Activities at Balclutha Court Care Home
At Balclutha Court our resident’s happiness is extremely important to us. We all know that a large part of this is keeping active and continuing to enjoy your interests and hobbies. At Balclutha Court, we have regular activities including arts and crafts, music, entertainment, trips to local attractions such as canal trips, safari parks and many more. Our activities team are always busy organising events, entertainment and excursions with the broadest possible appeal and many of our residents see living at Balclutha Court as an opportunity to develop a new skill or interest. It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities as best as possible, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join with activities and events as often as they can.
Karen Dillon
Karen Dillon is our Head of Activities and has worked within the home since 2005, starting out as a Carer. Karen is very outgoing and full of fun. She has many hobbies, with arts & crafts being her favourite, and her passion for this can be seen in our life enrichment programme.
Karen is supported by Kay Millar and Anita Marsh, between them they ensure that residents are happy and have loads of fun.
They are very keen to involve the residents in the decision making within the home to enhance their experience. They take part in the residents' meetings, catering forums and assist the General Manager in interviewing new staff members.
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 Balclutha Court Care Home
Close encounters with visit to Zoo
As part of Barchester’s Life Enrichment Programme, team members and residents at Balclutha Court enjoyed an exciting virtual talk, generously hosted by Five Sisters Zoo.
The residents had the opportunity to explore and learn more about the animal life at the zoo and the important conservation, rescue and education work carried out at the grounds of the zoo.
Five Sisters Zoo was officially established in 2005 with just a small collection of rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, and pigs. Since then the zoo has grown into an exciting collection of over 160 different animal species from all around the world.
Residents enjoy live streaming talk
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Balclutha Court care home in Greenock were treated to a virtual tour of the wonderful underwater world of SEA LIFE London Aquarium, hosted by Senior Curator, James Wright and his expert team.
SEA LIFE London Aquarium is home to more than 300 species and 4,000 creatures, including Gentoo Penguins, Sea Turtles and Seahorses, which are cared for by its dedicated team of 15 Aquarists. The shark tank alone is one million litres in volume and six metres deep and is home to five species of sharks – Sand Tigers called Bungle and Zippy, a Grey Reef Shark, Nurse Sharks, Tawny Nurse Shark and a shiver of Black Tip Reef Sharks as well as a Bowmouth Guitarfish called Betty.
Arts & Crafts
Residents at Balclutha Court got creative as they made these gorgeous gifts for their friends and family for Easter! Arts & crafts is a very popular part of our life enrichment programme.
Welcoming Back Visitors
We have been missing our visitors at Balclutha Court, but we have really missed Jonny Roy from Morton, our Active Age health coach.
Jonny generally visits regularly and helps keep us motivated and active. Since he has been unable to visit us lately, he very kindly popped by with some new exercise equipment and a new exercise programme designed for the residents.
St Patrick's Day
Residents and staff at Balclutha Court in Greenock celebrated all things Irish for St Patrick’s Day this week. The home was decorated with shamrocks and everyone got dressed up in green to mark the day.
Held on March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day actually observes the death of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, but the day has come to be a huge celebration of Irish heritage and culture.
Staff and residents at the home marked the day by making shamrock decorations, learning some Irish words and phrases, learning Irish dances, listening to Irish music.
Double celebrations at Balclutha Court
It was double celebrations at Balclutha Court as we were able to open our doors to indoor visiting for the first time in a year and to add to the happiness over load our first visit meant that our very own Craig was able to spend his special birthday with his sister Adrianne.
For residents at Balclutha Court, the long awaited reunion with two family members has become a reality, as two named visitors are now allowed to visit each resident in their bedroom. Family members must visit separately, at different times. There has been much anticipation of this moment by families and residents alike. Guidance was issued by the Scottish Government at the end of February and Barchester Healthcare, is proceeding with a safe and cautious approach to visiting. Strict protocols are in place with all visitors required to have a negative Lateral Flow Device test result before being allowed into the home, and infection control measures and social distancing in place for every visit.
Upcoming events
May
May is the gateway to summer and we have lots of fun filled things planned - all welcome.
