Activities at Tyspane Care Home

Nothing But Treble!

This afternoon at Tyspane Care Home residents, families, friends and staff were astonished by “Nothing But Treble” a spectacular band from Ilfracombe consisting of three ladies and a gentleman. 

The band had a fabulous set list, they had a very eclectic music style which appealed to Tyspane Care Home audience of mixed ages, the use of diverse music genres was a great success. 

Residents, families, friends and staff sang and danced as the live music and singing intensified everyone’s emotional responses due to its free flowing, dynamic nature. 

David (Resident Ambassador) announced, “I would like to thank the band for coming to perform for us on a Sunday, it was simply brilliant. I cried because it was so good.”

Patricia replied, “It was so different, it was fun and upbeat.”

Polly (Nothing But Treble) singer stated, “We will be back, it was fun and emotional. Thank you, Tyspane Care Home.”

Harvest Festival Wheat Sheaf Loaf.

The Baking Club at Tyspane Care Home have been extremely busy this morning baking a wheat sheaf loaf for displaying at the harvest festival on 14th September 2024. The wheat sheaf represents plenty, a good harvest, fertility and even resurrection, as the cycle of life. A wheat loaf is made to look like a bundle of wheat. As you might expect, the shaping and sculpting is time consuming. Best not to attempt solo, hence all the efforts of the Baking Club.

Heather (Resident) asked, “I enjoy making bread but what about the cakes. Remember Jaye if I ask for coffee with what we bake it’s because they taste horrible!”

Mary (Resident) replied, “The wheat sheaf is absolutely stunning, it looks so professional.”

Lorna (Resident) responded, “This means a lot to me, I am looking forward to the harvest festival and seeing Reverend David Baker, St Brannock’s Church.”

Suspend for a moment your disbelief and encounter once again the sense of wonder you knew when there was… magic!

They say a good magician will have guests laughing and gasping in amazement all day. Magicians perform illusions to mystify and entertain audiences, they use quick hand movements and a variety of other techniques to perform classic tricks such as pulling a rabbit out of a hat or making a handkerchief disappear. For one of our residents Tony, sharing jokes, laughing with others and playing tricks is a normal occurrence, residents, families, friends and staff enjoy his company as he brightens their day.

In order to support Tony with his passions the Activities Team surprised Tony with an afternoon of fun, tricks and wonderment provided by “The Big Foolini” who entertained everyone at Tyspane Care Home by creating a sense of wonder and amazement by performing illusions, sleight of hand, and other magical feats. He certainly left residents, families, friends and staff in awe and wanting more.

Tony stated, “Wow, that was something else, I really enjoyed the afternoon. I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing.”

David (Resident Ambassador) replied, “I thought he was going to set the room on fire!”

Gill, “That was a real treat, I was very impressed.”

Thank You Rob (aka The Big Foolini) for taping into everyone’s nature curiosity, evoking strong emotions, and offering a unique social experience.

Tyspane Care Centre supports community engagement by welcoming volunteers of all ages into the home, volunteers are special people who have exceptional qualities such as feeling comfortable working in ever changing teams, with people from all different walks of life and taking on both the leader and the follower role at different times.

At Tyspane Care Centre the Activities Team work with volunteers on a daily basis to enhance the quality of life for residents, their families, friends and staff. Only this week we have been visited by Emily and Abi (our young volunteers), Miriam (a parent of a resident) and David and Friends (professional entertainers) all who have given their time and expertise freely to enhance residents’ wellbeing through activities that support the mind, body and soul. Their input makes an immeasurable difference in people’s lives as a result of diverse backgrounds, which helps residents their social network.

Today, being especially important for one of our volunteers, Miriam. Miriam delivers our monthly faith and spirituality group “Tambourines and Choruses” which aims to support residents, families and friends to act on what they haven’t experienced yet, to believe in the promises of the Bible that haven’t be fulfilled yet and to trust in God. Her group is delivered through the medium of music and song. It is a happy group especially today as Miriam is celebrating her 80th Birthday.

Mary (Miriam’s daughter and resident at Tyspane Care Home) stated. “My faith is important to me it allows me to have hope.”

Patrick, “Happy Birthday Miriam and thank you.”

Julie (Activities Assistant) stated, “Thank you Miriam for all your support, have a wonderful birthday.”

Jacqui (Activities Co-Ordinator) replied, “A massive thank you to all our volunteers, you are simply priceless, you ignite positive change in us all.”

Telling one’s life stories is important because it allows one to share what is important to them. At Tyspane Care Home our hope is that by better understanding residents’ storytelling, caregivers may be able to listen in a different way and understand the messages they contain. Storytelling is a key method for elders to communicate what they believe to be important to their children and loved ones, it transfers values and meaning to younger generations.

With this knowledge the Activities Team at Tyspane Care Home welcomed back Nathan Rodney-Jones an exceptionally talented young adult who is currently studying creative writing at The University of East Anglia in Norwich. Nathan was challenged with listening to residents’ stories and converting them into Narrative poems. Narrative poems are stories in poem form, they are used as a means of passing down important stories. Residents shared their stories with passion, they were powerful and evoked compassion amongst other residents. It demonstrated that everyone has a story to tell, and sometimes the most amazing stories come from those who have been round the longest.

The poems were typed and presented to residents as keepsakes for their loved ones to read and share over and over again.

David (Resident Ambassador) stated, “It made me cry!”

Peter (Resident) replied, “I love my daughters very much, they will love the poem.”

Thank You Nathan for rising to the challenge and always remember the stories we love the best do live in us forever.

Activities make up the most important part of all our days and at Tyspane Care Home we ensure a variety that reflects the interests and capabilities of all the people we support. The team is trained to understand the importance of stimulating engagement as well as ensuring residents have the opportunity to enjoy passions and creative hobbies that are personal to them. All group and individual activity are designed to not only mentally and physically stimulate the people we care for but to enhance their life skills and feelings of purpose and self-worth. A weekly time table of activities is printed, personally delivered and discussed with residents each week to support engagement as well as being displayed around the home. The activities team always strive to deliver what is published on the activities sheet, however, sometimes last-minute unexpected changes can occur or in other words sometimes something good happens when you least expect it.

Today, Emily one of our young volunteers stepped bravely in at the last minute to play tunes on the home’s keyboard to entertain residents, families, friends and staff. They say good keyboard players are quiet, intelligent, inquisitive and analytical, very true.

Emily commented, “I really enjoyed performing.”

Thank You Emily, simply wonderful.