as the tea trolley went round.

General Manager, Lara Masucci said: “We all had a really lovely day. Although Mother’s Day has had to be a bit different this year, our mums have had video calls with family/we have made good use of our visiting suite to make sure lots of our residents had a visit with their loved ones.”