Celebrating life at Barchester

Derham House would like to say huge congratulations to our wonderful kitchen assistant, Clare Gregory, who has just celebrated an amazing 10 years of service with us! Clare is such a valued member of our team, helping keep our kitchen running smoothly and making sure our residents are well looked after. Thank you, Clare, for all your hard work, dedication and the care you put into everything you do. Here's to many more years!

We love finding creative ways to ensure all of our residents can participate in our activities. 

Everyone loved our latest alpaca guests, who have learned to use the Ritson Lodge elevator so they can travel floor-to-floor and make a personal stop to see absolutely everyone!   

Koko and her owner, Clare, came to visit today.  Koko is a therapy dog. Our residents were thrilled to see her and give her lots of cuddles and strokes.  

Animals have an amazing ability to calm people and Koko certainly lifted everybody’s spirits this morning. We can’t wait to see her again soon.

We celebrated our platinum achievement in GSF reaccreditation —a fantastic accomplishment for our team.

A big thank you to the Falls Clinic for their informative talk on falls awareness and prevention. We really appreciate you helping us keep our community safe and informed.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and made it such a wonderful event! 

We had a visit from the Moffat Ukulele group, and they played for us in our Memory Lane Community. They played Scottish, English and Irish songs. These were all songs that we could sing along to. We danced in our chairs, waving our arms and moving our feet. They played You cannae shove yer granny off a bus! Which we sang along and had a giggle too. 

They play Cliff Richard's Living Doll, and many more. We then enjoyed some tea and cake. We are looking forward to their next visit month.   

Last week we celebrated one of the most important food days of the year… National Cheeseburger Day! Our residents got stuck into some delicious cheeseburgers and, judging by the empty plates, they definitely went down a treat! 
Because everything tastes better with a wee bit of cheese! 

We had plenty of fun and a wee bit of friendly competition at Balclutha Court! Our residents took part in a brilliant ball game, working together to carefully move the trays and get the balls where they needed to go.  

Lots of concentration, teamwork and, of course, plenty of laughs along the way! It’s always lovely to see everyone getting involved, cheering each other on and having a bit of fun together.   

We were delighted to welcome the incredibly talented Arya and Ella to help celebrate Janette’s birthday with a fabulous Highland dancing performance! 

The girls have been doing exceptionally well at their competitions lately, with some fantastic achievements: Arya – Scottish Champion, and Ella – Bute Champion. Both girls were also placed in the Top 20 best dancers in the Juvenile section at the World Championships at Cowal Highland Gathering — what an incredible achievement!

The girls kindly brought along their beautiful trophies and medals for Janette and our residents to see, and they were very proud to show them off. Janette and all the residents thoroughly enjoyed their wonderful performance. There were lots of smiles, admiration and even a few toes tapping along! 

The girls train at Jackson Studios, and their hard work, dedication and talent are certainly shining through. A huge well done to Arya and Ella on all their amazing achievements! A very special thank you to the girls for taking the time to entertain our residents and make Janette’s birthday so memorable. 

Today was a particularly special afternoon at Waterside Court as we celebrated the birthdays of John and Jane in true Waterside style.

Our elegant afternoon tea was the perfect setting for the occasion, with freshly served scones, clotted cream, delicious jams and plenty of time to enjoy wonderful company and conversation.

Most importantly, it was lovely to see Joan and Jane enjoying their special day, surrounded by friends and the Waterside team. Their smiles and excitement made the afternoon one to remember. Happy Birthday, John and Jane! 

Wishing you both a wonderful year ahead, filled with happiness, beautiful moments and many more celebrations. Here’s to making every birthday feel truly special at Waterside Court.