Activities at Strachan House Care Home

We had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.

Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.

Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.

Marie Christie has beaten all the competition to be crowned Hospitality Champion in the Barchester Care Awards 2021.

The Barchester Care Awards celebrate the staff who go the extra mile for the benefit of the 12,000 residents living in Barchester’s 248 care homes and private hospitals across the country. Categories range from ‘Registered Nurse of the Year’ and ‘Carer of the Year’ to ‘Dementia Care Champion’ and ‘Activities Coordinator of the Year’.

More than 2,900 nominations were received from homes and hospitals across the UK. All entries were a very high standard and Marie is over the moon to have been named the national winner in this category.

We had a great time joining journalist and novelist, Mike Gayle, for an intriguing virtual interview, during which he shared top tips for creative writing with our residents and read passages from his latest book, All the Lonely People.

We were thrilled to find out about Mike’s background, to understand what led him to become a writer and his creative process.

It was a lovely talk, enjoyed by all, especially by our keen writers at the home.

We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Lisa Richards from Unilever for an exciting Virtual Cruise experience.

Our residents were welcomed with mocktails as Lisa and Paul took them on a magical journey to 3 mystery destinations, which were uncovered after a few clues.

Paul demonstrated how to create a few of the local traditional dishes, which our residents had the opportunity to try too.

The event evoked lots of great memories and it was truly enjoyed by all.

A double celebration this week at Strachan House Care Home when two Care practitioners at Strachan House have received a prestigious 25 year Service Award combined. Shirley McKay received her 15 years service award and Jacqueline Hart received her 10 years’ service award of working at Barchester Healthcare. Shirley McKay started in September 2006 and Jacqueline Hart started in September 2011 they have worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years.

Eileen Crawford, General Manager said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating 25 years of loyal service between Shirley McKay and Jacqueline Hart They have demonstrated dedication and loyalty to this home and its residents year after year. I speak for all of us here at Strachan House when I say that I’m looking forward to many more years of working with Shirley and Jacqueline".

Our residents, and staff here at Strachan House care home had special guests make an appearance today after weeks of waiting we finally got a visit from Nalah, Ralph and prince Albert our little pug puppies.

One of our care practitioners Leanne Walker brought in her precious pups for us all to get some puppy loving. The residents were overwhelmed with joy and happiness seeing there beautiful little faces. There was plenty of cuddles for each one of these beautiful pups. There was lots of stories and reminiscing being shared about our residents dogs they had when they were growing up and special moments when pets have touched there life's.

We can't wait until the next time our furry friends will visit again