Activites at Tixover House Care Home

Our Head Chef Tony kindly delivered a fabulous cheese and wine event at the weekend. Not only did Tony do this, he set to work making lots of delicious cakes and cookies and making homemade sausage rolls, prawn cocktails and an Eton mess! Thank you for making this event such a success! And to the staffing team alongside Tony, who facilitated this event. 

We love themed dining and food-related activities in our home, whether it is resident baking, baking demonstrations by our chef, or simply enjoying homemade food put together to accompany an entertainment or activity within our home. Cheese and wine are always a hit, a much-asked-for treat, featured in our weekly calendars, the next one being only next week, within our Main Courtyard of our home over a game or two in a social setting (and hopefully in the sunshine!)   

We had a lovely morning spent at Rutland Water at Normanton Café, enjoying a selection of hot and cold drinks, cakes and Magnum ice-creams! It was such a relaxing atmosphere, just quietly taking in the view and discussing the pastimes of sailing and being on or close to the water for many. 

Following, a few residents took a stroll down to the reservoir's edge, and we walked round and saw a viewpoint overlooking the beautiful Normanton Church. On our walk back to the bus, we stopped and saw baby ducklings. It was such a tranquil way to spend the morning for our residents. 

Thank you to Tracey for being a part of this outing! We enjoy regular outings within our home, offering choice to our residents, to enrich their minds, bodies and souls, as well as having our ‘Wish Tree’, whereby residents can name any special outings they would like to take on for an activities team to facilitate their wish fulfilment.  

Kathy, one of our Dementia Champions, kindly supported me by taking some of our residents to this event at the Council Offices in Oakham. We had tea and biscuits, watched a video surrounding Dementia and discovered relaxation techniques during a wellness session. Thank you to the Admiral Nurse team at Rutland County Council for letting us join us this morning, and it was wonderful to meet with the High Sheriff of Rutland, Richard Chesterfield, for the second time within a week. 

Across Dementia Action Week, we made lace cards, watched person-centred documentaries and listened to person-centred music, sketched steam trains and accompanying literature, done magic painting (water painting), been encouraged to access our well-placed, themed rummage boxes, looked through Memory Box items, done ‘show and tell’ of our artwork and photobooks, danced, enjoyed the gardens and neighbouring spaces to our home and had a resident-led read a-long on our Memory Lane (to name only a few of the activities enjoyed across the week). 

Staff and residents joined fellow keen dabbers from over 250 Barchester care homes and hospitals across the whole of the UK, including Wales, Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Wight, to compete in the biggest game of bingo Barchester has ever seen!

The Barchester Big Bingo Bonanza took place on 28th May 2025 when Tixover House Care Home got super competitive and took on its sister homes from all over the country to find out which Barchester home or hospital was a dab hand at bingo.  It was eyes down for a full house as the homes battled it out to find out who would prevail.

General Manager, Ive Alexander said: “We’ve got some real bingo fanatics at our home, we are very competitive - our residents love taking part in anything where winning is involved, you could hear a pin drop in here when we were all playing.”
 

Wow, we simply adore the time we get to spend with our pet therapy. Just a few of the photos taken today, but look how many lives have been enriched this afternoon. Darwen started out upstairs in our Nursing Community doing individual room visits, before settling in our Memory Lane lounge, lots of thought-provoking conversations, questions being asked and beaming smiles through this activity. 

Our day was themed, as in the morning we did an animal-themed sing along with a friend from our home in our Memory Lane lounge. A fabulous day, experienced across all of our home: residents, staff and visitors/neighbouring community!

Wow, just wow, what a busy day in our home! We watched the celebrations live-streamed this morning in our Garden Lounge with tea and baking club scones! We all had a 2-minute silence across our home at midday. In our bedrooms, we had the choice of television broadcast, themed music, reading and/or poetry. Nicky Downs did a superb 1940s set, we had bubbles and then sat down for a magnificent afternoon tea!

Thank you to our Chef Ian and the kitchen team, host, Cheryl, the care team and all the staff who made today a success. In the lead up to VE Day, we enjoyed making bunting within our home as well as the Barchester Virtual historical talk by Historian, Pippa Catterall, which we were glued to; it was simply so engaging.”

We simply adore Josie and Sally and the energy and passion they bring through our doors, during their exotic pet demonstrations. This time, rather than in our Main Lounge, they spent time in our Nursing Community and upstairs. We cannot wait to arrange another date for some time on our Memory Lane. 

We cannot thank you enough for sharing your time with us and bringing such variety within our life enrichment programme. Josie kindly printed photos from her previous visit which are being shared with our residents. Two genuine, lovely friends of our home, who we value deeply. Josie said “Absolutely loved today! Thank you so much Caroline. Love to you all. See you again soon. Take care.” 

Our residents said the following: “Fabulous, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was just lovely and something completely different. It gives you something to think about. They were just lovely.” “I enjoyed seeing the snake and dragon. They don’t like sudden movements, as long as you’re gentle. The girls were very good indeed, and the animals knew the girls,” “I liked the snake, I’m normally a bit frightened of things like that, but he was very willing to be stroked. The girls were very nice too ” and “I thought the pets were very nice and unusual. I thought they were very dear. The girls were very good.”

Staff and residents dusted off their dancing shoes, leg warmers and glowsticks for the launch of their Dementia Disco initiative which they held, very aptly, during Dementia Action Week.

Knowing how much their residents living with dementia love to dance and sing, the activities team at came up with the genius idea of a dementia-friendly disco.  The team also invited relatives and loved ones, members of the local community and friends of the home to the first official dementia-friendly disco. 

What an occasion Easter was in our home, a highlight being an Easter-themed high tea! Lots of loved ones and visitors joined for the event, and it has been so splendid having so many visitors to our home, especially this weekend! 

Thank you to our Chef Ian for producing this afternoon's event, the staff supporting this weekend’s activities and Cheryl for supporting further activities this afternoon. We have had church services, quizzes and Easter hymns. All areas of the home have had Easter wishes, Easter activities and puzzle packs, Easter cards, chocolates and tipples, bubbles and baileys. Looking forward to unwinding with Easter Monday in our home, lots of walks in our grounds hopefully and still so much chocolate to consume.