What types of care does Hickathrift House Care Home offer?

Hickathrift House Care Home offers Residential care, Dementia care, Respite / Short stay.

Activities at Hickathrift House Care Home

We have two Activities Coordinators here at Hickathrift House. We have a wide range of activities within the home, including musical entertainment, arts & crafts, clubs for like-minded people, such as flower arranging and gardening, board games, baking (where the best bit is the eating afterwards!), and we celebrate special events throughout the year. We also have trips out on a regular basis using our own minibus, where we find out places of interest each person would like to visit.

It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these activities as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join in with activities and events as often as they can.

For the less mobile residents, we unique one-to-one session, such as simple chats over a cup of tea, reading or listening to music. Activities are some of the most important aspects of a care home, so it is essential that our team are dedicated to ensuring that residents are entertained, and that life at Hickathrift House is fun and active.

Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Kat Colangelo

Activities Lead

Hello, my name is Kat and I am the Activities Lead here at Hickathrift House.

Since 2017 I have been working in the field of well-being and I am passionate and enthusiastic about enriching all our of residents' quality of life.

As the Activities Lead at Hickathrift House, my focus is learning about each of our resident's likes and dislikes and supporting them to remain receptive and active in addition to supporting them to engage with our local community friends.

I organise activities to stimulate the mind, body and soul in an enjoyable, comfortable way. My aim is to diversify and increase activities ensuring that there is something for everyone - from Wine and Cheese events, excursions on our home Mini Bus as well as individual bespoke person-centered activities.

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 Hickathrift House Care Home

High Sheriff visits Hickathrift

Hickathrift House Care Home in Marshland St James welcomed the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, Dr Bharat, his wife Mrs Khetani and Kim Taylor of ‘Wisbech Tweet.’ The residents and staff were thrilled to be approached and asked for a visit due to the High Sheriff being so happy with what he saw online about the home.

On Monday 13th November, the High Sheriff and his lovely wife arrived at Hickathrift House and was welcomed by General Manager Paula Colman, Deputy Manager Sarah Sage and Activities Coordinator Emily Jackson, before being given a grand tour of the home and introduced to all the residents

Pumpkin Patch

Barchester’s Hickathrift House care home, in Marshland St James, got in the Halloween spirit by visiting Worzals to see Rusty’s Great Pumpkin Patch.

On the 29th of October, Hickathrift House Care home, while working with the team at Worzals, took a bus full of residents and 3 carers to the pumpkin patch. Residents and staff had a brilliant time exploring the various themed areas from Stanger Things to Hocus Pocus. In additional to the beautiful themes the residents and staff loved seeing the various types of pumpkins available to purchase.

Black History Month Events

Black History Month, held in October every year, not only provides an opportunity to celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black Britons now and throughout history but also how Black History influences our present and our future world.

To begin the celebrations, we held a Caribbean party with the local entertainer the Banjo Man. The banjo originated from descendants of African and Caribbean heritage. Everyone enjoyed listening to this unique instrument and sang along over some pina colada cocktails. We have hosted a variety of activities to celebrate and raise awareness including watching Hidden Figures as part of our film club, discussing famous influencers in our history club, and an interactive talk with Rhiannon Watkinson from the RAF Museum London. These activities were enjoyed by all and offered an opportunity to learn more about a different culture.

World Mental Health Day

On the 10th of October, we raised awareness of mental health and took steps to support residents' own mental health. We celebrated by calming and stimulating the mind, body, and soul with a range of activities.

At Hickathrift House, we spent the morning having a pamper with nail painting and hand massages, while listening to mindful music and watching beautiful aquarium scenes. The afternoon residents felt reinvigorated and refreshed with the incredible Amanda from Wings of Eagles Yoga Therapy and Wellbeing.

Betty especially loved the activities as the yoga reminded her of her ballet days. She shared a few ballet exercises with us which we all enjoyed.

Local Folk Group Shares a Traditional Joy

We had the absolute pleasure of being entertained by members of the Denver Windmill Acoustic Session. It was an absolute joy listening to a variety of instruments and seeing all these incredible jig dolls from this local group. Jig dolls have loose limbs that step dance or 'jig' on the end of a vibrating board.

Residents sang along to several songs they knew and loved from when they were little. These sparked many memories which we shared throughout the session.
Betty said, "It was just marvellous. It was such a joy to meet and swap stories together. I had a brilliant time".

Halloween celebrations

Barchester’s Hickathrift House care home, in Marshland St James, is a den of ghoulish activity as the home’s spooky Halloween celebrations get into full swing. Residents and staff are getting into the spirit of things by holding a pumpkin flower arranging afternoon with Bargain Bridal Boutique.

Corrine, owner of Bargain Bridal Boutique, visited the care home with numerous artificial flowers of various types and colours for the residents to use for their pumpkin flower arranging. Corrine, her daughter and grandson supported residents in making stunning floral displays for the home’s communal areas.