Activities at St Thomas Care Home

Residents are out and about on the mini bus again and were able to take a trip out today into Basingstoke. With a beautiful handmade wreath, made by the residents they went to lay it at the Basingstoke Cenotaph to commemorate VE day and pay their respects.

Staff and residents celebrated International Jazz Day on April 30 by creating their very own day-long festival of jazz complete with local jazz musician Omari Johnson-Daley who played in the visiting suite for residents!

International Jazz Day highlights the diplomatic role jazz plays in uniting people from all corners of the globe.  Jazz music was originally a blend of African, Latin and European forms and styles that first became popular in the 1920s. 

Staff and residents at the home marked the day with a whole host of fun activities, they learned the history of jazz and indulged in the tasting of various prohibition cocktails.

General Manager, Fatmata Cochrane said: “Lots of our residents are big jazz fans so we had to celebrate International Jazz Day. They really enjoyed picking out their favourite tracks, reminiscing about how they came to love jazz and what it meant to them at different times of their lives.  I think we also had some jazz converts today!”

Residents and staff were treated to an exciting virtual tour of Five Sisters Zoo, hosted by Head of Education, Adam Welsh.

Five Sisters Zoo is a family run zoo with over 160 different animal species from around the world.  Originally a garden centre that helped to rehome unwanted pets, the animal collection grew and grew until the zoo was officially founded in 2005.  Now Five Sisters Zoo is the most visited wildlife attraction in West Lothian.

Gone are the days when a visit to the zoo was merely a fun day out.  Adam’s presentation showed all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at the zoo and explored the vital conservation, rescue and education work carried out at Five Sisters.

The session explored the fascinating rescue stories behind four lions and five European bears, before highlighting the vital Eurasian beaver conservation work that is carried out. Some other highlights included finding out about how and why Five Sisters Zoo helped to re-home two female snow leopards and discovering the captive breeding programmes they are involved with.

Adam says: “We really enjoyed being able to show the Barchester residents some of the fantastic animals we have at Five Sisters Zoo, we are very proud of the work our brilliant teams do.  We were just so happy to be able to share our passion for wildlife conservation and animal rescue.”

Residents spent a morning arranging flowers we had collected from our own garden, no miles travelled so very Eco friendly! We displayed the vases around the home for everyone to enjoy and it felt like Spring was really here  

We have been welcoming nominated visitors into the home since early March and now residents can see more of their loved ones in the garden to enjoy afternoon tea or a special birthday celebration. It was a delight for a four legged visitor to come and see a resident in their room - you can see in the picture the joy on her face after nearly a year apart 

As part of our continued partnership with V&A Dundee residents enjoyed a "Creating V&A Dundee" virtual talk by Peter Nurick, the Museum’s Communities Producer with refreshments and delicious homemade cakes.

Everyone at the home had the opportunity to discover the fascinating story behind the origins of V&A Dundee – Scotland’s design museum and the latest addition to the country’s list of instantly recognisable buildings.

They heard how the history of the city and site inspired the architect to draw from a range of unusual sources to create a thoroughly modern museum that is as intriguing as it is complex. The presentation showed incredible images of the entire design and construction process – from initial concept to opening celebration – as well as sharing a few of the building’s lesser-known secrets! It was a testament to the skills and creativity of all of those who brought the museum to life.