Activities at Springvale Court Care Home

Residents at Springvale Court enjoyed a movie afternoon. Whilst it gently snowed outside, residents took their seats to enjoy the classic festive film, It's a wonderful life.

Judith Tully, General Manager , said: “While the film was playing – rather than disturbing our residents whilst they were watching – we went round with a trolley full of drinks and snacks, which made us feel like we were in a movie theatre.

“The film went down a storm, and we loved it along with our popcorn treats. We couldn’t stop talking about it after and saying how fantastic it was and shared our memories when we first watched the film".

Our residents were thrilled to join Antonia Keaney - Blenheim Palace’s Historian for an intriguing virtual talk on Winston Churchill.

The private resources of Blenheim Palace were drawn upon to afford very new and refreshing insights into this remarkable man. During the talk Antonia shared fascinating information about the breadth of talent, achievement and personality of the "Greatest Briton": soldier, politician, statesman, painter, writer, orator, family man - and bricklayer!

We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed learning more about UK’s former Prime Minister.

We were delighted to join Blooming Haus’s Christmas Wreath Making Masterclass, where Master Florist, Michal and his business partner - Michael showed us the best method to create beautiful festive wreaths.

Following the tips and ideas learnt during the amazing virtual experience, we were happy to put our skills to a test and to enter the #BarchesterChristmasWreaths competition.

We all had a wonderful time creating our festive wreath/s.

Thank you @bloominghaus for helping our residents flow into the true spirit of Noel.

Residents at Springvale Court took a walk on the wild side with a visit from Discovery Zoo.  Paul from Discovery Zoo took the animals around the room giving each Resident the opportunity to touch and hold them. He spend time talking and answering people’s questions.

All the Residents were keen to get involved and really enjoyed holding the unusual creatures. Some didn’t like the idea of touching or handling the creatures but still enjoyed seeing them and hearing the interesting facts about each creature. The visit from the Zoo was a really enjoyable and therapeutic experience for the Residents.

General Manager, Judith Tully said: “It is great to have such an unusual activity at the home., I enjoyed it as much as the residents and I have overcome my own fears and held a snake and we are definitely keen for them to visit us again”

We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.

ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.

Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.

Colleagues at Springvale Court celebrated National Stress Awareness day and received little treats to enjoy in their free time. National Stress Awareness Day takes place on 3 November and was set up by the International Stress Management Association, with the mission of raising awareness of the effects of psychological distress in the workplace and strategies to address it.