Activities at Highview House Care Home

For Book Lovers Day we decided it would be a lovely idea to have some children come into the home and read some of their favourite books to our residents. Charley, aged 11, brought in The Roald Dahl Treasury as it has a variety of brilliant stories in it.  She chose some of her favourites including Esio Trot, The Minpins, Matlida and Fantastic Mr Fox and then offered the residents the choice of which ones to read. Charley was reading a little bit of Fantastic Mr Fox to John and very much enjoyed this time.

Jack, aged 9, decided that he would bring Gangsta Granny Strikes back by David Walliams as he thought that the residents would really enjoy this as many of them are Granny’s. Jack read some of his book to Dush and then they both took turns in reading bits of it to each other which was amazing to see.

Annie, Mairi and Margaret all loved to see young children in the home and Annie said she couldn’t work out if she was the Gangsta Granny or the accomplice. Our residents very much enjoyed the interaction with the children and it was lovely to see both generations enjoying the books.  Having a love of books is a great way to improve not only your vocabulary but also your imagination.  It is great to see young children who have a love of books and don’t just always opt for technology as their choice of entertainment.

Miele's Gelateria Inverness came to our home and parked their “Parlour on wheels” in our car park.  The residents and staff all really enjoyed the experience and we cannot thank them enough for coming.  We provided all the residents, staff and visitors with tables and chairs in our front car park and we had some music playing which many enjoyed singing along to.  It was great to also see lots of visitors to our home from the wider community and many sat and chatted with our residents whilst enjoying an afternoon treat of the delicious gelato.  For those who didn’t wish to come outside, the staff took their order and hand delivered their gelato to them in their rooms.  As you can see from the pictures, a great afternoon was had by all and we do hope that all our visitors did too.

One of our residents, Bruce, was on an outing to the local garden centre when he happened to mention to the staff that he would love to see Caley Stadium as he has a passion for the team and has always supported them.   They of course agreed, and as a surprise to Bruce the staff asked them if we could go in and see the pitch from the inside. He was smiling ear to ear and he even told us about some of the games he had been to and where he used to sit. The staff at Caley Stadium were so kind and took us on a small tour. They even gave Bill and Bruce calendars and window stickers to decorate their rooms back at the home.

A couple of our residents enjoyed a trip into town to Miele’s ice cream parlour.  There were so many flavours we didn’t know which ones to choose, so we decided to get a scope of each so all the residents could have a taste.  Before we set of back we just had to sample some flavours first as it would have been rude not too. Leonora enjoyed Raspberry Ripple, Jane enjoyed Ferrero Rocher and Marc enjoyed the Mint and I had the Oreo.  In weather like this ice-cream always hits the spot.

Sandra and Eileen, two of our residents from Memory Lane, took a trip to the Connage Express in Ardersier.  This is where you can make your own flavoured milkshake.  Sandra choose the chocolate flavour and Eileen choose the blueberry muffin flavour.  We choose two additional flavours, Rum & Raisin and Strawberry, for all the residents to try at our tasting session this afternoon.  Sandra and Eileen loved their trip out as they also got to see the great view of the Moray Firth and the surrounding country side.  The Bottles are reusable so we will definitely be going back again to try out some of the other delicious flavours.

Today a couple of our residents enjoyed a day trip to Munro's Garden Centre. Ara and Jane walked around looking at all the different plants and flowers. Ara loved smelling the Rose which are her favourite flowers.  After a walk round, we sat in the café and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a scone.  We were joined by a beautiful little robin which was lovely.  Before going home we went back to choose a plant for our garden.  Ara and Jane choose a beautiful Lily plant named After Eight.