Celebrating life at Barchester

The night finally arrived for a wonderful evening full of laughter with friends, family and colleagues. We were lucky enough to be joined by a group of hilarious comedians hosted by the one and only Marcus! 

The evening couldn’t have been better, with laughter all night, everyone enjoying jokes, music and a few drinks with all our favourite people! Thank you to all the comedians who performed and everyone for supporting our night. We can’t wait for the next one.

Here at Wimborne we have many residents that love all our furry friends, but one particular resident's favourite is Owls. Knowing this, we organised for a prestigious company to come in and bring a variety of these wonderful birds along with a falcon to meet our resident June and all the home. 

Everyone loved learning about these wise owls and met different species, from a barn owl to an African dwarf. Nearing the end of this educational session, we were honoured with a flying demonstration and feeding of the hawk. 

Did someone say Easter? This weekend was spent celebrating this religious holiday. Everyone participated in a variety of events throughout the weekend, from chocolate treats to Easter crafts. 

We were visited by our local church that held an Easter service following a traditional lamb roast and simnel cake. We participated in our big Barchester Easter Cake competition and enjoyed reminiscing this afternoon and sharing Easter traditions and stories.  

We had a fun-filled day as we raised a glass and tasted top ales in recognition of National Beer Day.
Our residents enjoyed a mini-beer festival and got involved in a variety of engaging activities. 

Some of our residents spent time learning about craft brewing and the history of beer; others preferred to attend the beer tasting session and try beers from all around the world. It was a wonderful day, enjoyed by all.

We had a wonderful time hosting a painting and crafts session this week, thanks to the incredible team from the EFFRO Project, proudly funded by the Welsh Government.

Our residents enjoyed getting creative with colours, brushes, and plenty of imagination. The session was filled with laughter, conversation, and some beautiful artwork that now brightens our home!

A big thank you to the EFFRO Project for bringing joy, connection, and creativity to our care community.

Spring is in the air and so is the Easter spirit! We kicked off our Easter celebrations here at Bryn with some creativity. 

Our lovely residents had a fantastic time, getting crafty with some beautifully decorated bonnets—each one more colourful than the last! 

We had a joyful and activity-filled Easter weekend here at Bryn with something special for everyone!
Our residents swapped their teacups for paintbrushes and prosecco flutes at our Easter-themed Paint & Prosecco Afternoon! 

We enjoyed a fabulous Easter Tea Party filled with dancing and joy, along with a flower-arranging session that brought out everyone’s creativity. It was a joyful celebration of Easter with delicious sweet treats that our residents made.

Thank you to our amazing staff, volunteers, and families who helped make the celebrations so meaningful. 

The Cheshire Grange Family had a very busy Easter. In the run-up to the weekend, residents took part in various creative projects decorating Easter Bonnets to wear on Easter Sunday and also Easter Broaches. Broach making has become a very popular creative activity. As with all our creative projects, there was music, poems and lots of smiles and laughter.

The home was decorated and the Easter Bunny popped in on Good Friday to make sure everyone was ready for Sunday.

There were competitions and raffles. Guessing the weight of the cake was very popular. The nearest correct weight won the delicious Blueberry & Lemon cake that Karen our Administrator had baked for us. On Easter Sunday, St Marys Church visited to conduct an Easter Communion Service. The Hospitality team created an amazing roast lamb dinner and the day was rounded off with a visit from the Easter Bunny, bringing lots of smiles and joy.

Cheshire Grange residents welcomed a first visit from Mark from The Music Memory Cafe. Mark brought with him, music, fun & games and hats, the most amazing fun collection of hats.

The residents sang, danced, played balloon tennis and football and smiled and laughed through the morning and everybody is looking forward to Mark's next visit.

We were all very excited by the arrival of our new mini-bus and couldn’t wait for all the adventures we could have, but the weather had other ideas, and nobody was that keen to venture out in the cold wind.

We waited patiently and made our first trip out. When the weather improved, we made the short journey to Irlam Station for lunch. The Station at Irlam is a working station on the Liverpool/Manchester line that has an amazing café. The old station buildings have been converted, keeping the character and charm of the building and many original features from the station over the years.

The Station at Irlam is a favourite with our residents and on this trip they enjoyed soup and sandwiches whilst reminiscing about the area and their memories of train journeys.

It is amazing to see what a difference it makes to our residents, time spent with children, look at just some of the photos taken when we had our little visitors at our home. Thank you once again, ladies, for bringing your little’uns in for us to share!! So very very precious! 

Our carers' children were seated on our residents' knees as well as seen on the dance floor during our singer Steve Carmel’s set. Lots of cooing over how beautiful and handsome the babies are, smiles, joy, happiness and love, throughout our Main Lounge. Kindly, the carers visited other areas of the home, for residents' enjoyment who may not be wanting to attend the afternoon’s singing.

Our Easter bunny brigade was out delivering sweet goodies to staff and residents this Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny was out having some mischievous fun, and the residents all had a wonderful time helping the naughty bunny to give out the sweet treats. 

It was a fun, happy Easter Day and from all of our staff and residents here at Cherry Trees we wish you all a fabulous Easter!

Our talented Chefs Chris Aston and Nataliya Ivanova went head to head in competition to bake the best Apple Pie, voted for by our residents!!

In support of our Regional Directors Charity Cook-Off for Barchester's Charitable Foundation we were extremely excited here at Cherry Trees Care Home - Barchester Healthcare for our very own Cherry Trees Bake Off. The results are in… 

After much deliberation our judges decided that the best overall pie was created by none other than our Head Chef, Chris Aston! In the words of our lovely resident Joan, ‘It was a very close call’ as both were absolutely delicious but what tipped the decision in Chris’ favour was the simplicity of his bake! 

Our home was full of joy and laughter with residents and staff taking part, enjoying each other’s company and having fun. It was lovely to see the whole home come together, showing support and love for our wonderful team and the fantastic job they do! Well done to Chris and Nataliya and our fabulous panel of judges! 

Residents and staff had a blast during their minibus outing to Big Meadow park in Bidford-on-Avon on Tuesday! Nothing beat the simple joy of swinging on the swings, laughing and enjoying the sunshine together with friends! Our resident Jessie said ‘I’ve had a wonderful day and I’ve felt like a kid again!’ With lots of joyful, happy tears, Jessie didn’t want to leave and asked if we could go back again very soon.

Carly our Activities Coordinator said, ‘We’re honestly so grateful for these moments together, It’s amazing how something so simple can create so much happiness and bring back such wonderful memories for our residents. Our life enrichment programme encompasses all aspects of supporting residents emotional, social and physical wellbeing. It’s about creating opportunities for our residents to experience joy, purpose, and personal growth all whilst maintaining their dignity and independence.’

Everyone is already looking forward to another visit again very soon. 

Always fun being entertained by Peter! The residents and staff love having peter come to sing for us and we can’t help but sing along and have a real good boogie.

Lots of Fun!
Lots of Singing!
Lots of Laughter!
Always the best times.

Thanks to Eric and Leslie for hosting an Origami workshop for us here at Westwood House.

We were quite unsure of ourselves to begin, however, we all ended up creating some fantastic animals. We all agreed it was a super afternoon and have enjoyed learning a new skill.

Rivermead was in celebration over the Easter weekend as we watched some lovely church services broadcast on the TV’s. Then everyone was delighted to receive their Easter eggs or an alternative gift to chocolate if they wanted. Our new Resident Ambassador ‘Pat’ was helping the Easter bunny to deliver their gifts around the whole home. 

Pat received many thanks from everyone, and even got a cuddle of thanks from some who were overjoyed to be getting a gift.  

Rivermead had a wonderful time at our first open day since our WOW renovation! Our residents were warmly greeted in the morning by the amazing ‘Butterwick Alpaca Retreat’ with some furry friends to pet and feed including Guinea Pigs and rabbits. 

Visiting animals are such a fun and exciting activity for our residents, especially ‘Margaret’ who used to work for the land army during the war, and she expressed that “Alpacas aren’t anything like working with cows but they are lovely and fluffy!” 

Then in the afternoon, we donned our best hats to celebrate the Grand National along with some drinks as we cheered on those jockeys and their horses! 

Entering into spring is a great time to spruce up the gardens! Our residents enjoyed their day organising some flowering arranging for around the home. The residents chose the colours they wanted to use, then snipped and arranged into some beautiful floral arrangements. 

This activity was a wonderful experience of the senses; the room smelt amazing! The residents worked together, helping each other with their creative ideas and this in turn encouraged more friendships within the home. 

We celebrated our lovely couple, Audrey and Gordon's 71st wedding anniversary.

The event was made even more special as their best man was able to join in with the celebrations, and they enjoyed lunch together opening their cards with a very special one from the King and Queen.

Gordon was overcome with emotion, so much so that he was speechless. Audrey thanked us for making their day so special.

Easter Fun with an Easter Trail for the children and lots of fun over the weekend with so much fun and laughter. There was face painting, live entertainment and everyone enjoying themselves. 

Even the Easter Bunny had time to pop by even with his busy schedule.

Pussy cats and Coffee today - What a happy combination!!

This morning we spent at The Cat House - Cat Lounge & Arts Centre - Norwich . It was amazing. This was such a wonderful experience and the residents loved it. So many beautiful cats and not enough time to love them all. We met hairy cats, hairless cats, sporty cats, funny cats, chilled cats, cute cuddly cats, and one that would steal your cake if you weren't looking!! 

And they were all gorgeous. Thank you to Sarah and her team for making us feel so welcome.

Great Yarmouth Seafront at its best..... We came, we ate, we conquered the Seaside

We ate fish and chips, we had ice cream, we looked at the beach in the sunshine, and we played the 2p machines...what else is there to do in Great Yarmouth hey!! A wonderful time was had by all.

If we can’t get to the theatre, The Warren will make the Theatre come to you.

We have so many residents who love live theatre and musicals, so what better way to entertain them by hiring Clearer productions who gave us a morning of live musical entertainment.

This brought so much joy to our residents, many who enjoyed singing along to the familiar West End songs!

What a fabulous Easter Monday finale we had at Ashlar House! The day kicked off with the most adorable visitors-a miniature pony and a super cuddly, friendly bunny. It was impossible for anyone to pass by without stopping for a pat, a cuddle, and a big smile. 

Our residents, families, and even staff were completely charmed -and quite a few selfies were snapped too!

Overslade House recently presented The Croft Happy Circle with a cheque for £1000. The Happy Circle is a friendly village social club with around 50 or more regular members and have been meeting in Croft for the last 62 years.

The grant had been awarded by Barchester’s Charitable Foundation, a charity that helps older people and adults with a disability or mental health problems across England, Scotland and Wales by offering grants to help people connect or re-connect with others in their local community.

Overslade House welcomed Alan Wing, Secretary/Treasurer for The Croft Happy Circle along with members and committee members to a small gathering in the home with live entertainment and Afternoon Tea to receive the cheque from resident Ambassador Anne Fletcher and celebrate being awarded the grant.

Alan, Secretary/Treasurer, said “We are very grateful for this donation and this will help immensely towards offering outings to people feeling alone or isolated”.

Violeta Baesu, General Manager at Overslade House Care Home, said: “We are always keen to show as much support as we can to local charities. The Croft Happy Circle is close to our hearts as we also try to alleviate the feelings of isolation or loneliness in our home and also for people struggling with mental health. Our doors are always open for people to join us for Afternoon Tea or events and activities.

A huge congratulations to all our Regional Directors who swapped their business suits for aprons and took part in the Charity Cook-Off to raise money for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation!

The competition was fierce, the creativity was outstanding, and the dishes were nothing short of exquisite. From mouth-watering starters to delicious desserts, each team truly impressed the Barchester Executive Board judges, who had the tough job of selecting a winner. 

Thanks to everyone’s efforts and generous support, the teams raised £16,000 to help vulnerable people and those living with disabilities connect with their communities. Overslade House were pleased to have raised £50 towards this amount with their bric a brac stall and guess the sweetie jar and also held a food quiz and live entertainment whilst awaiting the results. Our Divisional Managers won best dessert and personal favourite of CEO Dr. Peter Calveley.

We had so much fun following along with some of the amazing recipes.

Residents at Overslade House started Easter week with Arts and Crafts on Wednesday with Creative Mojo, also recognising World Art day and Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday. Our artist of the day was John, who looked very pleased with his certificate and this collage was displayed during our Easter Service on Maundy Thursday.

Many thanks to Cecil and Angela from Gift of Years for conducting our Easter Service with lovely hymns and readings.

On Good Friday, Easter Gifts were delivered to all of our residents by the Mad Hatter and his two white rabbits. A huge thank you to Anton Swaby, another friend who has become a family member, whose mother was at Overslade House and has a lovely memorial bench, magnolia tree and memorial stone in our gardens. Anton always offers his services for free and was our Father Christmas last year, and now he has swapped clothes for the Mad Hatter.  

On Easter Saturday, we held our Easter Fayre with a visit from the gorgeous Alpaca Pals, who also visited residents room to room. Anton again assisted and became the Alpaca whisperer. We were also treated to wonderful hymns from the SDA church choir and hope to see them again.

Easter Sunday residents enjoyed singing hymns and family visits.

Pentland View is hosting a block of Play Away music sessions. During these sessions, the residents enjoy interacting with children and their accompanying adults, playing instruments, dancing, and singing songs. It’s amazing how many of the songs come back to us as we sing along! 

These sessions are full of laughter, dancing, singing, fun, and, of course, music!

Marion is a long-time fan of the talented Andre Rieu. As such, she was delighted to spend an evening at the cinema with Jeanine to watch his 75th Birthday Spectacular. 

The pair hummed, tapped their feet and were even brought to tears by the beauty of the music! It was a delightful evening spent listening to great music and Marion returned home late, but full of smiles and happy to have spent the evening watching one of her favourite musicians.