Activities at Wheatlands Care Home

After carrying out a residents survey recently  it became apparent that residents would like different guest speakers and to continue more with past hobbies and interests. Activity Coordinator Katie Macey reached out to the local community for volunteers to come into Wheatlands and be guest speakers from Poetry to Belly dancers!

Ian Parr a local published poet got in touch and offered to run a monthly poetry group with his partner Ann. Ian would share poetry he himself had wrote and read some old classics. Residents also had the opportunity to share poetry they had wrote themselves. On the day unfortunately Mr Walker  was unable to join us we did not want him to miss out as he has a very keen interest in writing and the arts. He can often be heard reciting Shakespeare or talking about when he himself used to perform on stage. A team member joined him in his room and with the use of technology we were able to arrange a facetime session which enabled Mr Walker to still be a part of the poetry group. He was so thrilled to still be a part of the session and join in with his friends.

After a recent resident’s meeting the Gentleman of Wheatlands decided they would like to use some of their existing skills that they previously used most of them enjoy gardening but wanted to do something else.

So this month after receiving a delivery of bird houses and nesting boxes from a local community owned charity WTOF ‘Welcome to our future’ which are promoting and delivering sustainable development across the Marches in rural West Midlands. A scheme to provide bird boxes and feeders to care homes, hospices, schools and other community spaces.

The delivery gave us the perfect opportunity to use those skills  over a cup of coffee and also do some reminiscing about DIY projects that the gents had done from putting shelves up to building a summerhouse at the bottom of the garden and also a few near misses!

The gents enjoyed building the amazing RSPB Gothic bird hanging tables and nesting boxes. Spending time outside in nature is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health and emotional wellbeing.  And of course, the birds benefit as well!

To celebrate national picnic month we invited Much Wenlock Nursery School to join us for a picnic on the lawn. 23 children form the local nursery school joined us for an afternoon of fun and games including lawn darts and hook a duck! The weather didn’t dampen our fun where different generations came together for an action packed day. Resident’s and children enjoyed an afternoon of laughter, games , storytelling and of course lots of singing and dancing. It really was a special day for everyone and we can’t wait until the summer holidays are over and we can plan our next event together.

At Wheatlands residents enjoy lots of group activities in and around there home where they enjoy socialising together and making new friends. But its equally important to have some one to one time and to be able to pursue hobbies and interests this in turn increases the wellbeing and happiness of our residents.

Duncan is a keen bird watcher and he used to ensure his birdfeeders at his bungalow where always full, depending on the time of year it could be birdseed, fat balls or mealworms.

Every fortnight Duncan will go round the grounds of Wheatlands and ensure all our feeders are topped up. At the end of which we sit down with a well-deserved coffee and watch and listen to the birds making their nests. Sometimes we will look on the National Trusts live webcams and take a look at the birds inside the bird houses creating their nests ready for their chicks to be born.

To celebrate British flower week we hosted numerous events throughout the week our residents enjoyed flower arranging, still life drawings of plants and also going for lots of walks in the fresh air looking at all the beautiful flowers and plants we have growing here at Wheatlands and also the surrounding area. To finish the week off in style we invited friends and family to join us in the sensory garden for a morning of all things flowers! Residents and families enjoyed planting a variety of plant and vegetable seeds together where we can look forward to watching them grow and then eating the vegetables we have sown. After which we enjoyed doing a flower based quiz whilst enjoying some tasty fruit kebabs that the residents had prepared prior to the event.

To celebrate World Music Day on Wednesday 21st June residents enjoyed a Zoom call from Much Wenlock Nursery School the children sang and performed for the residents in our memory lane community. They all thoroughly enjoyed it and loved seeing the little children’s faces on the television and them being able to talk to them it was even more special for one resident Ruth as she used to be a primary school teacher and it brought lots of memories flooding back about yesteryears of her being a teacher and also when she was at Primary school.