Activities at Tyspane Care Home

Tyspane Care Home celebrated Valentine’s Day with residents, families, friends, staff and local community. Love was all around and hearts were beating along to Jonathan who played love songs on his saxophone. The room was filled with the aroma of fresh wild red roses. Simply beautiful.

Residents dined on strawberries, bananas and biscuits covered in melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain surrounded by rose petals.

Patrick stated, “You can’t beat strawberries dipped in chocolate.”

Bobbie replied, “You had better be quick, I have eaten all the biscuits!”

The event ending with Tyspane Care Home reading love poems by William Shakespeare.

Apparently, you shouldn’t buy too many seeds all at once. Early season offers can tempt you to buy too many packets that will never get sown. You are better off buying less than you need and acquiring others as the season progressing.

Today, at Typsane Care Home the Gardening Club visited the local garden centre to buy seeds and in hindsight we should have given the aforementioned advice to Patrick who bought more seeds than he could carry!

Bobbie shouted, “That’s enough Patrick, we are going to have a coffee and a cake now.”

Molly replied, “I think we should stick to Sweet Peas and Runner Beans.”

The trip was so much fun, one to be repeated many times.

Today, on this beautiful January morning the Gardening Club joined the Floral Designers Club to create a spectacular array of flower arrangements for the residents of Tyspane Care Home.  Fresh foliage was picked from the stunning grounds of Tyspane Care Home and woven with beautiful freshly cut flowers of the season to create personalised masterpieces. 

Residents, families, friends and staff thoroughly enjoyed the morning and the air was filled with laughter as well as beautiful floral scents.

Margaret stated, “The experience was so much fun and such a lovely way to get to know other residents.”

What is the difference between a poem and poetry? Although they both refer to a literary genre, they cannot be used interchangeably because ‘poetry’ refers to ‘poems’ as a whole, whereas, a ‘poem’ refers to one single work in this genre.

A good poem, whether narrated by a character or by the poet her/himself, uses words wonderfully, and it uses them to capture specific moments in fresh way, a way that makes the reader exclaim with delight. A good poem may also ask philosophical questions.

With these thoughts in our mind, Tyspane Care Home Activities Team organised its first Poetry Circle meeting for residents, families, friends and staff. It was a truly wonderful experience to sit around the table and discuss a variety of poetry, we reflected on the value of language used as well as how it impacts our views on the world and ourselves.  We discussed, “I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth  and through analyse we developed a better understanding of the pieces’ significance, and the context the piece was written in, as well as revealing major themes, images and ideas.

Resident Gillian Nutbeem an established in her own right stated, “Poetry is personal and is a fusion of thoughts of mind and heart.”

Resident Lee stated, “His love of poetry developed as he got older, and agrees it is personal and based on one’s own experiences.”

Today, Tyspany Care Home welcomed Jaimee (PAT volunteer) and her Pet Therapy dog the amazing Dino. Dino is a four year old black Labrador with a warm temperament and friendly nature. He certainly wanted to play and socialise.

The residents, family, friends and staff simply adored him and welcomed him with open arms, he was definitely a conversation starter not to mention increasing everyone’s energy levels and self-esteem. A wonderful start to a beautiful Saturday morning.

Jenny said, “How lovely, I had two black Labradors just like Dino.”

Geoffrey loved to see Dino and was astounded to find out that his owner Jaimee had moved to Braunton from the Midlands not far from where he used to live.  It’s a small world.

Lorna said, “I would love to see you both again, I like visitors.”

Patrick asked if he could walk Dino outside as he used to be a Police dog handler and it would be wonderful to spend time with a dog again.

Hopefully, Jaimee and Dino will be regulars at Tyspane Care Home offering companionship to our residents.

Spring is a fantastic season in the gardening calendar with its bright displays of flowers and fragrance. This is the prime time to put you green fingers back to work, ready for the bedding season.

Today, at Tyspane Care Home the Gardening Club gathered together on the resident’s patio with Kelvin (Tyspane Care Home Gardener) and brainstormed ideas for the next twelve months. As part of the discussions the residents decided that they wanted to design a garden that could be both beautiful and practical and one of their key aims being to donate freshly grown produce such as potatoes, runner beans, salads and tomatoes to local causes in the Braunton and Barnstaple area.

Luckily for Tyspane Care Home, Patrick Wright was able to assist John White (Maintenance Assistant) in constructing four new cold frames which will be placed on the residents patio in order to utilise the sun for warmth and provide a safe space for our new plants to transition to the garden and shelter from early frosts.

Patrick stated, “This is really exciting as I know the benefits of the using cold frames, I have used them many times over the years as I used to spend hours in my garden, so I am really glad I can do this now for and with my friends here at Tyspane.”