Activities at St Thomas Care Home

Our activities coordinator is dedicated to organising meaningful activities on an individual and group basis to fulfill the daily needs of our residents, as we understand how important mental and physical stimulation is for their wellbeing. Our activities are available to everyone who wants to take part and there is something different going on everyday. We often go out on day trips including visiting shopping centres, garden centres, evening meals at the local pubs, visits to local schools and also coffee mornings with other care homes. We have a wide range of entertainers that visit us at our home including musical therapists, Millers Ark Farm, pantomimes as well as our local salvation army and lots more. We encourage families to join us on trips out and also in home activities such as baking, arts and crafts, dancing and singing, we believe this is a great way for our residents to live an active and fun life here with us at St Thomas.

Enriching life
Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Charlie Burns

Activities Lead

Hello!

I'm Charlie and I am the Activities Lead here at St Thomas. I have worked for Barchester since 2017, and have recently transferred here to the wonderful St Thomas Care Home.

I enjoy delivering enriching and fun activities to the residents here and am looking forward to meeting you!

Life-encriching activities booklet

Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure

Activities and Events Partnerships

As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies

Life at St Thomas Care Home

Friendship Day

To mark Friendship Day, the carers at St Thomas asked members of the community to write to residents in the home.

We were thrilled to receive quite a number of cards, and now the residents are busy writing back.

They have really enjoyed reading the cards and letters sent, and this has also sparked some lovely memories and discussions about their younger years.

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103rd Birthday Celebrations

Nellie celebrated her 103rd birthday in style. Following a request to the local community via Facebook to try and get Nellie 103 cards for her 103rd birthday, they overwhelmed the Home with their response.

Nellie received 450 birthday cards, personalised birthday cakes and cupcakes. Morrisons donated a cream tea for all of the residents and staff to celebrate with her, and she even had her own balloon sculptures made.

Local and national newspapers picked up the story, which saw Nellie then appear in the Daily Express.

Nellie also received a personal video message from the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr Dianne Taylor, which she enjoyed watching with her daughter and son, who were able to visit her for the first time since March.

Nellie told us all that the secret to a long life is hard work and gin!

A Poem and a Hug

We recognise that both our residents and relatives have now not seen each other for a considerable period of time. Although the residents keep in touch with their loved ones through Zoom and phone calls, it is a difficult time for all.

St Thomas sent out this poem and a ‘hug’ keyring to loved ones. Residents also wrote or dictated messages to their loved ones on the poem, just to give them that extra personalised touch.

St Thomas has been receiving calls from families saying how touched they have been to receive them. We want to thank all our relatives for their continued support of the home. The kind comments and gifts, which have been sent in for the staff have meant so much to them.

Guess Who?

Staff brought in pictures of themselves in their younger years. We then printed off pictures of the staff now, and residents had to pair the pictures up. This was an activity that brought about a lot of reminiscing from the residents, with the main subject being what they wore when they were a child and where they grew up. There was also a lot of giggling around pictures of the team when they were younger.

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Keeping In Touch with the Community

St Thomas has been keeping in touch with the community during the lockdown, and have been thrilled to receive cards of kindness and support.

We have also received a personalised plaque, after one of the care team joined a community Facebook group.

These cards and the plaque have given a real boost to the residents and staff, and the residents love reading the cards and talking about the pictures.

Where the senders of the postcards have given their address, the residents have written back to them to say hello and thank you.

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Spring Gardening

Summer is finally upon us, and with the help of some of the residents, the maintenance team have done a stirling job of getting the garden ship shape

It took a week's hard work from all involved to bring the garden back from a long winter rest.

The residents have been enjoying the glorious sunshine with the occasional shandy, spritzer and coke float.