Activities at Sutton Valence Care Home

This may seem a brave subject to touch on and especially with various residents all with different needs. However, this was a subject that a small chat group enjoyed talking about and more importantly they wanted to listen to those that are happy to admit they have had moments where mental health has been an issue for them and share their stories.

Eileen was happy to say she is of a generation where you “Got on with it!” A generation where it was hidden and maybe it was a weakness, or a taboo subject, could even be “catching!”. But what followed was warmth and time. In a group with ages from 50 to 80 plus they agreed: being there, having empathy, talking, touch, patience, love, Professional support, and medicines all help but they all agreed “Chatting in a relaxed safe friendly environment was in fact, the very best medicine and care you can ever have!

On Tuesday we were joined by Lisa from Thorne Hedgehog Rescue Centre and our residents were introduced to an adult female Hedgehog and a “Hoglet”(baby Hedgehog) who was only two weeks old.

During the 1950’s we learnt that they took an average count of 350 million hedgehogs roaming around and that has now been reduced to approximately 100 million. So while these little creatures may be at the bottom of the animal change, we all need to looking out for these little four legged friends and protect their welfare.

Lisa went on to say how she had rescued a Hedgehog, who had been  tangled in a plastic four can beer holder,which had been tossed aside. She had rescued a Hedgehog who had been caught up in a garden runner bean net curtain. By raising the net off the ground by six inches it would have been “Hedgehog friendly”.

The residents thought they were the cutest things they had ever seen. Hedgehogs are on the Vulnerable to Distinction List, so we all need to listen to Lisa from the local rescue centre in order to protect these “Cute little animals”.  In summary we need to encourage “Hedgehog High Ways, leave your hedge rows untouched, put water out and we don’t all have to have extra tidy gardens, let nature look after herself. 

The animal visit to our home here at Sutton Valence Care is just one of the activities we like to include for our residents well being and engagment with our local community.

Here at Sutton Valence Care Home, we are very lucky to have plenty of Lavender in our gardens. So, as this came to an end, Peter the Handy Man, trimmed the plants ready for us to make our very own Lavender Bags.

Residents chose different fabrics and with a kind volunteer on the sewing machine, we made little bags which were able to be filled with our very own garden Lavender.

With cottons, threads, and scissors on the table, it brought fond memories of times when Eunice remembered her mum “taking in sewing to pay bills”, early memories when you actually “unpicked old clothing to give them a fresh lease of life”, for someone else. Joan and Diana remember making clothes for the children and then Eileen recalled knitting homemade jumpers to match.  For Adele who had tucked her own machine away, it gave her the opportunity to enjoy an old hobby.

But what we all enjoyed most was the fragrance of the Lavender, which took everyone down memory lane and thoughts of our gardens.

One of our favourite trips is to Headcorn Aerodrome, where we can often have our own Air Show. Coffee and Snacks are on board, the doors are flung open and we all enjoy the fresh air and just time out. For one of our residents, we had invited her to join us on several trips and today she said yes. “What a lovely trip, thank you so much for taking me”. That’s what life in our home is about, taking the time and listening to our lovely residents. We made lots of noises watching the planes going up and down and of course and are now all experts on their plane positions when landing. Fun was had by all.

There is nothing so nice as “simply messing about in boats” famous words from Kenneth Grahame describe our mini bus outing to the kingfisher trust boat at Wateringbury. The trip was quite nostalgic for one of our ladies as the boat trip we were on was actually started by her husband many years ago. After a trip on another boat they had explained how it had only catered for 60 people in a year of various, disabilities funds were raised and a new boat was put on the river to enable to benefit from this. Thank you to the captain of the Kingfisher and his enthusiastic team, together it has enabled the trust to invite approximately 2000 people a year.

Here at Barchester’s Sutton Valence care home in Maidstone, we held our Annual Beach Day. We took this opportunity to invite the Mayor of Maidstone, Derek Mortimer to open our event, meet the residents and plant a tree to support the Queens Jubilee Tree Canopy Appeal.

Our rooms were full of seashells, sand buckets and spades, old fashioned sweets, the smell of fish and chips, coconuts and penny machines, which all helped the residents to remember those fond family days. Our resident Adele made a lovely character board for our photo booth, which we had a lot of fun with.

In our home, we like to encourage community engagement where ever possible, during this event it was lovely to see so many guests and family members enjoy the day together.

For Ruth, Lil and Joan they were fascinated by the weight and age of the Mayors chain, which dated back to 1548. For Robert Dura May the General Manager it was a very wet day, when he was ambushed by wet sponges thrown by the Mayor. Our resident Peggy and the children said it was great fun and they look forward to our next open day.