Activities at South Chowdene Care Home

Over the last few months, South Chowdene has had a fair bit of involvement with groups in the local community. Over Easter, we donated eggs to the Low Fell Scooter Club, who took them to children in hospital and homes as part of their annual Easter egg run.

We have been very lucky to have 2 Duke of Edinburgh candidates working with us as part of their community service module. They helped all but raise the roof during a singalong, encouraged ‘green fingers’ at the start of sunflower planting, decorated the home and manned the residents’ stall at the Spring Fair, and finally they helped out with a great game of bingo – thank you very much to Saskia and Michelle; we hope you achieve your award soon.

The ‘Minnie Vinnies’ from St Peter’s Primary School have made and donated ‘emergency admission bags’ for residents coming to us from the hospital with short notice. They have thought very carefully about what needs to go in and we’re sure they will be very comforting to anyone arriving. We look forward to working with ‘Minnie Vinnies’ in the future. Thank You!

South Chowdene celebrated National Poetry Day with a visit from local author, Hazel Stevenson. Hazel has written 3 books based in the North East about its history, culture and sense of humour.

Residents, staff and visitors had a look at a section of one of the books and chatted about memories of that time, such as the evacuation during the war and the land girls. Hazel also brought along some items pertaining to countryside life of that time with her, which also sparked a lot of discussion and laughter.

We also celebrated our own literary talents:

Muriel Falkenburg has written many short stories showing her fantastic understanding of young people and limitless imagination, as well as stories mirroring her own life experiences during the war.

Leo Honour is a published writer with a book about his life in the North East as a son, husband, father and breadwinner making it through some testing times with polio.

Both residents read excerpts of their books to other residents, who enjoyed listening and immersing themselves in the memories and feelings of those times.

South Chowdene got into the spirit of Comic Relief alongside the rest of the country on Friday 15th March.

Staff, residents and relatives enjoyed fun and games and lots of cakes to mark the occasion. The team sported red noses and residents made traybakes, which were sold to raise money for the cause. Residents enjoyed seeing the staff in ‘fancy dress’, and some tried noses and boppers on themselves.

It was a fun day and visitors really loved the atmosphere of the home.

South Chowdene residents really do like a singalong! They absolutely adored Mike Memphis, who came in to serenade us on the anniversary of Elvis birthday. Staff were amazed at the reaction he got.

Residents requested that he come back again as soon as possible, both after the show and at the quarterly residents’ meeting. Mike was great with everyone there and many can smile over and over again at the pictures they had taken with him.

Here at South Chowdene, we decided it would be nice to get the photo memories out for 2018 and celebrate everything that happened and everyone who made contributions, made us smile or gave us a laugh.

To get the event going, the Low Fell Ukes got us all singing and shaking shakers, which sent us all down memory lane for starters, and then we came to the main part – the prizes! There were some big surprises for some of the residents and many were quite overwhelmed that they were noticed for who they are and what they do.

There were a lot of laughs at the various ‘categories’ for prizes, and we topped the event off with some extra special drinks and nibbles on the tea trolley.

Over the summer, South Chowdene residents carefully planted chili seeds and tended the Chili plants, keeping them hydrated over the hot months and upright during the winds by attaching them to ever-growing stakes.

Willie (a resident who used to be a farmer) kept us right as to what we should be doing to keep them tip top, alongside the other avid gardeners who enjoyed getting back to producing their own food.

We finally tasted the results of our efforts, which went down well, and we are looking forward to using the rest of the crop.