Activities at Strachan House Care Home

Strachan House in Edinburgh celebrated with a colourful display as of balloons as part of National Balloon Fiesta Day which was  followed by a tea party and a good old sing-a-long in the garden once the balloons had been let off.

Residents, their relatives and staff all got involved with the spirit of the balloon fiesta and released over 100 colourful bio degradable balloons into the sky for the balloon race to begin. We have put special tickets on with our address and a special message on each one from individual residents, staff and relatives in the hope someone will find one, let us know where they are so we can see how far they travelled!. We followed this by having a balloon themed tea party especially prepared by the homes hospitality team.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Strachan House were treated to a talk about nightclub culture by V&A Dundee Curator, Kirsty Hassard.  The presentation forms part of a series of six talks and virtual tours that V&A Dundee is hosting for Barchester Healthcare’s care homes and private hospitals across the UK.

V&A Dundee is Scotland’s design museum, it showcases Scotland’s outstanding design achievements and features world-class exhibitions alongside the permanent Scottish Design Galleries, and a changing programme of commissions, events and activities.  

Strachan House in Edinburgh has celebrated International Cowboy Day in style. The residents, relatives and staff celebrated International cowboy day by being entertained from our local musician, Alan Weatherhead who set our theme perfect by playing the best of country and western music!

Our residents and staff were dressed for this occasion with their best tartan shirts, cow boy hats and neck ties. Our chefs provided us with a feast of a BBQ which had their special handmade burgers, hotdogs and other tasty delights.

We even had a visit from our four legged furry friend from Craig Crook Fields, Gus the Shetland pony. Our carers taught us some line dancing called “the Strachan shuffle” which was highly entertaining. We also had our Wild West cocktails which consisted of Rodeo raspberry rum, Montillia Shrub summer punch and our delicious Texas Roadhouse Cowboy Quencher.

We enjoyed a wonderful virtual introduction to the world of robots with V&A Dundee Curator, Kirsty Hassard.

Kirsty talked us through the history of robots and their early beginnings, the presentation traced the fascination of all things wired and wonderful and considered what the future might hold for our relationship with a multitude of mechanical machines.

It was absolutely thrilling to learn what robots can do now and what they might be able to do in the future.

We had a lovely time exploring the amazing gardens of Blenheim Palace through a virtual talk, hosted by the Historian - Antonia Keaney.

We enjoyed a virtual look at how the gardens at Blenheim have developed over the past 300 years - from the formality of Henry Wise through to the ‘natural’ landscape created by Capability Brown and beyond.

Everyone was very impressed by the many jewels hidden within the 150 acres of beautiful gardens.

Mary Christie at Strachan House Care home in Edinburgh has been crowned hospitality champion for the North Division in the Barchester Care Awards 2021 and is through to the national round of judging.

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 Mary Christie is over the moon to have been named the winner for the north division beating hundreds of other nominees.

Mary Christie said: ‘I can’t believe I have been chosen for this award I am very grateful for receiving this. I am over the moon to have been nominate by my colleges and relatives. I can’t thank my team enough for their hard work and dedication and support they show me on a daily basis.