Activities at Woodland View Care Home
Activities at Woodland View
Woodland View is passionately committed to providing residents with a varied choice of entertainment, social, health and well being, craft and relaxation based activities.
Activities will all be meaningful and based on the likes of residents and will continue to evolve depending on our residents. The activities provided will also include involvement from other local community based organisations and are open to all residents, family and friends of residents. Our activities will be facilitated by staff from all departments as well as invited guests. Families are also enthusiastically encouraged to play a part in activities when possible.
There will always be at least one person at every activity who has been DBS checked to ensure the safeguarding of our residents. The dignity of our residents and our respect for them is at the centre of everything we do, each and every day.
We are always reviewing and changing our schedule of activities to be a centre of excellence and actively invite feedback and suggestions for new and meaningful activities and ideas.
Petra Hardman
Hi my name is Petra and I'm the Activities Coordinator here at Woodland View. I love seeing the difference that activities can make to each individual, and finding out what interests they have and ensure I incorporate that into our activities here.
I love music and drama coming from a musical background as a singer all over the country, music is important to me and I feel it makes such a difference to everyone, it evokes memories, and creates happiness. I also love to boost residents self esteem by creating pampering sessions and having one to one time to relax and reminisce.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
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 Woodland View Care Home
The Balloon Goes Up
Thursday mornings at Woodland View are always popular; Clare Leach conducts her weekly interactive gun and music sessions. Handing out song sheets for everyone, residents sing along to old classics and more recent popular tunes.
The fun really starts when certain tunes, acting as triggers, are played. 'I'm forever Blowing Bubbles' is the point in the proceedings where Activities Coordinator, Kevin Riley, regardless of what he is doing or where he is located, springs into action. Within moments Kevin appears, armed with a fully loaded bubble machine. He works his way through the audience, showering them with bubbles, much to the delight of most. However, the ladies who get their hair done before the music session are normally scrambling for newspapers to hold over their heads to protect themselves. Hilarity is normally the result.
Things have progressed in the session to now include a huge orange balloon, which takes quite a significant effort to inflate each week. Having just recovered from a storm of bubbles, residents are now engaged in batting away this inflated monster, which invariably keeps coming back to them again – and they love it!
Crafty Little Things!
Just about everyone needs greetings cards from time to time and residents at Woodland View have been finding out how enjoyable and satisfying it is to make their own.
Using a number of styles and techniques, handmade cards have been produced by residents to cover a range of themes, including Easter and birthdays.
The standard has been exceptional and residents have requested for additional craft workshops to feature in future activities schedules.
Dressing Down
Woodland View has an on-going relationship with The Gilberd School in Colchester and recently received a wonderful gift.
The school held a dress-down day to support fundraising for an interactive light table at Woodland View. After a day of raising funds, teacher, Georgina Scott, handed Activities Coordinator, Kevin Riley, a cheque for £1,176.16.
Fundraising is going well, but there's still a long way to go before the target is reached and the table can be purchased.
Woodland View would like to express its sincere appreciation for the efforts made by staff and pupils of The Gilberd School. The benefits this equipment will bring residents living with dementia at the home will be enjoyed for a long time to come.
Bonding Squares
The ladies who attend the weekly crafts workshop at Woodland View created a number of bonding squares for St. Thomas's Hospital in London following an appeal on social media. However, they soon found out that the hospital had been inundated and they couldn't accept any more.
After phoning hospitals closer to Woodland View, Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford were in need of them, so they were packaged up and sent over. The hospital sent back a letter of appreciation upon receipt of the squares, so it was wonderful to know they had gone somewhere that needed them.
Although we're already regularly contributing to a number of good causes, the residents at Woodland View are always interested in supporting any organisations that need knitted items.
Afternoon Tea
There is nothing nicer than a freshly baked scone with strawberry jam and fresh cream. It's even better when you've baked them yourself!
Residents at Woodland View made a large batch of what have to have been some of the nicest scones you could get. Not surprisingly, the reward for their effort was an afternoon tea featuring the very same scones.
It's a fair certainty that more scones will be produced in the near future!
Employee of the Month - February
Vimla Parmessa gives 100% all of the time, coming in on her days off to cover when needed. She is conscientious and a joy to work with.
