Celebrating life at Barchester

Here at Elgar Court, our vision is to create a home that continually offers new opportunities to those living with us, where we champion and celebrate individuality - creating a culture where anything is possible!

Committed to building long lasting relationships within our local community, General Manager Paul and Home Services Advisor Naomi spent the day out and about in Malvern to discuss the exciting plans for our innovative new home.

Our first stop was to see Kate, Aileen and Kate at Community Action Malvern and District. Community Action is a local charity covering Malvern and the surrounding parishes and is made up of 7 core staff and 150 volunteers. The team work extremely hard to prevent isolation and loneliness in the older generation within our community by running a community bus & car service, holding regular coffee mornings and larger scale social events throughout the year, as well as initiatives such as ‘Men In Sheds’

Paul and Naomi were delighted to present the team with a luxurious Christmas themed hamper for their Christmas Fayre on Saturday 10th December being held at the United Reform Church, Worcester Rd, Malvern from 10am – 12pm, everyone is welcome!

Next stop was to meet the team at Malvern Police Station to say hello and invite them all over to join us for our Blue Light Breakfasts when our marketing suite opens in the new year.

Then it was off to meet Commander Ripple at Malvern Fire Station who very kindly gave us a tour of the station. It was fantastic to discuss ideas around partnership working and how we could support each other in raising the awareness and importance of fire safety, not only within Elgar Court but across the whole of Malvern.

We then popped into see the staff at Malvern Community Hospital to discuss Barchester's Healthcare’s new initiative alongside The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) called the ‘Fall Fighter.’ This exciting new project will help raise awareness and provide information of what we can do as a community to reduce the risk of falls – currently costing the NHS and wider healthcare systems over £4 billion every year!

Armed with biscuits to enjoy with a well-deserved cuppa, our last visit was to see the team of builders on site of our beautiful new home and of course, we couldn’t resist a picture of the progress.

Thank you to everyone who we met today for your warm welcome, hospitality and sharing our excitement in the arrival of Elgar Court in 2023!
 

Our Spooky event was a howling success!  Residents, staff and visiting guests got into the ghoulish spirit, and joined in the party games and dancing with live singing entertainment.  Residents commented, 'We are so lucky to have amazing support and we are already really looking forward to the next party!'

So the residents of Falmouth Court had some more animal therapy with a visit from The Creature Feature Show! They enjoyed some quality time with, a rabbit, a guinea pig, a tortoise and even a small snake!

We love arranging these extra special occasions for our residents on a regular basis. It’s so important that everyone here at Falmouth Court lives a full and enriched life.

We had a lovely time joining Angela Cobbin for a theatre-inspired virtual talk about her book ‘My Name is Not Wigs’.               ‘My Name Is Not Wigs’ is the ultimate read for fans of witty behind-the-curtains memoirs, especially those with a penchant for the bright lights of stage and screen: tears and accolades aplenty                                                                                        

Angela shared interesting facts with our residents about her book, her life and her experiences as a wig creator in London’s West End in celebration of World Theatre Day.

We couldn't have wished for a better day to celebrate the opening of our new home at our Summer Garden Party! The sun was shining, the "sparkly" flowing and with stalls and entertainment on offer and all safely held, a great time was had by all!

An exciting new scheme is being rolled at Ashchurch View to try and keep residents engaged in active and meaningful activities during lockdown.

Children from Japan who are studying English have been sharing information in their letters about their hobbies, how they are finding studying English in school, their favourite foods, places, what they like to eat, and asking residents lots of questions.

We have received the first bundle of letters & gifts from the school children, and we’ve been very excited to show these to residents.

It’s a really special way for residents at the home to stay connected with their Pen pals, and we are looking forward to sitting down and helping to write letters back to the children.

Before COVID-19 came along, we had weekly visits by children from the nearby St Catherine’s Primary School. They cannot visit at the moment, so we have established a pen pal scheme with them.

The children have sent us cards, drawings and letters. We have watched their nativity play on our tablets and enjoyed both seeing and hearing the children.

At the moment, class 4 is learning about farming in Cornwall, and they have written letters with lots of questions for us. We write back to them while we spend time chatting and reminiscing about farming or wherever our thoughts and memories take us.

Moors Manor has been lending a helping hand to NHS staff at St Leonards Hospital as they start their COVID-19 vaccination programme.

It’s been great to be able to offer our car park to the hard working staff from the hospital to allow more space for those attending their vaccine appointment. The team have been out in all weathers making sure that the traffic marshals have hot drinks and helping out however they can.

The team have also put together treat bags for the NHS staff to say thank you, which were left on their cars for when they finished their shift, the home has had great feedback from the hospital team, with several nurses visiting Moors Manor to say thank you and comment on how appreciated they feel.

This week’s Virtual Classroom session was a Christmas-themed Winter Wonderland. The students at Coopersale Theydon Garnon School created a fun Christmas quiz for our residents, which lead to reminiscing about Christmas past, as well as a wider discussion on seasonal holidays, including Hunukkah. It was a fun and informative exploration of the season!

Contact with loved ones is so much more important during these changing times. We assist our residents to make cards and drawings that we can post with that extra special loving touch.

Our residents enjoyed Dementia friendly activities this Halloween with pumpkin carving, window dressings and Tracy, our activities coordinator dressed as a beautiful witch! We also had delicious tasty treats too

Although our residents have been keeping in touch with their families with garden visits, zoom calls, Facetime and telephone calls, they have also been writing to their families in 'the old fashioned way'. 

With pictures and news, we are sure their families will treasure these letters. Keeping in touch with loved ones is so important in these unprecedented times.

Birthdays may be celebrated a little differently at the moment, but with plenty of banners, balloons and cake, we have been able to make magical memories during resident garden visits.

Despite the restrictions of lockdown, music lives on and our residents had a wonderful time listening and singing along to music performed by Philippa Mo, a professional violinist, and Jennifer Begley, a professional opera singer.

I just wanted to say how truly professional and caring the staff at Lucerne House in Exeter have been during this ongoing crisis.

We have received many cards of thanks and kindness during this time. It is lovely to receive positive feedback from families and friends. 

So a big thank you to you all!

Thank you for your wonderful care for my husband... All the staff have been so caring especially when he was in quarantine.

Our family would like to say a big thank you to all the carers and nurses who have looked after Mum.