Activities at Cookridge Court Care Home

Congratulations to Sinead Ruddock, who has been named as a Divisional Winner in the 2020 Barchester Care Awards. Sinead is a finalist in the Chef of the Year category, and has been invited to attend a virtual awards ceremony on 8th October, where she will find out if she has won overall.

Taste buds have been tingling here at Cookridge this week with an Indian Cuisine night! We’re unable to visit eateries and enjoy our usual jaunts out during the current climate, so the Cookridge team have been going above and beyond these last few months to ensure varied, stimulating and fun activities are available to all.

Delicious meals are an important part of the day and to jazz things up, residents decided they would like to host ‘World Cuisine Nights’ the first of which being this very successful Indian themed evening. Shaznaz Bibi, our kitchen assistant with the support of Head Chef Sinead Ruddock, whipped up a mouth-watering feast with a choice of different curries, authentic sides and accompaniments all washed down with wine, beer or something less alcoholic!

Our first World Cuisine night went down a treat and we’re looking forward to our resident meeting to see what everyone decides to put on the menu for next month!

For some residents at Cookridge Court 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 Cookridge Court care home. Social distancing was still in place, and homes that are able to take part must have a large accessible garden.

It was such welcoming news to our relatives to hear that we were finally opening the gardens for them to have a visit. The moments the families reunited with the resident’s was very  heart warming, happy and joyful.  

Resident Jean Corcoran enjoyed celebrating her birthday by reuniting with her son and daughter in law. The  home had worked with the family to arrange this very special birthday surprise to the delight of Jean. Jean said “I am so very grateful and thank you for arranging this surprise, it really made my day. Those tears you saw were happy tears as I’ve missed them very much.” 

On Saturday June 13th, the Queen celebrated her second, and official birthday. But there was an extra incentive to join in the festivities at Cookridge Court as residents were asked to design a birthday cake in honour of Her Majesty’s birthday.  The cake design was whipped into reality by the homes’ chef to be enjoyed by residents and staff on the Queen’s special day.

We celebrated Father’s Day by remembering all Father’s and surprised our residents with a box of chocolates and invited them to their very own gentleman’s club where they all enjoyed a quiz and played dominoes, it was a fun-filled session for all.

Activities assistant, Tom Potter said “Surprising them with their boxes of chocolates was so special, seeing their faces light up. It was lovely to be able to host a Gentleman’s club and all get together (social distancing adhered to) to play a good few games of dominoes. It was also made extra special as they shared stories about their own fathers and for those who are fathers themselves, it was a lovely moment to be involved in”

Resident, John Crawford added “I was taken back when I received  box of chocolates, it was such a lovely gesture – thank you for making the day special for me”

We all joined together for the ‘Nation’s Toast to the Heroes of WW2’ and two minute silence to say thank you to fellow veterans who were also their friends and family.

We also marked the day by creating our very own ‘Street Party’! The grounds were decorated with bunting and the kitchen team provided a delicious barbeque and we even installed our very own drinks bar where the residents could choose from mocktails and cocktails aplenty! All came together to then enjoy singing along to some war time classics including the very poigniant ‘We’ll Meet Again’ by Vera Lynn.

It was so lovely to see the residents enjoying the sunshine and having fun together whilst making sure to adhere to social distancing rules. Many of our residents have very clear memories of the Second World War and it is important for us to learn about and understand their experiences, this is why we organised a day where people could relax and share memories together so their stories could be shared.  it is a privilege to remember and also celebrate with them.