Activities at Arbour Court Care Home

We all came together to watch the Barchester Care Awards 2025!

In May 2025, nominations opened for the Barchester care awards, where Ludy, our senior carer on the first floor, was nominated for Dementia Care Champion of the Year. Ludy has made it through to the nations which were celebrated in October. 

Although she didn't come away with the national title, we are so proud of Ludy and for everything she has accomplished in her role. Ludy was our divisional winner and that is such an amazing achievement.    

Our activities team have made an assortment of rummage boxes. Our current rummage boxes are garden, jewellery, sensory, electronics, textiles. 

These 'boxes' are filled with items from the past which are familiar to residents and work by keeping their minds active and their hands busy. They spark beautiful conversations and memories every single day and encourage sensory stimulation. These boxes are located on the unit corridors for residents to help themselves. Arbour Court also utilises the boxes as a 1-1 activity as the boxes are a great tool for reminiscing.    

21st September marked World Alzheimer’s day. Arbour Court wanted to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society by hosting bake sales, a coffee morning, a balloon release memorial as well as selling forget-me-not seeds and badges for all to wear. 

Arbour Court held various fundraisers throughout the week from 21st to 28th September. We are proud to announce that we raised £103.46 for the Alzheimer’s society!  

Every month Arbour court hosts animal therapy events. In September, we welcomed Pearl into our home. Pearl is a ragdoll cat who loves to sit on laps and beds. 

Pearl has such a calming temperament. We noticed residents felt a lot more relaxed with Pearl sat on their laps purring.   

We took a stroll into our gardens to take some beautiful photos using our digital camera. Resident enjoyed getting their best photo of the grounds. 

Later on in the day, we looked back on our memories of a home with our life at Arbour Court and looked through our residents' own photo albums. We all had a wonderful day full of memories.      

Arbour Court celebrated bonfire night with a firework display and a special live Event. In the Live event we learnt all about bonfire night, and why we remember the 5th November. Later on in the evening, Residents, staff and local community came together to celebrate with a firework display. 

Everyone enjoyed the display with hot chocolate, parkin cake and treacle toffee. Residents also enjoyed watching all the children that came along playing their sparklers.     

Arbour Court loves to celebrate special moments such as birthdays or anniversaries. 

In October, we celebrated Jean’s 90th birthday. Activities staff at Arbour Court decorated and hosted Jean’s party with food, drinks, and music for other residents and Jean’s family and friends to enjoy.     

Every month Arbour Court celebrates different countries and cultures around the world. In September, we celebrated Mexico. 

We enjoyed various activities such as sombrero and maraca decorating. Later on in the day, we played a game of piñata and made margaritas and quesadillas and ended the day relaxing and watching the Disney film Coco, based on the Mexican festival Day of the Dead.   

To honour and recognise the hard work and vital contributions of our housekeeping staff, we thought we would do some housekeeping of our own. 

Residents and activities staff made beds, wiped down surfaces, paired socks and even hooved! Afterwards, we enjoyed a relaxing cup of tea after a hard day's work.  

On 16th August we hosted our annual summer fair where Arbour Court hosted a face-painting station, Tombola, a gift stall and adopted a bear! We also had 7 other stalls from the local community. 

We are proud to announce that we raised £450 at our fair, which will go towards our residents. 

At Arbour Court we started the festive period early in November, starting with our annual Christmas fair. We did things a little differently this year by making the fair into a Christmas Gift Fair, for our residents, family, friends and local community to come along to get their Christmas gifts. 

Arbour Court held a tombola and handmade resident gift sale as well as selling refreshments and festive treats. We also welcomed small businesses from the local community to come along. In total, we raised £300 for our residents!     

Every month, Arbour Court celebrates different countries around the world. In October, they celebrated Germany. Activities staff at Arbour Court coincided their German Culture Day with Oktoberfest Celebrations. 

Residents enjoyed beers, Frankfurt hot dogs and pretzels in their makeshift Oktoberfest-themed bar.   

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Arbour Court were treated to a live talk entitled ‘Natural Pigments Inspired by South Asian Miniature Painting’ hosted by Holly Power and Rafin Jannat from the V&A South Kensington. In celebration of National Art in Care Homes Day, residents joined Holly from the V&A Learning team and designer-artist Rafin Jannat for a live make-along. 

They learnt about the stunning work of artists, designers and craftspeople that feature in the South Asia Gallery at the V&A South Kensington. Residents were inspired to create their own works on paper using pigments and paints made from everyday ingredients such as tea and coffee.  

Sourdough September is a dedicated celebration of all things sourdough, highlighting the art, science and joy of baking with an ancient form of leavening. This month-long event encourages participants to embrace the simplicity and complexity of sourdough. To participate in sourdough September, we decided to host a baking club revolving around sourdough. 

We decided to bake banana sourdough bread consisting of banana sourdough and chocolate chips. The residents loved preparing the pudding and taste-testing it.  

We spend time unwinding and slowing down through relaxing our minds, bodies and senses in recognition of National Relaxation Day. Our residents enjoyed making lavender bags and lavender bath salt to sell at our summer fair. 

Many residents expressed how much they love the smell of lavender and how relaxed it makes them feel. Others, enjoyed a nice relaxing time in our garden or sit back and watching a film. We discussed all the different ways our staff and residents like to relax.