Celebrating life at Barchester

Residents enjoyed making their own fascinators, and our lovely Activity lady Vicki even went out of her way to make top hats for the gentlemen, which they absolutely loved. 
The ladies even dressed up for the event, and the staff also got involved, making it a truly fun and lively celebration for everyone. 
We also held our very own sweepstake, followed by refreshments, with residents winning prizes and trophies adding to the excitement of the day. 
To finish off the celebrations, everyone enjoyed watching the Grand National together on TV. 
It was a fantastic day filled with fun, laughter, and friendly competition! 

Residents recently enjoyed baking some delicious cinnamon banana bread muffins to have with their afternoon tea and biscuits. We had so much fun mashing bananas, mixing ingredients, and even helping each other along the way. 
It was a lovely, social activity and the muffins turned out really good and tasted even better! 

The residents and staff were treated to a truly unique experience as they invited Rebecca from ‘Sweet Memories of Hadleigh’ to their home with her pop-up sweet shop.

Rebecca transported the residents back in time with the authentic sights, smells and the old classic tastes of confectionary from the past. It was a magical journey as she weighed out the sweets meticulously with her traditional scales, selling them by the quarter for the residents. There was jar after jar of beautifully coloured old-time favourites all set out so that residents could browse.

Resident, Pam, said: “My husband and I owned a shop, this was many years ago and this has really brought back some lovely memories for me. It is the weighing out of the sweets that I remember the most and all my favourites I want are here.”

Tina, Activities Co-ordinator said, “The residents had a truly wonderful time browsing through the extensive selection of sweets and it was beautiful to see the faces of our residents as they saw their old-time favourites. One particular sweet that caught the resident’s eyes was the “Sherbet Fountain”, all the residents had a story to tell about the sweet.”

Larisa Bledea, General Manager at Elm Bank said: “It was lovely to see everyone together, and enjoying this wonderful experience that Rebecca created for our residents. It really was a journey down memory lane and it was beautiful to hear our residents reminisce about when they were younger and how they remembered all the sweets that were on display.”

In preparation for the start of our gardening club, our team members, Angela, Martin, Bernie and Nick the gardener took a some of our residents on a lovely trip to the local garden centre. 

Everyone enjoyed choosing colourful plants and seeds ready for planting, with plenty of excitement about the season ahead.

We can't wait to see how the garden will grow and florish this spring and summer!

For Animal Pet Month, we were delighted to welcome Michelle and her wonderful pet therapy session back to the home

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the animals, from cuddles with the gentle dogs and friendly cat to meeting the adorable rabbit and guinea pig. There was lots of excitement and curiosity around the gecko too, which was a big hit!
It was a lovely afternoon filled with smiles, laughter, and plenty of special moments. Thank you, Michelle, for bringing such joy to our residents

Residents at Brampton View love the animal therapy sessions that our dedicated Activities Team organises weekly and monthly. As one of the foundations of our Life Enrichment program, we know that animal therapy can help reduce blood pressure and improve overall cardiovascular health.