Activities at Westergate House Care Home
Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.
Our activities team are great at building the activities programme around the likes and interests of the people we care for. Ensuring that our social events offer fun and adventure is part of the ethos of our home; it’s important that those we support can enjoy an active and social lifestyle. Of course, there will always be those who prefer peace and quiet, and in these instances, a cup of tea and a chat are always welcomed.
Lee Austin
My name is Lee and I am the Head of Lifestyle here at Westergate House.
I support our residents daily to do the things they enjoy and it is extremely important to me that we are offering a premium and person centred service to each resident. I support our residents on a daily basis by providing meaningful and quality activities either in groups or on a 1:1 basis, to help encourage and build confidence while creating an enjoyable environment for everyone. Westergate House is the home of our residents, we as staff are working in it, so it is extremely important to me that we are respectful of that, while offering a premium and person centred service to each and every resident.
I am a trained actor and professional vocalist and not shy in making a fool of myself. If I do that every day to put a smile on our residents faces then I’m happy I have played my part, along with the rest of the amazing team, to brightening their day. If you hear someone singing along the corridor or see them dancing in the lounges, it will probably be me.
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Westergate House Care Home
Wreath Making
It was a whole-home approach at Westergate House when staff dressed up as their favourite story-book characters and residents judged who they thought was best-dressed.
What a fun day it was as various popular characters walked about the home. Vanessa from the admin team was voted best dressed as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.
In each of the communities, Christmas wreath-making took place, and the thoroughly festive day was rounded off by a mini- bus trip to a Carols by Candlelight Concert at one of the local schools nearby.
Quiz Evening
It was time to brush up on our Christmas general knowledge and trivia in readiness for a fabulous festive pub quiz held across the communities where residents, family, friends and staff battled it out for first place.
Congratulations goes to team ‘Tequila Mocking Bird’ who won by a very narrow margin of only 3 points.
A range of chocolate treats were presented as the prize and the winning team offered them out to the gathering, showing the true team-spirit and friendship shared here at Westergate House.
Christmas Sing-a-Long!
At Westergate House we are truly embracing the community festive spirit, and enjoying a range of musical treats.
Pupils from Aldingbourne Primary School visited the home and entertained everyone in Memory Lane with a wonderful performance of songs and Christmas poems.
In the house community, local singer and entertainer Jo Allum, provided a Christmas sing-a-long, with song-sheets and piano to help us on our way.
To round off the day across the home, we watched the live performance of ‘A Christmas Carol’ from the Old Vic in London. A fabulous and festive musical day.
Virtual Workshop to make Table Centre Flower Decorations
Residents at Westergate House were keen to take part in the seasonal Barchester Virtual Event.
A workshop hosted by the amazing Central Lifestyle Team took everyone on a step-by-step guide on how to create beautiful table centre pieces.
Bex introduced the event and Kathryn Delve talked us through the stages of preparing cut flowers and arranging them into a festive spray that would be a credit to any Christmas table.
Our residents thoroughly enjoyed the event and were quick to develop their own creative signatures to the ideas demonstrated by Kathryn.
Families and friends also joined in and the afternoon was a great way to start preparations for the festive season.
Mini-bus trip to enjoy festive displays at Haskins Garden Centre
The Westergate House mini-bus can often be spotted out and about in the local community visiting areas of interest and local events.
This week we organised a trip to Haskins Garden Centre to enjoy the Christmas displays and festivities. It was lovely wandering around the beautiful Christmas arrangements of gifts and decorations.
A time to reminisce, and also to look forward to the seasonal celebrations.
A stop at the café was a must, and the tea and cake refreshment break was a lovely treat to relax and gather ourselves before the trip home.
A Fireworks Extravaganza
Oh what a night! The Fireworks Extravaganza at Westergate House certainly went with a bang, - and a whizz, crackle and pop!
A fabulous occasion enjoyed by all. With over 100 visitors, including residents and staff from two of our sister homes, Wimborne House and Marriott House, we looked to the skies for a sparkling spectacle of colour.
Paul, Senior General Manager, grabbed our attention with a welcome over the microphone, and then the illuminations began!
At the helm, Roger, Head of Maintenance, and Lee, Lifestyles Lead, organised the bash and lit the fireworks at a safe distance in the gardens. Our residents took seats by the portico, along with relatives and friends, and watched the performance unfold.
Chef Konnie and her team prepared cups of soup and hot chocolate to ward off the chilly air, followed by hotdogs to warm us through after the display. It was super to see so many faces, and a delight to celebrate a seasonal event together.
