Activities at Woodland View Care Home

We have really enjoyed having the children of our local community school Queen Boudica visit us each week, and we will real miss them all over the summer break. Residents have had so much fun, and made some lovely friendships, which we are hoping to continue next term. 

We have done so many fun activities together, which have included Sports Day, Decorating biscuits, Karaoke, Barchester ‘Get Moving’ challenge, Gardening Club, Sharing stories, and a very competitive game of Bingo! A huge thankyou to all the children and Teachers for making these visits possible, we can’t wait to see you all soon.

Residents have been taking part in lots of outdoor activities, and enjoying the warm weather lately, we have also been out and about in the community, and some residents have tried drinks they have never had before, such as cold frappes, chocolate, smoothies and mocktails, instead of their normal tea and coffees. 

Our Activities Assistants Sita and Zahra introduced these to residents while at The Barn Garden Centre, and Esquire Coffee House, and residents are now looking forward to recreating some of these drinks at Woodland View.

We had a fabulous celebration here at Woodland View, to mark 80 years of Victory over Europe. We made our own flags and decorated our beautiful home in red, white and blue. Our Head Chef made us a fantastic Victoria Sponge, and we all enjoyed a cup of tea!

D-Day Dolly ‘Kitty’ entertained residents, relatives and staff members with music from this era of celebration after the War, and everyone joined in by waving flags while singing the Vera Lynn classic “We’ll Meet Again”.

It was wonderful to mark this historical event, and share stories and memories with residents that remember the celebrations 80 years ago.

Today we had a fabulous intergenerational Easter Egg Hunt, with the wonderful Shannon and Emily of Chestnut Childminding and Little Starfish Childminding.

A lovely morning of different generations meeting, and having lots of fun. Children and residents followed clues throughout all communities, collecting eggs and stuffed animals. 

At the end of the hunt, the children all received a chocolate egg to take home. We love our visits with the children, and this session was so special! 

Today we had a fabulous intergenerational Easter Egg Hunt, with the wonderful Shannon and Emily of Chestnut Childminding and Little Starfish Childminding.

A lovely morning of different generations meeting, and having lots of fun. Children and residents followed clues throughout all communities, collecting eggs and stuffed animals. 

At the end of the hunt, the children all received a chocolate egg to take home. We love our visits with the children, and this session was so special! 

Today we took advantage of "National Beer Day" (US) and took ourselves off to the pub to celebrate as our minibus trip destination!

We went to the Dog & Pheasant, and had such a lovely welcome! We enjoyed an order of Beer, Espresso Martini, Elderflower Mojito, and coffee!

The sun is shining, and we all have a smile on our faces. What a lovely afternoon! 

We have loved getting out and about in the community lately, and this brighter weather has made it all the better! 

We have proven you're never too old to go on the swings or slides at Stanway Lakelands Centre. This was so much fun! 

We have enjoyed choosing plants for our garden, having some cake and coffee at Stanway Garden Centre and Filpots Garden Centre Café. We are so lucky to have our mini-bus, which allows us to have spontaneous trips within our local community.

We have had a lovely Nutrition and Hydration week here at Woodland View. Residents have made their own pizzas, which we shared with the children of Chestnut Childminding when they came for their after-school visit.

We made shortbread outside in the sun, which we enjoyed with our afternoon tea or coffee.

We made yummy smoothies, which we chopped and chose our own fruit, and we have found out some facts around why Nutrition and Hydration is important for our overall health, with facts and quizzes from the Oomph platform!

On Sunday To finish off our Nutrition and Hydration week, it would be rude not to indulge in an ice cream Sundae...on a Sunday! Our Head Chef took the sweet trolley around all communities and residents could choose from Kinder Bueno, Biscoff, Chocolate or Strawberry Sauce.

What a great week. Nutrition and Hydration week is one of our favourites!

Residents had a wonderful time celebrating pancake day here at Woodland View. We all had a turn flipping pancakes, and also decorating our yummy desserts. Residents could choose from: Chocolate Spread, Golden Syrup, Strawberries, Banana, Blueberries, or good old-fashioned lemon and sugar!

Residents were all included in decorating pancakes. Even if they wanted to stay in their rooms, our Activity Assistant ensured everyone got to join in the fun!

One of our residents enjoyed reminiscing: “I absolutely love pancake day. It takes me back to my childhood when my mother used to make us all pancakes, and we’d all wait in turn for ours hoping the batter would stretch to another.  We’ve had so much fun reminiscing and sharing our favourite recipes for fillings.

Some of our residents learnt more about LGBTQ icons, as part of the month that celebrates the history of the community, and what it means to be a part of it.

We read literature on famous LGBTQ people, such as Ru Paul, and Marsha P Johnson, through Oomph, which is provided by Barchester Healthcare. Residents involved were interested in this history, and how the community are now accepted for being true to themselves, and the issues they have overcome.

We learnt all about this alongside our baking club, in which we decorated rainbow cupcakes, to celebrate the community.

The rainbow was chosen to represent the LGBTQ community by Gilbert Baker, a gay artist who wanted to make a proud statement through a symbol showing diversity. He believed that the rainbow was ideal because it is found in nature. 

We had such a lovely day here at Woodland View for Valentine's Day.

Our Head Chef baked us some delicious treats for lunch, and also made delicious heart-shaped chocolate cakes for every community member to enjoy, which everyone enjoyed. Her cakes are always received with joy by everyone!

Residents were also given roses and bags with a mixture of affirmations, chocolates, and dried rose petals from our very own garden.

Staff were treated to takeaway pizza and KFC, to spread the love throughout the home, by our General Manager.

We were also treated to the dulcet tones of Paul Wood of Boogie Oogie Entertainments, who serenaded us with a selection of love songs.

What a lovely day!

We had a lovely minibus trip and visited for the first time, at the request of residents, Firstsite Colchester, which is such a beautiful building and museum within our city.

Residents looked at the displays within Firstsite, which included art and sculptures. We also visited the shop, with lots of books on local history, and also greeting cards. We also enjoyed a drink in the café, which was delicious!

Everyone had a lovely morning, and we will definitely be returning, as displays change regularly, so there is always something new to see! 

What a busy day for our Activities Team and residents!

We continued, as we did last year, celebrating different cultural food, and we made Sushi! With guidance from Sita, the team made Smoked Salmon, Seafood, and Veggie Sushi, which went down a storm with residents, staff, and also visitors!

We had quotes from residents saying how they didn't think they would like it, "but this is actually delicious!" 

And we had families saying, "Wow, this is as good as I have tasted in a restaurant." 
We think this was a huge success, and we have more plans for our baking/cooking club, that allow residents to discover different foods!

In the afternoon, some residents went out on the minibus for coffee, and also visited St Helena Hospice Shop on Peartree Road, to look at some new clothes and get out and about in the local community. Everybody wrapped up warm, and got some bargains!

A lovely, enjoyable Wednesday, here at Woodland View!

With many thanks to generous donations from Asda Colchester and Tesco Highwoods Community Champion , the lovely Marie, we had a fantastic time displaying some beautiful blooms for International Flower Day.

Residents made some beautiful bouquets with Roses, Carnations, Tulips, Daffodils, Gerberas and Gypsophila at our Gardening Club.

Everyone agreed how beautiful these floral displays looked, and how kind of our local community it was to donate them, with residents commenting "We are so very lucky to have kind people to give us such lovely flowers." 

Today marked the first day of our 2025 Activities Team 'Woodland View Wishes' initiative.

For our first of 2025, we made a wish come true for our lovely resident, who was a former pupil of County High School For Girls in Colchester, which is now GreyFriars Luxury Hotel and Restaurant, on East Hill.

On another outing, our resident stood outside GreyFriars, telling our Coordinator all about her days there, and how she "Would love to go and have a look, but knew it would never happen. Look how posh it is"

So, after some emails, and a lovely conversation with Jemma Mitchell there, we were invited for a complimentary Afternoon Tea. Today, our resident got to trace her steps from her school days, with a guided tour from the wonderful Julieanne. Looking at all the rooms, which were dining rooms, classrooms, and having afternoon tea in the old Head Mistress's office!

It was a lovely afternoon with lots of reminiscing, lots of smiles and the best hospitality, with fantastic food and drinks. 
We are so very privileged to have been invited, and for memories to have been made today, that are priceless!

A huge thanks to Greyfriars Luxury Hotel and Restaurant, and to Jemma, Julieanne and everyone involved.