Celebrating life at Barchester

Residents from Marriott House & Lodge care home in Chichester were plain sailing during a recent cruise week organised by the team at the home. The cruise aboard HMS Marriott set sail from China, before travelling to India, crossing the Indian and Atlantic Oceans to Italy, then on to Africa, before finishing the week in Spain. At each stop, residents had the opportunity to experience the culture, food and music of each country, with plenty of fun along the way, and best of all, no passports were needed! Each resident was issued with their very own HMS Marriott passport, receiving a stamp on arrival at every new port. 

From an incredible Tai Chi demonstration by Zhu, who works as part of our laundry team, and Chinese ribbon dancing, to henna-inspired artwork in India and a belly dancing lesson with Jolene from Dandelion Bellydance, there was plenty to enjoy. When HMS Marriott arrived in Africa, our very own African Queen, Christina from the Lodge, entertained everyone with a fantastic selection of traditional outfits and taught us all how to shake our booties African style!

We can’t forget the food! Our Head Chef Jamie and his team provided a fantastic selection of traditional dishes inspired by each country. The journey began in China with prawn toast and chicken chow mein, before stopping in India for butter chicken kebabs accompanied by an incredible selection of sauces and condiments. In Italy, residents enjoyed a selection of charcuterie paired with good wine and refreshing ice cream. Then it was time for a fabulous barbecue-style outdoor lunch in Africa, complete with beautifully spiced couscous, before finishing the week in Spain with sangria, delicious tapas and Spanish tortillas.

August is our month of music and we are celebrating by having a variety of different bands and singers. We were joined by the fantastic Bristol East and Kingswood brass band who played in our garden.

Everyone enjoyed the relaxation of the beautiful music and drinks were flowing but it was also a very special performance for one of our lovely residents, Joyce, whose son-in-law plays in the band!  Another one of our residents was also celebrating her birthday with all her family, and it just so happened it was her favourite music as well, so we really did have a wonderful afternoon!

We would like to say a big hello and welcome to Nick, our new and very talented potter! Nick will be teaching small workshops monthly and supporting residents to make some very special pieces of pottery for keepsakes or to gift their loved ones.
We started our new pottery club by making some very beautiful name plates using a coil and pea method, as well as encouraging a person’s creativity, this activity is also very good for promoting hand-eye coordination and the results are stunning.

Nick will now take these pieces away fire and glaze them for us and bring them back with him next month.At the end Nick gave us a masterclass showing how to make a clay rose, something that we will be attempting in a future session.

We took a little trip to the allotment where earlier in the year some of our residents planted vegetables. With spades and forks our residents dug up the veggie patches and harvested some potatoes, brown and red onions and garlic. In the green house there were lots of cucumbers ready to pick and we also noticed the rhubarb was looking good so we took some of that home too! We had a lovely coffee and a biscuit in the sunshine before making our way back to Kingfisher Lodge for lunch. 

We have big plans with the allotment in the next 12 months including using it to cultivate new plants, harvest cuttings and re-home established plants to create a smaller but totally inclusive version in our own garden so that more residents can access the veggie patch.

Not all our residents are able to visit the theatre so we invited the theatre to Ashcombe House.  The Carousel Theatre Company joined us to present their ‘Sizzling Sixties’ show.  A story about two young girls who lived in a small seaside village going to London for the day to enjoy the music scene London had to offer.

We were treated to a lively, interactive musical performance, featuring upbeat 1960’s classics, which we sang along to.  Colourful costumes and plenty of laughter!

Joan remarked what a wonderful morning it had been and how lucky we were that the theatre came to us.

We love our ‘Baking For Fun’ sessions at Ashcombe House, and when we got together to make two loafs of banana bread it was no different!  We worked together mashing the bananas, weighing out the ingredients and mixing everything together.  The residents help each other during the baking session and share stories of when they baked for their families.  We also enjoyed a discussion about there not being any bananas during the war and the wartime rationing of food.

The Banana Bread was baked in the oven, then cut into pieces for everyone to enjoy with their afternoon tea.

This year the weather was perfect for our annual Summer Fête.  Residents, family members and friends gathered together to enjoy the afternoon.

Our amazing chefs served up the most delicious BBQ with burgers, sausages and a selection of salads, which everyone enjoyed with a cold drink or two!  The raffle and the tombola had a great selection of prizes.

The star of the afternoon was a visit from Paul’s Ices, an ice cream van.  The Mr Whippy ice creams went down a treat on such a lovely sunny afternoon!

Residents, family and friends all said that they had thoroughly enjoyed the fun-filled afternoon.  

At Bere Grove we put a huge emphasis on activity, movement and fitness and this week was no exception!
We were delighted to welcome the fantastic team from Horizon Leisure, who delivered a fun and energetic workout for our residents.

The session was brilliantly attended, with plenty of smiles, encouragement and a great sense of team spirit. Our residents cheered each other on, pushed themselves to get involved and showed that you’re never too old to get moving!

There’s nothing quite like feeling strong, energised and ready to take on whatever comes your way.

A huge thank you to Horizon Leisure well done to all our fantastic residents for getting stuck in!