Celebrating life at Barchester

A huge well done to one of our wonderful residents and her husband, who have spent the last few days completing this incredible 6,000-piece puzzle together.         

With patience, teamwork, and lots of determination, the pair carefully worked through every piece side by side – creating not only an amazing picture, but also some very special memories along the way. 

Activities like this are a lovely way to keep the mind active, encourage concentration, and, most importantly, enjoy meaningful time together. The sense of achievement when the final piece was placed was truly priceless. 

Everyone at Cedars has loved watching the puzzle slowly come to life, and we think the finished result looks fantastic. Well done to you both on such an impressive accomplishment.  

Residents from Werrington Lodge care home in Peterborough were full steam ahead with a recent train journey organised by the team at the home. The journey started from Wansford Station and made several stops, taking the scenic route through Nene Valley and Ferry Meadows.   

Nancy Simeon, General Manager of Werrington Lodge, said: “Adventures that take place outside the home are a regular event for the residents, and we always ask for ideas on where they would best like to go. The afternoon was a lot of fun and sparked many happy memories for our residents.  They reminisced about past train journeys, as well as the days when they used to go fishing and walking in these very places.”

Residents at Marnel Lodge Care Home enjoyed a heart-warming surprise breakfast as part of the home’s International Nurses Day celebrations, where nurses, alongside General Manager Anju Abraham and Deputy Manager Deepthi Murali, swapped their usual routines to personally prepare and serve breakfast to residents.

The special morning was organised to celebrate the compassion, dedication and kindness shown by nurses every day, while also creating meaningful moments with residents in a warm and personal way. Aspiring future nurses within the team also joined the event, helping to serve breakfast and spend quality time with residents.

The dining rooms were filled with laughter, conversations and smiles as residents enjoyed freshly prepared breakfast served directly by the nursing and management teams. Residents also took part in making beautiful handmade thank you cards for the nurses to express their appreciation for the care and support they receive throughout the year.

General Manager Anju Abraham said “International Nurses Day is a wonderful opportunity to recognise the incredible work our nurses do every single day. We wanted to celebrate in a meaningful way by spending quality time with residents and personally serving them breakfast. Nursing is about compassion, dignity, kindness and building relationships, and this celebration reflected all of those values beautifully.”

We had a beautiful start to our day yesterday with the amazing Shannon treating us to some classic wartime morale-boosting songs, and she really looked the part in uniform.

Residents sang along, waving their union flags, and with Shannon sparking conversations about VE Day memories with pictures of Vera Lyn, old ration books and wartime fashions, it made it more than just a concert. It was a real celebration of the times.         

One of our male residents recalled a memory of a street party where he received a random kiss from a beautiful blonde stranger who, as a young man at the time, stayed with him all these years. His smile while telling his story was truly a special moment to be a part of.   

Afterwards, residents shared a VE Day Great British lunch of traditional fish and chips, with newspaper front pages from 1945 on the table to remind everyone how the country celebrated this amazing day.

We had the most fabulous afternoon with Hannah from “Once Upon a Tune”, who brings her unique brand of entertainment and engagement to our home on a monthly basis.

Hannah has an amazing way of making people feel musical through song, instruments and puppets! It sounds a little different, and it certainly is, but most importantly, our residents (and visitors) absolutely love her sessions and everybody has so much fun.   

A huge thank you was given to all of our amazing nurses for the care, compassion and dedication they show every single day to our residents and their families. They truly make a difference.

Our residents enjoyed making special thank you cards for all of our nurses, and we also treated them to some chocolates as a small token of our appreciation. We were also delighted to host a breakfast morning for our nurses and local community nurses, giving everyone the chance to enjoy a lovely breakfast and a drink before starting their busy day.      

Yesterday was an amazing day at Ochil Care Home as we welcomed the Tour de Barchester cyclists to the uplifting sound of the Perth & District Pipe Band. Residents, relatives, friends and staff gathered to cheer them in, creating a truly unforgettable welcome.

We were delighted to be joined by Councillor Carol Mair and Andrew from All Strong, a beneficiary of Barchester’s Charitable Foundation. A delicious barbecue and a table full of cakes added to the celebration.

Our heartfelt thanks go to:

Tesco South Street — for donating water, energy drinks and sweets
Leigh Davie — for fabulous balloon art
Lalaland — for delicious cakes and tray bakes
Darek, Danny and Linda — for food prep, barbecuing and beautiful decorations.
And to all our staff whose teamwork made the day shine.

It was a wonderful celebration of community, kindness and togetherness.

We are sharing a very special, bittersweet announcement. After many wonderful years of bringing our gardens to life, our beloved Head Gardener, Steven Tatton, affectionately known to us as Tatty, is officially retiring. 

Your hard work, kindness, and green thumb have left an unforgettable mark on our hearts and our grounds. You will be missed immensely, but we wish you the absolute happiest, most relaxing retirement.

You have truly earned it. Thank you so much for your hard work (in all weathers) Tatty.      

We took advantage of the fine weather by going for a little walk to our local café in the morning with a few of our residents and then in the same afternoon we went along to the local monthly coffee afternoon at Saltford hall.

There’s nothing better than enjoying a delicious cup of coffee and a piece of cake in good company, especially when the sun is shining!

We enjoy going out on day trips in a minibus, but we also know how lucky we are situated here at Saltford and how we can access our community so easily. It’s important to feel a sense of belonging where you live and being able to use our local facilities and join community groups helps our residents feel this too.