Celebrating life at Barchester

Residents enjoyed a Christmas to remember this week, as the home pulled out all the stops with a multi-day celebration featuring festive treats, a visit from the North Pole, and high-energy live entertainment.

The festivities began on Christmas Eve with a "Cheers to Christmas" trolley service. Deputy Manager Cristina led the way, visiting every room in the home with a specially decorated drinks trolley. Residents were invited to choose their favourite festive tipple, from sherry to sparkling fizz, as they toasted to the holiday season and shared stories of Christmases past.

The excitement reached its peak on Christmas morning when the home welcomed two very special VIPs. Santa Claus, accompanied by his cheerful Elf, made a grand tour of the home, delivering hand-wrapped gifts to every resident. The surprise visit brought smiles and laughter to the hallways, ensuring that the magic of Christmas was felt by all.

To cap off the celebrations, the home hosted a live performance by the popular musical duo 2 of Diamonds, Rob and Sally. The entertainers provided a high-energy set of festive classics and timeless hits, which saw residents, staff, and visiting family members singing along and dancing in the lounge.

Cristina, Deputy Manager at Brampton View, said "Christmas is such a sentimental time for our residents, and we wanted to make sure every moment felt personal and joyous. From the quiet moment of a Christmas Eve toast to the high energy of the 2 of Diamonds performance, seeing the residents’ faces light up is what makes our jobs so rewarding. It truly felt like one big family celebration."

The residents had a lovely time listening and singing along to Christmas songs and the beautifully played instruments from Kathy's choir. Even more so enjoyed with friends.

We were delighted to welcome back our friends from Zoo Lab, as they brought along a menagerie of incredible creatures, including a tarantula and a corn snake. 

Everyone had the chance to learn fascinating facts and even get up close and personal with these amazing animals!

We were recently honoured with a visit from the Surrey Fringe Harmony group who got us in the Christmas spirit by singing some festive Christmas favourites, alongside barbershop and pop tunes.

We were delighted to bring a little pantomime magic into our home this week. 

Swapping uniforms for costumes, our team put on a special fun performance, complete with panto humour, for our residents to enjoy. 
 

It was great to see all the residents tapping away and swaying to the music and enjoying the classical Christmas hits of years gone bye. There was smiles and laughter all afternoon as Tracy brought so much joy as she has done all year and the residents look forward to seeing Tracy back again in 2026. 

We teamed up with Huntingdonshire NOSTALGIA Trust yesterday for a very rewarding and humbling afternoon visiting the children's ward at Hinchingbrooke Hospital NHS to bring presents for the children and a very specially homemade cake for the amazing staff.

We then went next door to the MacMillan Woodlands Centre where we also had a cake for the equally amazing staff, which was very well received and appreciated.

We would like to wish everybody at Hinchingbrooke and The Woodlands a very Merry Christmas.