Activities at Atfield House Care Home

Our Residents at Atfield House Care Home were very excited to be able to attend the local church in Isleworth, called: our Lady of sorrows and St. Bridget of Sweden, for The Holy Mass at 10 am. The Mini Bus was there very promptly, and we were so happy we could get into the bus without a drop of rain, but in the sunshine! The service was beautiful, and our Residents felt uplifted, as they returned to Atfield House . Some of our Residents met Known faces at the church, and one lady even came back for a social time, where coffee, tea and cake was served for all the returning  people, in our cosy welcoming launch!

Atfield House Care home celebrated Black History Month with informative Quiz time. Our Residents enjoyed reading out the questions and also read life stories of black prominent women in Britain. A African creation myth was also met with lots of interest by many of our Residents. The Baking Club prepared a traditional Guinness Punch for all to taste! On the 30th of October we enjoyed the sound of the Steel Drum, with a performance, followed by home- made traditional dishes, made by our Staff. The food was much enjoyed and we were amazed by the beauty of the African traditional clothing our staff members wore for the occasion. Celebrating diversity and different cultural back grounds has been a true joyful and enriching experience for our Residents, family members and staff at Atfield House!

For our Halloween Celebrations at Atfield House Care Home, we decorated the Home with Autumn coloured leaf garlands, a harvest special display  at our entrance with a hay stack and pumpkins for all to see and share in the Autumn spirit. Our Residents enjoyed carving two pumpkins and we even recycled the pumpkin flesh into a delicious soup, that our chef is making for lunch! In the evening we welcomed children in their Halloween apparel for Trick or Treat! Some of our Residents enjoyed handing out the sweets for the eager children, to fill up the buckets! The Residents enjoyed the visit by the children very much and it gave them joy to interact and socialise with the younger generation!

At Atfield House Care Home, we celebrated our recent CQC awards. We are delighted to have an  overall good result. With good in the category of: is the service safe, an outstanding result in the category: is the service responsive, and a good result in: is the service well led. Management put on a great party for the staff, with great food, music and games. Everyone was welcome and celebrated for their hard work and contributions to this good outcome. The games were so much fun too and  our staff had a lot of well-deserved fun and surely supported staff bonding, as we had to hold up balloons back to back and run across the room for example! Thanks to our great Residents and Families too, who supported us during the year and made Atfield House, a good place to be! We are looking forward to an even better year 2024!

Visiting St. Johns church was a lovely experience for some of our Residents today. It is only a small walk away from Atfield Care Home. The Priest met us at the door and made us feel welcome at once. The service was lovely and to see a church with its stain glass windows, the beautiful lights and altar, experience the songs, prayers and being able to participate in communion, was a meaningful time for the Residents. They remembered the street and houses on the way and how they changed over the years, since they have been children. The weather was delightful, sunny and quite warm. It was a lovely time out, sharing a hot beverage and meeting children and adults from the local community after the service!

At Atfield Care Home, our Residents had a very unusual visitor yesterday afternoon. Two Ponies came walking into the Home, and surprised our Residents, though we were eagerly awaiting this unusual visit! The smaller Shetland pony, called Freddy, walked with its guardian from room to room, to visit residents.  Brandy enjoyed visits from Residents and Family members, while enjoying the grass in our  gardens and some apples too!. The response of some Residents were;  expressions of joy and words, like: I love you! Others wanted to stroke the pony or feed them with apples. June looked at the Pony long and concentrated, with sympathy, that made the pony stand still in anticipation for a good few minutes! Other Residents felt more comfortable at a few yards distance and enjoyed posing for photo shoots.

Our Residents felt profoundly touched and lifted up by this experience and we hope to see the team with the Ponies in the future.