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
D-Day Commemorations
To mark the occasion of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the activities team put together a range of events that paid tribute to the poignant day. Television programmes that followed the commemorations were streamed and there was plenty of time to reflect and reminisce the important moment in history. It was wonderful to hear the residents’ personal stories and their memories of the time; some of their experiences were truly incredible. Entertainment came from ‘The Bognor Bell Ringers’ and the fabulous Cheryl Williams. Songs and tunes from the war-time era were lovely to hear, and more memories flowed. There was also a trip to Goodwood; some of the residents joined the minibus trip and watched a Spitfire take off. This was an amazing experience and spurred more conversation about the bravery of the pilots who fought for their country. At Westergate House we are truly in awe of anyone who lived through the war years, and remember those who lost their lives on 6th June 1944, in a battle that changed the course of history.
Summer Fun at the Seaside
The Westergate House minibus has been out in the local community once again. Our residents love to take part in activities outside the home; a chance to see the neighbourhood and to take some fresh air and exercise. We decided on a visit to the seaside, and residents from two of the communities joined Lee and his team for a walk along the promenade for a stretch and an ice-cream treat: Mr. Whippy being the firm favourite. Watching the world go by and reminiscing about trips to the coast as children filled the afternoon with fond memories and non-stop conversation. The weather was fabulous, the perfect back-dop to a lovely afternoon out.
Westergate Golf Masters
There is always a lot of fun and laughter here at Westergate House and sometimes that comes in the form of a healthy in house competition!
After the recent Masters Golf weekend, our residents went head to head and tested their skills with our very own game of putting, at the Westergate Masters.
This ‘hole in one’ challenge had residents, family visitors and even a few staff members trying to putt for a prize.
There was only one ‘Hole in One’ but an awful lot of water and bunker shots, which made for a lot of laughs. At one point, a resident nearly got a hole in one on the actual golf course round the corner!!
Musical Monday Madness
Another really lovely day we had here in all of our communities, with residents all getting involved in lots of different and varied activities.
Music Monday was a big hit with residents and staff singing and dancing away to the music choices of our residents, and also we let our
creativity flow with residents making shapes and models in salt dough, after which we painted them in the afternoon once they had been dried.
Some of the pieces are now on display in residents rooms or out in our communal areas for all to see and enjoy.
Chocolate, Chocolate, Everywhere
Today we took part in another one of Barchester’s fantastic Virtual Live Events, ‘Chocolate, Chocolate, Everywhere’. This showed us the process of making chocolate from the Harrogate Chocolate Factory. This was followed with a live Q&A with some of the amazing chocolatiers. During the Live Event, we had scrumptious chocolate fondue fountains running in both our House and Memory Lane communities. Both cascading their gooey melted chocolate for everyone to enjoy. To add to these we had a selection of marshmallows, beautiful strawberries and some deliciously naughty mini donuts too! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the treats we had here and of course the Live tour of the factory.
Happy Easter
It’s a very Happy Easter from everyone here at Westergate House.
Our ‘Easter Bunny Hunt’ proved to be as popular as ever this year for our residents, their families and friends this Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
An incredible 33 children and over 40 adults together participated, together with our wonderful residents and staff team who all went hunting for the 12 Bunnies that were hidden around our home and over the road in award winning Denmans Garden. A former home and garden of the late John Brooks MBE, one of Britons most influential landscape gardeners; and happens to be a stone’s throw from our entrance!
A total of 16 teams took part and were on the hunt for our 12 hidden Easter Eggs, everyone did extremely well and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. A wonderful afternoon in the sun with refreshments and treats galore as well - what an amazing start to the Bank Holiday Easter weekend!
