Activities at West Abbey Care Home

Residents recently enjoyed beginning a pen pal scheme with people from all over the UK. Care homes from Wales, Scotland and England, as well as local Scout and Guide, have been exchanging letters and photos with the home to see what everyone else has been spending their time doing.

Residents and staff at West Abbey have recently been very impressed by a young girl and her work to clean up the local environment. Florence’s street clean mission has been working to collect litter off of the streets of Yeovil, and everyone in the home is very proud of her for the work she is doing. 

The home donated a number of goods to Florence and her family, to help them reach their goal. Among the items donated were T-shirts branded with Florence’s street clean, a new bin, new litter pickers and a selection of stationary for her.  

A resident at the home was very proud of the work Florence has been doing. They said “It’s so lovely that there are people out there who are still actively trying to improve the world, and the things that Florence does really helps the area. I have always been proud to call Yeovil home and hopefully future generations will be equally proud”.

Staff and residents at West Abbey held a charity coffee morning on the 25th to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Having a coffee morning is the perfect chance to catch up over a cuppa and a slice of something delicious for a great cause.

In 2019, an incredible £27.5 million was raised and Macmillan are aiming to top that this year. The money raised at your coffee morning will help everyone with cancer to live life as fully as they can.

This year, as with most things, it was a little different. West Abbey hosted a coffee morning to for all the staff and the residents to raise funds.

Residents enjoyed a wide variety of different cakes, with treats being baked by many staff members throughout the building, with options ranging from flapjacks to muffins and scones to a beautiful strawberry flan. There was something for everyone to enjoy.

West Abbey’s coffee morning was a big success. We managed to raise a little over £100 and, most importantly, everyone had a lot of fun doing it!

Holding our own Macmillan Coffee Morning has been a huge amount of fun and everyone at the home is always keen to support this fantastic charity in any way we can. We are very glad to be able to do our bit to raise further awareness and money for the charity.

At West Abbey Care Centre we love our dogs and we hosted our very own virtual dog show for residents and staff to share their furry friends with us all too.

Dogs have fun loveable quirks, tricks and general gorgeousness. So, for National Dog Day we hosted our first ever virtual dog show at West Abbey where we had a whole host of fun categories which people could submit photos of their furry friends for.

Photos of dogs with the category they are entered for were sent in to the activities team at the home who displayed them on a board in the foyer for all to see, ready to be judged at the end of the week. Categories included Best Dressed, Happiest Smile, and best overall picture.

Group judging by dog-loving residents and staff at West Abbey took place throughout Friday, with nearly every person in the building having their say on which photo won in each category, with photos displayed on a board which was moved around the home for all to see.

The awards were handed out on Friday to the lucky winners, with admin assistant Annette and her dog Alfie scooping the best picture prize, which a lot of competition right behind them in the voting.

Helen Colaço, General Manager at the home, said: “We all really enjoyed receiving all the photos of the lovely dogs, and have some big dog fans at Barchester. I think that there were a lot of tough decisions to have been made by everyone here, but worthy winners were chosen! We are continually adapting, and finding new ways to make sure every effort is focused on creating an enjoyable environment for all of our residents”

Residents and staff recently enjoyed spending a week imagining they were cut adrift on a desert island, a far cry from the rainy conditions they currently find themselves in. A competition was held within the home to choose five things to take with them, as well as a song they would be able to listen to. Answers were put up on a whiteboard in the foyer for all to see, which was judged by manager Helen at the end of the week to decide the winner of the very special summer hamper.

Activities Coordinators at West Abbey Care Centre supported the residents at the home by talking to everyone to find out which items they would take as well as song choice, so everyone could be in with a chance of winning.  The competition was won by laundry assistant Lynn whose answers and humour led to her winning the prize.

Helen Colaço, General Manager at West Abbey Care Centre said: “In these unprecedented times, providing a range of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities for our residents is more important than ever. Our residents and our staff really enjoyed our Desert Island Disc week. It really showed off the creativity and the personalities of everyone here. I loved reading everyone’s ideas and this it was great to have so many people take part. It was so difficult to choose a winner!”

Kathy, a resident at the home was more than happy to put her ideas into the mix. Kathy said “Even though I didn’t win it was really interesting to try to think about which things I would take! The music part was easier however, everyone knew that it would be a Cliff Richard song that is coming with me!”

Residents at West Abbey virtually travelled to a location of their choice on Wednesday 12th August.

Residents were asked where they would like to visit this summer for a cruise, and they chose the Caribbean because of the warm weather, the tropical drinks and the music.

Residents enjoyed touring and learning about the Caribbean using the internet on their tablets as well as talking about their previous visits there.

The lounge at West Abbey was decorated by staff with bunting, summer decorations, inflatable flamingos and parrots to further transport the residents to their cruise location.

Residents and staff got together for mid afternoon drinks out in the sun prepared by the homes talented chef. He served a selection of cocktails as well as a number of beautifully laid out fruit platters which included mangoes, watermelon and swans carved out of apples.

The fun didn’t stop there, residents enjoyed entertainment associated with the Caribbean and staff and residents participated in dressing up in bright tropical attire, and enjoying the music of Harry Belafonte while enjoying the sunshine that was so warm it really felt like the Caribbean!