Activities at Ashby House Care Home
Activities at Ashby House
Our Activities Coordinators are constantly striving to enrich peoples lives here at Ashby House. We stimulate people both physically and mentally by organising fun filled, group and individual activities to promote the well-being of those we support.
There are regular outings in our very own minibus and visits from PAT dog therapists, church services, musicians, dancers, and local school children. We also have our very own 'Good Life' gardening club, where we grow our own produce, which we then use in our cooking club. We also host weekly bingo sessions which are proving very popular and are growing in numbers.
Charlotte Arbon
I joined Ashby House in April 2022, I thoroughly enjoy my role as Activities coordinator and love coming to work and having chats with the residents and families.
I listen to the residents and learn about their interest and support them to be involved with activities. When I am not at work not at work I love spending time with my family playing board games.
We would love to have new ideas, if you have a skill you would like to share or would like to be involved with activities please email us at ashbyhouse.activities@barchester.com
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Ashby House Care Home
Feeding time for the penguins at Whipsnade
January 20th was Penguin Day and Ashby House linked with Whipsnade Zoo for a live online zoom session with Zoo Keeper, Kathy. Residents watched the penguins swim around their outdoor pool and then come out for feeding time with Kathy, followed by a waddle around on dry land. After seeing the penguins, Kathy, who has worked at Whipsnade for 18 years, kindly showed us a few more of the animals at Whipsnade. We saw Wolverines in their grassy enclosure and Chimpanzees playing in their outdoor Jungle Gym area, including Coco who is the oldest Chimpanzee at the zoo, aged 47 years! Residents at Ashby House really enjoyed seeing the penguins and other animals. Thank you, Kathy, for telling us all about Whipsnade Zoo and its animals.
Treat packs for new residents
Morrison's has kindly donated some 'settling in' treat packs for new residents at Ashby House. We always make sure people receive special attention when they first arrive, so they get to know the care team, enjoy some activities, and speak to the Chef about their food preferences. These goodies are a lovely extra treat to enjoy in those first few days.
Keeping active while having fun
We like to stay active at Ashby House and have a weekly fitness session every Thursday afternoon. This includes gentle stretches and games to keep us moving, such as quoits, bowls and throwing and catching games. David, Glennis and Rose loved the session this week.
Happy New Year from Ashby House!
Ashby House welcomed in 2021 with a New Year’s Eve party where everyone enjoyed games, music, a party buffet including freshly made mini quiches, sausage rolls, cakes and a choice of festive drinks. We smashed a Piñata full of sweets, sang along to some disco music and played games including quoits and skittles. It was a lovely way to round off Ashby House’s year of activities - residents and staff had a great time together.
On January 1st we celebrated the start of the New Year with a treat trolley full of cheese, crackers, grapes, a fancy box of chocolates and a selection of sparkling drinks.
Happy New Year everyone!
It's Christmas!
Merry Christmas from everyone at Ashby House! We hope you are enjoying your Christmas as much as you can this year. We are having a great day with a delicious, freshly cooked Christmas dinner, thanks to our in-house Chef and catering team. And we are enjoying lots of treats including mulled wine and mince pies. This morning residents have opened their presents from Ashby House and from their families. After dinner we'll be watching some Christmas movies. Have a lovely day!
A comfortable new visiting suite
Residents are overjoyed at Ashby House thanks to the new Covid-safe indoor visiting suite which means residents can spend time with their loved ones in warmth and comfort over Christmas and throughout the winter. We continue to offer socially distanced garden visits, too. The new visiting suite has been designed to use an existing room which is accessed from inside the home by residents and via the patio door by relatives. Ashby House has added furnishings to make it welcoming and an intercom system so that residents and families can hear each other through the large window in the floor to ceiling partition wall. Visitors are asked to use hand sanitiser at the start of their visit, and infection control cleaning of the visiting suite takes place after each visit. It is wonderful to see how the new comfortable visits are making Ashby House’s residents and their relatives really happy.
Upcoming events
Dementia Cafe
Join us for our dementia cafe, enjoy cakes, refreshments, activities & a warm welcome. Family / carers come along too, make new friends in a safe space.