Activities at Sutton Valence Care Home

Residents celebrated Mother’s Day with video calls to family, flowers for all our ladies and afternoon bingo.

Staff arranged flowers for every resident, music and games, afternoon bingo, discussions about how the role of being a mother has changed and reminiscences about the residents’ childhood  

Although Mothers day may be a little different this year, we have pulled out all the stops in ensure our residents have a great day and make the day special for everyone.

Sutton Valence was filled with flowers, cards and sweets in celebration of St Valentine’s Day.  

Staff and residents celebrated the day of love by giving hearts, creating heart-shaped decorations to decorate the home and gifting each other home-made sweets.

It’s been a very different Valentine’s Day, but we’ve all had a lovely day nonetheless. Lots of our residents were able to see their loved ones, either using our visiting suite or on a video call. We’ve had a whole range of treats and Valentine’s-themed fun, and we have enjoyed every moment of it!

Sutton Valence was transformed into Graceland to mark what would have been Elvis Presley’s 86th birthday on 8th January.

It is estimated that Elvis has sold over one billion records worldwide, so to honour the undisputed King of Rock & Roll, the staff and residents enjoyed a fantastic day of music, fun and dancing.

Lots of our residents are big Elvis fans and love his music. We had a fantastic day listening to all his hits, finding out about his early life and what influenced him and watching old Elvis movies — he was such an incredible talent! 

In the afternoon, we had an Elvis quiz, it is amazing how many songs he recorded. We all surprised ourselves by how many we remembered!

Our resident community engaged and participated fully in creating a photo board of their favourite Elvis photos that they could chat and reminisce about during the day.

Sutton Valence residents have been busy decorating our home for Christmas with help from the in-house activities team.

Lead project resident, Adele, has been incredibly creative with the beautiful, detailed and unique centrepiece and the hand-carved pieces made by Adele herself.

We can’t wait to share the photos of the finished piece soon. The entire conservatory has been transformed into a winter wonderland forest with life-sized trees hand-painted on all windows by Emily Wheelhouse, our Activities Coordinator

Residents are overjoyed at Sutton Valence has implemented a visiting suite for residents to continue to spend time with their loved ones for the autumn and winter seasons, in addition to the outdoor visiting that has been on offer for those able for many months.

Balancing resident well-being and safety is at the forefront of Barchester's thinking, and we understand how important it is for residents and their family and friends to be able to spend time together in the safest way possible.

There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment. It was welcome news for their residents and family and friends as we enter the colder season, meaning catch-ups can continue to take place, instead of, or in addition to, outdoor visiting already offered for those able.

The visiting suite has been designed with both comfort and safety in mind, and has been recently adapted from a room which is accessible internally by residents and externally by visitors. The room is similar to a living room with comfortable furnishings and heated to create a welcoming and warm environment for residents to continue to spend time with their loved ones in the upcoming months. The room has an intercom system fitted so residents can clearly communicate, and engage in conversation, whilst being able to see their friends and family through a Perspex glass divider fitted for safety to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Infection control protocols and safe social distancing are in place for every visit, including a hand sanitizer station before entry. Cleaning at Sutton Valence Care Home will take place after each visit to ensure chairs, seats, hard surfaces including windowsills, and the Perspex glass divider are wiped down appropriately.

The feedback from families to date has meant that the majority of people would accept unusual arrangements if it meant being able to see their loved ones while also keeping themselves safe, as a temporary measure. Barchester Healthcare hope to allow visits again as normal once it is safe to do so following government guidance.

Residents at Sutton Valence recently enjoyed a poetry reading class with a local private school. Both residents and pupils read aloud a selection of poems to each other via Zoom. Residents prepared their own poems and the Children prepared their's at school.

This wonderful event linked the community with local community ideas. It has been a wonderful opportunity for residents and local school children to connect with each other and share some of the best and most well-known poetry of their own age groups.