Activities at Wheatlands Care Home

Today residents from both communities enjoyed a trip down into Much Wenlock for Much Wenlock Parish Church monthly charity soup lunch. Theres nothing better than enjoying a steaming bowl of delicious homemade soup in the company of friends and family in our beautiful church steeped in history.

We love to receive feedback from friends and family here at Wheatlands Care Home it always means so much that we are not only enriching the lives of all our residents but we also help make those special moments and magical memories for families as well which will last a lifetime. I was delighted to receive the below email after our monthly High Tea Society which is held on the last Friday of the month.

'Hi Katie, Thank you so much for all the effort you always put into the residents’ activities. At a time when mum is struggling and I can’t reach her very often today was wonderful and made me very happy. Mum was well enough to enjoy the high tea and said it made a nice change'. 

On the first Wednesday of every month we are lucky enough to hold the Encircled with Care community church service taken by one of the team at Much Wenlock Parish Church.

This month the service was taken by The Reverend Sam Rigby Team Curate as well as the Epiphany church service he delighted our residents as he took Holy Communion as well.  

This week Reverend Sam returned on a more informal basis as one of our guest speakers and joined us for a cuppa and talked about his journey to being ordained. 

On Monday 15th December Lucy turned 100 years young! We wanted to organise something special for such a special lady. We arranged a Facebook appeal to try and reach 100 birthday cards, a card for each year of her birthday. BBC radio Shropshire heard about the appeal and made a live radio appeal to help us reach our target.

On Lucy’s birthday, we were delighted to invite the children of Brockton Primary School to hand-deliver birthday cards and sing happy birthday to Lucy. After that, they sang Christmas Carols to all our residents within the home, and they also read their favourite books to them. 

It didn’t stop their BBC radio Shropshire wanted to see if we managed to meet our target, so they popped along for the afternoon interviewing Lucy about the secret of turning 100 and also the children. We managed to exceed our original target of 100 and are pleased that we managed 137 cards.

Here at Wheatlands Care Home, we like to make our residents' wishes come true, no matter how big or small. As soon as Racheal found out we were having a new veterinary surgery, she got very excited about Much Wenlock and expressed how much she would like to meet him. Her husband ran the local vets for many years, and they were a massive part of the local Much Wenlock Community. She was delighted when Trevor of Priory Vets Much Wenlock agreed to pop up for a coffee and a chat and even more delighted to find out her dear late husband and Trevor trained at the same university. 

Barbara, whose husband was also a vet in the local community's face lit up as soon as she saw that he had brought Boris the puppy. She enjoyed giving him lots of strokes whilst listening to Trevor talk about his journey as a vet through to setting up the new vet's practice here in Much Wenlock.

Everyone had such a lovely morning. Trevor said he's going to pop up on a regular basis. We can’t wait to see him again in the New Year for a coffee and a chat. 

Here at Wheatlands Care Home our residents love nothing more than having guest speakers and learning about there hobbies and interests. 

We welcomed Michael Cull to the Wheatlands on Tuesday morning, to tell us about his time doing re-enactment. His wife carol was managing wardrobe! 

He arrived in a Navy coloured jacket, the uniform of an Engineer. Changing into red that of an infantry soldier in the 2nd (Queens) Royal Regiment of foot. We also saw a change of hats.

A demonstration of his imitation musket,  as a license is required for real musket and for black powder
They enjoyed re-enactments in Belgium (Waterloo), Tower of London, Arundel Castle, Blenheim Palace, Eastnor Castle, Newstead Abbey…to name but a few.

Residents and visitors alike enjoyed this informative talk, ending with questions and answers.

Happy National Activity Providers Week!

We’d like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank our wonderful Activity Coordinator; Katie Macey and Juliette Morris Activities assistant here at Wheatlands Care Home.

We’re proud of each and every one of our team for the unique, outstanding activities and experiences they bring to our residents every single day. They always go above and beyond their role and for this we are truly grateful.

As part of the week, our Activities Coordinators have been taking part in a whole host of events provided by NAPA, connecting and sharing ideas with teams across the country.

Special celebrations are also taking place at the home throughout the week with residents, friends and fellow colleagues.

This morning our residents enjoyed a morning of music with the fabulously talented Tom Wenlock singing hits from across the decades residents from both communities came together for a good old fashioned sing-a-long and boogie!
 

A little over a year ago, Bridget and I sat down for a cuppa and started talking about Christmas and reminiscing about times gone by. She told me of a tradition she used to have with her own children where they created a toffee tree.

They used to enjoy a long walk together, collecting twigs along the way. When they got home, they would set them in a large pot, after which they would then hang toffee from it and other small decorations. It was such a lovely memory to share, and I promised Bridget back then that we would try and recreate it for Christmas 2025. 

Bridget, along with residents and staff, enjoyed an afternoon together creating our own Wheatlands toffee tree and reminiscing about Christmas gone by. We had such a lovely afternoon together. It is a tradition we will recreate each year.      

Residents and the local community enjoyed coming together for our spooktacular annual pumpkin carving event from spooky pumpkins to some imaginative creations from the traditional carved pumpkins, flower arrangement's to hand painted with a splash of sparkle, who doesn’t enjoy a little sparkle in their life!    

On the last Friday of every month we hold Wheatlands Care HomeHigh Tea Society in our café which has beautiful views of the Shropshire Hills. 

Last week we were delighted to welcome our special guest Claire Brentnall DL (Deputy Lieutenant), town and community link for Much Wenlock; along with family, visitors and guests from the local community. 

Anna Turner is His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, she has a Vice Lieutenant and 30 Deputies. The Lord Lieutenant acts as the County’s link to the Royal Family.

Claire was appointed in 2020, she is and has been a serving magistrate. She gave us a short insightful talk about the role of Lord Lieutenant and her role as Deputy Lieutenant.

Claire presents the Kings medals and awards and attends events when the Lord Lieutenant or Vice are not able to attend. She is always observing or listening out for people or organisations, that may be nominated for awards.

Claire passed around the very beautiful brooch she wears when attending events, and a much smaller one for when she is attending with the Lord Lieutenant. 

After the talk Claire took the time to meet and chat with our residents and guests whilst enjoying a freshly brewed pot of tea and some delicious homemade cake.

Here at Wheatlands Care Home residents enjoy a varied activities programme each week incorporating the mind, body and soul no two days are ever the same. From person centred one to one activities tailored to the individual resident to large group activities we always pride ourselves in delivering a first class activities programme.

This afternoon residents from both our memory lane and residential unit came together for an afternoon of music. The fabulously talented Debbie sang her way through the decades whilst residents, family and friends danced and sang the afternoon away in true Wheatlands style!

Each year we are lucky enough to host an afternoon with Much Wenlock Holy Trinity Church Choir for an afternoon of carols and reminiscing with friends and family. 

Followed by mulled wine and mince pies it really is such a special day for all especially for those residents that are unable to attend church on a regular basis.    

We welcomed the local community to have a wiz-bang time with our residents and staff at Wheatlands as we enjoyed our annual firework display. 

Despite the awful weather, we didn't let the rain dampen our spirits and who doesn't love a bit of puddle jumping, Lea-Ann, our general manager, certainly enjoyed joining the children for a splashing time!  

Residents enjoyed a trip to Holy Trinity Church Much Wenlock for their monthly charity soup lunch. 

Its a chance for them to meet with friends from the local community and enjoy a delicious soup lunch together whilst having a good catch up and helping to raise money for local charities.