Activities at Ashcombe House Care Home
Activities are an integral part of life at our care home. We want to ensure that the people we support have as much fun as possible during their time with us, so it’s important that our activities programme is created with the interests of residents in mind. Our skilled Activities Coordinators bring a certain uniqueness to the home that can’t be found anywhere else, and which is reflected in the activities they organise.
Gillian Buxton
Hi, my name is Gillian and I am the Activities Coordinator at Ashcombe House. I love spending time with and getting to know our residents, this helps me to offer meaningful activities within the home. From big events to a chat over a cuppa every day is different. I am very privileged to do a job that I really enjoy.
When I'm not working my Working Cocker Spaniel Basil keeps me busy!
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 Ashcombe House Care Home
Move it
A new seated exercise class has started at the home on Thursday afternoons. The class is designed for all and is just as much about having fun as it is exercising. The exercises are done to some upbeat music which we do like to sing along to, we have used props such as Pom-poms, scarves and balls to keep the class different every week. Its fast becoming popular amongst residents and staff!
Flipping celebrations
We celebrated Pancake Day in style making the annual celebration fully inclusive to all, with the creation of a mobile pancake station, designed to go about the home's lounge and the residents’ rooms.
Staff went around the care home doing a live pancake making and flipping before offering a choice of toppings, which included chocolate spread, golden syrup and the all-time favourite choice of lemon and sugar. Residents were delighted to have their pancakes made in their rooms and even visitors enjoyed the celebration.
The day brought back memories to the residents of their childhood days, as they relished the pancakes.
Music for the soul
Ashcombe residents always enjoy music and singing at the home, on a dark rainy January day we decided to put on some old time songs get out the musical instruments and have a good old sing song. Everyone loved the music, singing and playing a variety of instruments. Music is good for the soul and good for the heart playing the instruments got us all moving and shaking.
Out and about
The homes minibus is always in use with trips every week. A recent trip to conkers garden centre was the first trip out of the home for two of our residents who enjoyed a drive through the countryside reminiscing memories of days out ,before getting to the garden centre. We enjoyed browsing all the giftware and plants before stopping at the coffee shop for some much needed tea and cake.
Relaxation & Pampering
Although we always enjoy our action packed days its sometimes nice to just have a little TLC and pamper ourselves. The homes café was turned into a pampering Parlour where residents could enjoy gentle music, foot spas and manicures. Staff from all departments assisted with nail painting and hand massages to make our residents feel relaxed and pampered.
Young people making music
We were joined by students from BCOT the local college who had put together an interactive musical workshop to share with us. The students spent time with residents finding out about their favourite things before writing a song to include everyone’s favourite thing. Residents enjoyed playing instruments and singing with the group. We are looking forward to them coming back soon.
