Activities at Fountains Care Home
We understand that the people we support have passions and interests that could be difficult to pursue after moving into a care home – but that doesn’t mean we don’t encourage them to try! Some hobbies can define a person, so our Activities Coordinators are dedicated to ensuring that everyone we support is able to do what makes them happy to the best of their abilities. Social events are organised with individual tastes in mind and with the idea that residents have the opportunity to try new and exciting things.
Louise Crooks
Hello I am Louise, my first role with Barchester was caring for our residents. Previously I worked in an early years environment for 17 years where I organised activities and events. I am thrilled to now be Activities Lead and being able to continue enriching the life’s of our lovely residents here at Fountains.
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 Fountains Care Home
Celebrating 200 years of Cadbury
Staff and residents at Barchester’ s Fountains care home in Solihull were treated to an afternoon of nostalgia and delicious memories when they were joined by Cadbury archivist Sarah Foden and Brand Manager Connor Gould for a talk from the nation’s favourite chocolate brand.
Sarah and Connor walked the Barchester residents through the story of the brand’s great success from the very first shop to how Cadbury is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2024. They shared photos from down the years, examples of old packaging and ad campaigns from the Cadbury archive in Bournville. The carefully selected archive material tells the story of an iconic British brand, this year celebrating its 200th anniversary that has been part of people’s lives through generations, in moments big and small. The brand’s rich history evoked all kinds of nostalgic memories for the residents who all have their own Cadbury memories. Our residents, really enjoyed being able to explore and learn more about local history. They were happy to share their own experiences and talked about their favourite chocolate moments.
“It’s just magical the way they can show us all these facts. It really does feel magical especially when watching those adverts, I remember watching with my own children.” Commented Barbara.
“My friends dad used to work for Cadburys, we loved a Saturday morning as he would always hand out the treat tin which we couldn’t wait to dive in” laughed Jack
George’s handy work
Since coming to live at Fountains care home, George has expressed his needs to keep busy and carry on enjoying his hobbies. George, has always been a handyman, he enjoys being part of projects and getting helping others whenever he can. Here we have George with our maintenance team Harvi & Nick. They were able to support George with his passion for helping others, by organising an opportunity for George to join them in painting the communal garden furniture. George was really pleased to help and found himself motivated and empowered to join in and complete the task ahead. Well done Team for your hard work, this has been a success!
Silhill Morris Dancers
A fantastic way to start our seasonal celebrations, with a live performance of dance and music. The local club from Henley in Arden, who are known as Silhill Morris Dancers. The group were wearing the symbolic items from feathers, sashes and bells whilst displaying traditional dancing. Our residents, were very engrossed and thrilled to have witness the experience here at the home. This bought laughter and joy for everyone and people were happy to listen and learn the history behind this magnificent event.
Botanical Gardens, Birmingham
After are latest residents meeting, a request was made for a trip to the botanical gardens in Birmingham, of course it was our pleasure to make it happen! Here we have our residents enjoying a sunny day in one of Birmingham’s hidden beauty’s. Being well into spring, the blossom was blooming and the plants has beautiful buds showing all around. Everywhere we looked there was amazing views, different colours and the sounds the birds created released a tranquil feeling for all to enjoy whilst rooming freely. “it’s just incredible to see, I’m so glad we visited and able to see all of this.” Praised Edna (resident)
Sheldon country park and old rectory farm
Animal lovers!
Here we have some of our residents enjoying a nice trip out to visit Sheldon Country park and the old rectory farm.
Liz, who just adores all animals, showed so much interest and engaged throughout the whole trip! The residents enjoyed being able to see the sheep, horse and the pigs, they found them to be very amusing especially when the pigs snored. We finished our visit by visiting the old farm house for hot refreshments and a slice of home made cake before heading back home.
Our First Reminiscence Cafe
In April we were delighted to launch our monthly Reminiscence Cafe.
Residents, staff, family and the local community came together at the home to share their memories about this months chosen topic, Cadbury. It is the 200th Anniversary of the Cadbury brand this year, so we thought this was a perfect choice.
We shared the family story of Cadbury, the history of Bournville and everyone was keen to share their own memories. We also have Residents here at Fountains who worked for and with Cadbury, which was extra special.
We were also joined by @Visiting Angels Warwickshire who brought along some cakes to add to our selection of Cadbury chocolate.
Our next Reminiscence Cafe will be on Wednesday 29th May. Pop the date in your diary - we would love to have you join us!
Upcoming events
May Life Enrichment
We hope to see the end of the April showers and look forward to sunnier days in May. Please come and brighten our day and join us for our May events.
Reminiscence Cafe
Please join us for our monthly Reminiscence Cafe where we will pick a topic and talk about our memories, whilst making new friends and enjoying some refreshments.
Don't Dine Alone
We know meal times can be a lonely time for some people, that's why we're inviting local older people to join us for lunch every Friday from 12.30pm.
Room for Hire
Looking for somewhere to hold your meeting or event? We have a meeting room that is available for free to members of the local community and professionals.
