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
Residents get creative
The residents at Balclutha Court enjoyed an afternoon of creativity making some lovely pieces of jewellery for presents to send to their loved ones. Everyone enjoyed picking what colours & materials to use and writing notes to their family.
Exercising the body and mind
Keeping active, having social interactions and being mentally stimulated is very important to Residents at Balclutha Court. This is a firm favourite with a mix of movement to music, chair exercises and ball games.
As part of the homes life enrichment programme, the activities coordinators include firm favourite’s in the homes calendar with fun-filled adapted games that they played over the years in a safe environment!
Community spirit brings local delivery
Residents and colleagues at Balclutha Court were delighted to answer the door to accept a special delivery from their local sweet factory – Golden Casket – filled with tablet and chocolates for everyone to enjoy and in recognition of the homes hard working, dedicated team supporting Residents during this difficult period.
On behalf of Balclutha Court, Residents and colleagues would like to pass on their gratitude for being considered at this time of uncertainty and hope everyone stays safe and well. Such a nice gesture thinking of us care homes and everyone joining forces to keep the community spirit together!
A blooming afternoon for Residents
Residents of Balclutha Court enjoyed an afternoon of flower arranging to help decorate their home with summer time blooms.
Everyone enjoyed assorting the flowers to create beautiful arrangements in various vases while having a catch-up over a cup of tea.
Garden reunions
For some residents at Balclutha, the long awaited reunion with family and friends became a reality recently, as garden visits have now been allowed to commence at the home.
There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment behind the scenes at Barchester Healthcare, who run Balclutha care home. Social distancing was still in place, and homes that are able to take part must have a large accessible garden.
It was welcome news to so many residents, family, and friends, who were kept apart for so long following strict government guidance. Residents and their loved ones got together in the home garden and the garden was fully of joy and chatter.
National Carers Week
Balclutha Court held a day of celebrations to thank care staff at the home, who make a real difference to the lives of those in their care. Staff were treated to delicious chocolates and cupcakes throughout the week to enjoy during their tea breaks.
Alison Dickson General Manager said: “I am very proud of the carers at Balclutha Court in light of the current situation our carers have continued to work tirelessly to provide high quality, personalised care to the people living in our homes, and often go above and beyond the call of duty, which has a huge impact on people’s lives. They offer friendship and comfort to residents and their relatives, during what can be a very emotional time. We appreciate the work they do all year round, and especially in these unprecedented times”.
Upcoming events
May
May is the gateway to summer and we have lots of fun filled things planned - all welcome.
