Activities at Thistle Hill Care Home

Owls and other birds of prey swooped in and paid a visit to the Thistle Hill care home, courtesy of “Jo’s owls” in Knaresborough the amazing and beautiful birds of prey dazzled our residents and were a real head turner! From the tiny and large owls to the hawks on show the residents were thrilled by their new feathered friends.

It was the third recent wildlife-themed visit to take place at the care home following on from a creepy-crawly zoo experience in October for Halloween which was a monster hit with our residents – and recently a visit from Smithy the horse and is just the latest in a long line of planned animal interaction event at the home

Resident, Gordon said “They brought in a baby owlet, and a larger owl that we were told had a four foot wing span, it was quite spectacular and a real thrill to be hold the birds”

Home manager Mandy Scott said “We had such a good time last time and it made a huge impact on the residents. They will be talking about it for weeks. It was thrilling to see them been so enthralled by the birds”

Residents and guests enjoyed celebrating the Scottish holiday of Burns night with poem readings from the works of Robert Burns, dancing to Scottish folk music and the climax of the day saw a visit from a member of the Leeds piping band for a bagpipe performance.

Piper Mhairi performed a selection of classic Scottish songs on her bagpipes ranging from “Scotland the brave” “amazing grace” and “Auld lang syne” residents and family members were thrilled by her performance and sang and danced a long with plenty of cheer.

Thistle Hill are proud to announce that they won the “hotshot archery league” for 2019, beating 17 other local homes in a hotly contested year that saw our residents and staff clinch the top spot in a nail biting conclusion to the season.

Resident Betty said: “I am so proud of my fellow residents, activities coordinators and lovely staff at thistle hill for arranging the archery sessions throughout the year. It really has become a monthly event that we all look forward to and it was a wonderful surprise to hear that we had won the local league and to be presented with this beautiful trophy was the icing on the cake!”

General Manager, Mandy Scott presented the residents with their hard fought for trophy and said “I am so proud of our residents and it is wonderful to see them here so excited about winning the league”.

Smithy came to visit Thistle Hill residents, and they loved to see him. It was great therapy for our residents and everyone loved making a fuss of him.

Team members and residents at Thistle Hill had a great Christmas party together. Everyone enjoyed a delicious spread and buffet, prepared from our very own kitchen team. We also had a lovely sing along with great Christmas classics. 

Red Kite nursery, situated next to Thistle Hill, came to give us a great Christmas performance of singing and dancing that we all loved. All kids got a little Christmas gift, pulled crackers, which the kids were winning from our residents. Everyone enjoyed the milk and biscuits treats. Red Kite nursery visit us regularly and residents enjoy spending time with the children.