Celebrating life at Barchester

We celebrate life through everything we do, from our thoughtful experiences and activities to our delicious food. We offer the latest technology as well as sensory engagement to nurture the wellbeing of our residents. With a wide variety of tailored activities and events we make sure our residents have the best physical, mental, spiritual and social stimulation, all bespoke to them. Take a look at what we’ve been up to…

A Time to Remember – An afternoon to remember

What a truly special afternoon - we were delighted to welcome more than 50 people from our local community, including friends from our sister homes as we came together for an afternoon of remembrance, reflection and fellowship.

We were honoured to welcome the RAF Air Cadets, led by Sergeant Jack Shefford, who shared an insight into life as a cadet, their own experiences and the opportunities available to young people through the Air Cadets.

A special thank you to Wayne Barker, known as Ronnie, a former Army medic, who, alongside our standard bearer and bugler, delivered a fascinating and moving presentation. Among the subjects shared was the story of the Unknown Soldier and the royal tradition of laying a wedding bouquet at his tomb, begun by the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on her wedding day in 1923.

The afternoon of remembrance and reflection was brought to a fitting close with the haunting sound of the bugler playing the Last Post, followed by the words:

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

Our sincere thanks to everyone who attended, contributed and helped make the afternoon so memorable.

A call to all local veterans, serving personnel and cadets: we would love you to join us at our next Kings Park Veterans’ Club gathering:

Thursday 17 December | 2.30pm

A Time to Remember – Kings Park Veterans’ Club

Everyone from the Armed Forces community is warmly welcome.

We remember. We recognise. We connect. We care.

Little friends, big smiles

We recently enjoyed a wonderful animal therapy session at Ashford House! Our lovely animal visitors were welcomed with open arms, with residents enjoying gentle cuddles, strokes and lots of special moments together.

We made sure nobody missed out! Our little visitors were carefully carried in baskets to see residents who are nursed in bed, bringing them their own special moments of animal companionship, smiles and happiness.

Plane spotting fun at Heathrow airport

A couple of our residents enjoyed a wonderful outing to Heathrow Airport, watching planes take off and land!

There were plenty of smiles, laughter and lovely moments as they enjoyed the excitement of the busy airport.

What a spooktacular Halloween celebration we had!

Our home was filled with laughter, excitement and plenty of Halloween magic as residents, families, children, staff and even our four-legged friends came together for a fantastic afternoon of fun! From witches and ghosts to pumpkins and little monsters, everyone embraced the Halloween spirit with some wonderful costumes. The children were busy collecting sweet treats and enjoying delicious cake, while our furry visitors stole plenty of hearts and attention along the way! Our residents thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the colourful costumes, spending time with loved ones and joining in the excitement. It was lovely to see so many smiles, hear so much laughter and watch different generations come together to make special memories.

A huge thank you to our wonderful staff, who helped bring the celebrations to life and joined in with all the spooky fun. Their enthusiasm, along with the fantastic support of our families and visitors, made the occasion extra special. There were wagging tails, happy faces, plenty of sweet treats and just the right amount of organised chaos! Even the camera struggled to keep up with all the excitement!

Days like these remind us that our home is so much more than a place to live. It’s a place where friendships grow, families come together, and wonderful memories are made. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make our Halloween celebrations such a memorable occasion. Happy Halloween from our big, happy family to yours!

A lovely day at Ashford House!

Our residents have been enjoying a variety of activities, from sensory play and caring for our empathy dolls to creative sessions, gentle exercises and moments of music and laughter.

Every activity brings opportunities for connection, comfort and smiles. It’s the little moments that make a big difference!

Silver Sunday

Shelburne Lodge actively celebrated Silver Sunday, a national UK event held annually on the first Sunday of October to honour older adults and combat loneliness.

Silver Sunday fell on Sunday 4th October 2026 and our home hosted a dedicated event for anyone over 60 in the community,
We had a Community Sunday Lunch & opened our doors to local seniors for music, socialising, and shared lunch that afternoon. We would like to thank Radfield Home Care, who provide award-winning private home care for bringing their lovely clients to lunch and sharing some very special experiences.

We had an amazing 17 guests at silver Sunday lunch and still managed to provide lunch on time for our 50 residents! Thank you to all the staff from Radfield care and Shelburne Lodge, especially our chef, Paula, and catering staff, who did an amazing 3 course service!

Care Awards

Our home enjoyed celebrating the success of our now acting general manager, Lynnette Sellers, who was nominated earlier in the year for deputy manager of the year!

Lynnette attended the Barchester care awards and had a wonderful day, whilst we all helped to celebrate in the home on a live feed.

Happy 100th birthday Sheila!

What a wonderful milestone! Sheila enjoyed a beautiful day filled with smiles, love and celebrations.

We were honoured to welcome Lincoln Jopp Conservative MP for Spelthorne, and Cllr Med Buck, who joined us to wish Sheila a happy birthday, with Cllr Med Buck also bringing a lovely gift for Sheila.

Wear it pink!

Staff decorated the home in pink, dressed in pink, donated a pink hamper for the raffle and 100 cakes made to raise funds for Wear It Pink Event for breast cancer, a charity close to many of the staff and residents.