Activities at Thistle Hill Care Home

This morning Thistle Hill hosted a ‘Volunteer Appreciation Coffee Morning’ which saw our home show its appreciation and gratitude to our amazing volunteers. Carole and Holly.

Carole and Holly enjoyed a morning of fizz and cakes as Mandy our home manager made a heartfelt speech on behalf of our residents. Thanking our two very special special ladies.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Thistle Hill Care Centre in Knaresborough were treated to a chocolate extravaganza courtesy of Ellie Prail and Paul Vernon from one of the world’s best-known confectionery companies, Nestlé.

Residents and patients were invited to think back as far as 1904 when Nestlé first started to sell chocolate bars and how the company was involved in the development of milk chocolate as far back as 1875. Ellie and Paul hosted a fascinating talk about how Nestlé Confectionery was first created and how the company has grown over time to become one of the biggest chocolate manufacturers in the world. Residents were taken on a virtual tour of one of its factories to see Easter egg production in full swing. There was an interactive quiz where residents put their chocolate knowledge to the test before Ellie and Paul gave a demonstration on decorating Easter cookies, which everyone then got to sample.

Residents and staff at the Thistle Hill Care Centre in Knaresborough celebrated all things Irish for St Patrick’s Day this week. The home was decorated with shamrocks and everyone dressed in green to mark the day. 

Held on March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day actually observes the death of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, but the day has come to be a huge celebration of Irish heritage and culture.

Staff and residents at the home marked the day by dancing along the sounds of classic Irish hits and folk music, whilst enjoying a refreshing glass of Guinness and Irish Coffee before rounding off the day with a themed Irish quiz!.

To mark International Women’s Day, staff and residents at Barchester’s Thistle Hill Care Centre in Knaresborough were treated to the third in a series of live talks and tours hosted by Holly and Roxanne from The Wallace Collection.

The Wallace Collection is a national museum which displays the art collections brought together by the first four marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the likely illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess. It was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace, Sir Richard’s widow, in 1897.  Displayed at Hertford House, formerly the principal London residence of the marquesses of Hertford, the Collection was first opened to the public in 1900.

Across our services we had a lovely time joining Mark Piesing for an exciting virtual event to discuss his book ‘N-4 Down: The Hunt for The Arctic Airship Italia’.

Our residents were thrilled to find out more about the book and the fascinating story of the world-famous exploring airship Italia, returning from the North Pole on May 24, 1928. The airship was struck by a terrible storm and crashed somewhere over the Arctic ice, triggering the largest polar rescue mission in history.

The virtual book club experience was truly enjoyed by all.

Bookshelves are bulging at the Thistle Hill Care Centre in Knaresborough where book worm residents were keen to get involved in World Book Day.  Staff and residents at the Thistle Hill Care Centre welcomed the children from the Red Kite Nursery to join us for an afternoon of storytelling magic.

Children and residents were enchanted by Eric Carle’s timeless tale of the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ as well as more modern tales including ‘The Bear Snores On’ by Karma Wilson

Mark the Activities Co-ordinator at the home commented: “Our residents all love to read and to discuss their favourite books so World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity for us all to spend the day with our noses in our favourite books.  We also had a great debate about reading from print or electronically from a tablet, there were strong arguments from both camps!”