Activities at Upton Bay Care Home

Celebrating living life to the fullest!

With the turn of a new month, Upton Bay proudly recognised International Day of Older Persons, a global initiative through the United Nations that brings light to issues faced by older people across the world.

We have teamed up with St Mary and St Joseph’s Primary School in Dorset for an exciting intergenerational project, which aim at teaching kindness and understanding to their pupils in years 1-4. Girls and boys at the school lovingly wrote wonderful letters to our residents, sharing a bit about life as a youngster nowadays, and asking insightful questions about what our residents were like as kids!

Our ladies and gents adored the letters, and this week have been excitedly penning their replies to send back to the School. What a beautiful relationship to have within our community!

With chilly mornings and drizzly afternoons, at Upton Bay our residents are welcoming the cosy autumn months ahead!

This week, we found lots of ways to keep entertained indoors. From raucous bingo sessions, to competitive pub quizzes, cards and dominoes, and testing our skills on the Magic Table: our residents across the home have been enjoying socialising getting to know each other a bit better!

Residents at Upton Bay thoroughly enjoyed a wine tasting masterclass hosted by Unity Wines.

We were off to Italy to try Italian Blush Rosé, a light, rosé with notes of white flowers, strawberries and cranberries, then to South Africa for an authentic Chenin Blanc. To finish, it was the turn of Spain where residents sampled Campo Viejo Rioja, filled with flavours of brambles, cinnamon a lingering toastiness.

Rosemary, resident, said, “What better way to spend a day – sipping on fine wines at 3 in the afternoon! Just delightful!”

In beautiful Britain, we are fortunate to live in a democracy, vote for what we want, and have our voices heard by our government.

Often, people living with dementia are forgotten about at the polling station. However, no one can be prevented from voting just because they have dementia.

Upton Bay proudly held our first ‘Register to Vote’ station today. We empowered each and every resident to exercise their rights, and make sure their voice is heard in the May 2022 elections.

Registering to vote is simple: “I just forgot about it the last few years I suppose. But it took 5 minutes, and now I can have my say in our local elections next year,” commented John, resident.

The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. 

It is important we send this message far and wide to ensure that people with dementia have an equal voice in their communities up and down the country.

13th September marks ‘Roald Dahl Story Day’, and at Upton Bay we had a tremendous time telling tales from one of our most beloved authors.

In the morning, our residents reminisced over old Roald Dahl book covers, with their iconic illustrations, as well as learning about the authors history; from attending school with real-life Miss Trunchball’s, to surviving a plane crash as an RAF pilot in WW1.

One of his best books, Roald Dahls Cookbook, was a particular favourite among our residents, who enjoyed learning of the ‘glorious years of the chocolate revolution’ during his lifetime.

And how could we not enjoy watching one of his best works – Matilda – on the big screen! Faces lit up at the moment Bruce Bogtrotter devoured the chocolate cake, to which resident, Barbara, said, “I wouldn’t mind a slice of that!”

Staff and residents at Upton Bay were treated to a unique performance from English National Ballet’s Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate Last Night of the Proms. It had a big positive impact on our lovely Edna, who studied ballet and other forms of dance such as tap dancing at Italia Conti School of Performing Arts- she showed others her moves which they all enjoyed!

Residents joined members of English National Ballet’s Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Music Director, Gavin Sutherland, to celebrate Last Night of the Proms. They listened and danced along as members of the orchestra took them on a magical, musical journey. English National Ballet Philharmonic is made up of many of the country’s top musicians, and boasts considerable experience in all forms of music-making. With insights and anecdotes into what it takes to conduct an orchestra for a world-class ballet company, this special concert for Barchester Care Homes got everyone’s feet tapping, arms waving and hearts singing!