Activities at Thistle Hill Care Home
Our activities team are great at building the activities programme around the likes and interests of the people we care for. Ensuring that our social events offer fun and adventure is part of the ethos of our home; it’s important that those we support can enjoy an active and social lifestyle. Of course, there will always be those who prefer peace and quiet, and in these instances, a cup of tea and a chat are always welcomed.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Thistle Hill Care Home
English National Ballet
We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.
ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.
Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.
Bonfire night
Staff and residents at the Thistle Hill Care Centre in Knaresborough celebrated Bonfire Night with a bang this November 5th when they wrapped up warm to gather around the bonfire to watch a fantastic firework display and enjoy lots of seasonal treats washed down with some mulled wine.
The residents enjoyed making the Guy Fawkes, making their own toffee apples using our hot plate, tasting traditional bonfire night treats, including jacket potatoes, hot dogs, toffee apples, treacle toffee and parkin beautifully prepared by the head chef Paul Drinkel.
Halloween celebrations
Residents and colleagues got in to the spirit of Halloween by decorating the home, creating Halloween decorations, holding a pumpkin carving competition, hosting a themed Halloween cinema afternoon with ghoulish treats, having a disco with Halloween-themed songs and party games.
Oktoberfest
Residents at Thistle Hill Care Centre enjoyed celebrating the world’s largest folk festival by taking part in an authentic German experience, the event began with a German themed quiz, before our residents enjoyed some German folk music, home favourite singer Rochelle Ayris had our residents up and dancing with a fabulous musical performance featuring ABBA’s greatest hits, finally, no Oktoberfest celebration would be complete with the famous German beverages and cuisine. Our head chef Paul put on a live cooking demonstration, grilling up some delicious German sausages and other themed snacks.
Virtual Cooking Demo at Thistle Hill
Residents 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.
Virtual talk with journalist and novelist, Mike Gayle
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.
