Activities at Wadhurst Manor Care Home

We may not have been able to grant our residents' wish to go back to South Africa but we did the next best thing and brought a bit of South Africa to Wadhurst Manor.

MayaLu a proud Zulu/Brit wowed us with her singing, dancing and stories. Residents found it really interesting and enjoyed joining in clapping and chair dancing. One resident was able to join in with the South African national anthem and another conversed in Zulu.

Celebrations have been in full swing at Wadhurst Care Home, as one of its residents reaches his centenary in style.

Jimmy was joined by staff, relatives, friends and other residents as he received a telegram from the King in recognition of his landmark birthday. A special evening was held to celebrate Jimmy’s Birthday. The Salvation Army came in to perform, they sang happy birthday to Jimmy and presented him with a card from all of them. Guests enjoyed a special birthday cake made by the home’s chef Joanne Mallion.

Maria Stefea, General Manager of Barchester Wadhurst Manor added: “We’re delighted to be celebrating a truly remarkable man as he reaches this amazing milestone. Jimmy is such a popular resident who always has an interesting tale to tell, and we look forward to hearing many more as he breaks into his next century.”

What a trip down memory lane. One of our residents told us how she remembered the steam train going through the bottom of her garden when she was younger and how she would love to travel on a steam train again.

Another residents husband was a fireman and train driver. She told us the most wonderful stories of the places they went on the train.

We also learnt that when the old West Station closed he had acquired one of the benches for their garden and the family had recently gifted it back to the Spar Valley railway with some other memorabilia.

What a joy it was to find the bench and what memories it invoked. It is great privilege to be able to help residents relive those wonderful memories and create such fantastic and meaningful new ones. 

Spring was in the air! What a treat when we had the Princess Christian Trust come in to visit us. They bought along baby lambs and kids who are both one of triplets and extremely well behaved. The ladies spent time and made sure everyone got a cuddle that wanted one whether it be in the lounge or some quiet individual time in their rooms. 

Residents really enjoyed a talk from Ben Smith of Authentic Reclamation in Stonegate. Who came in with a box full of old artefacts for the residents to guess what they were and reminisce.

"That is just up my street thank you", "we have been having such interesting talks recently", "my grandad use to have a hot water bottle like that",

"I operated a morse code machine in the RAF" and "that was fascinating thank you" were just a few of the comments we received after." 

It was very interesting and everyone is looking forward to another visit, to guess some more items. 

For St Patrick's day, we immersed ourselves into Irish culture. First up, we were treated to a display of Irish dancing curtesy of Scoil Rince Céim Óir. Then Marie Kelly sang Irish folk sings for us and showed us some Irish traditional dress, jewellery, and instruments. All in all, it was a lovely afternoon.