Activities at Cubbington Mill Care Home
Every day we run different activities throughout our home. The activities are designed and adapted to each individuals personal needs. The activities are designed to mentally and physically stimulate the people we care for and also to enhance their life skills and feelings of purpose and self-worth. The activities encourage interaction on a one to one basis, in small groups, in large groups and some are designed for the whole home including staff to be involved in.
We are registered with the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) which ensures we are able to achieve and continually progress to enhance the quality of life for those we support in the home. We provide entertainers such as singers, musicians, magicians, puppeteers, poets and dancers. We also have regular exercise classes and arts and craft classes. Relatives and visitors will be able to see what me make in these classes on display around the home. We have regular trips out on the mini bus to visit garden centres, enjoy high tea, visit the butterfly farm and spend the day at the zoo with a picnic. We encourage the local community, schools, colleges and relatives to come and join us for activities, tea and cake and to visit to share their skills as much as possible.
Staff from across the home are always willing to help and share their knowledge and skills across a whole range of activities we have had everything from carers preforming Bollywood style dancing to cooking classes from the chef. We feel activities are a vital part of the residents lives to ensure they are stimulated mentally and entertained.
Rose Tucker
Hi my name is Rose and I am the activities coordinator at Cubbington Mill!
I have been working in care since I was 17 and very passionate about my role, always trying to do bigger & better. I am one of Cubbington Mills Dementia Champions. I'm very privileged to work with the wonderful people and residents at Barchester's Cubbington Mill and hope we all make some lovely memories together! I LOVE to find out about residents interests & hobbies through tools like the “Getting To Know Me Booklets”.
We are always open to new ideas. If you would like to get involved in any of our Life Enrichment activities or have a skill, or project you'd like to share with our residents, please click here to contact me direct. New entertainers and community links are always welcome.
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 Cubbington Mill Care Home
Mexican Fiesta
Staff and residents at Cubbington Mill have celebrated Mexican Independence Day by putting on a Mexican fiesta and themed dining experience.
The dining room was decorated with beautiful bright colours which filled the room top to bottom... even the odd cactus made an appearance!
Head Chef, Oliver Hopkins, cooked traditional pork carnitas with molè and pineapple pico de gallo. This authentic dish was made with Oliver’s homegrown ancho and pasilla chiles!
While enjoying their meal, a virtual mariachi band played in the background... residents even had their own maracas to add to the beautiful music.
To look the part, they wore sombrero headbands and moustaches to further immerse themselves in this Mexican experience! Ending the afternoon with a game of pin-the-tail-o-the-donkey and cactus ring toss, followed by a singalong.
Peanut the Companion Cat
Peanut looks, feels and sounds like a real cat. Our new pet has built in sensors that responds to motion and touch; realistic soft fur, cat-like movements and technology thats sounds and feels like real purring.
Residents have been so excited to meet their new robotic pet. Peanut has had a grand tour of the home and is already getting very comfortable in the lounge, interacting and getting a pet from residents as they benefit from the therapeutic aspects of this fantastic technology.
To decide the name, staff and residents at Cubbington Mill put their choices into a random name generator, which chose Peanut to be the perfect fit for our new kitty!
Notting Hill Carnival
Cubbington Mill hosted their very own Notting Hill Carnival with steelpan drum music was playing, decorations galore and delicious traditional Caribbean foods to choose from. Residents have loved reading Notting Hill Carnival facts and looking at pictures from the event as they wore their handmade masks and headbands.
Celebrating and learning about different cultures is really important to staff and residents here at the home. They are immersed into rich culture and are able to learn about things that they don’t already know through music, film, food and more!
It has been a fantastic day full of colour and fun and residents cannot wait to see which culture they will be learning about next!
Indian Independence Day
We began our week of Indian activities with a virtual tour around India and learnt some words in the many Indian languages! Residents are excited to say ‘Namaste’ to the Carers and Nurses and impress them with all they have learnt.
On Tuesday, we made our very own traditional spiced Mehndi biscuits which we decorated with beautiful designs using black icing. Staff and residents loved the cinnamon taste! Residents then learnt how to Bollywood dance followed by watching a Bhangra dancing competition. They saw some of the world’s best groups give amazing performances... and even had a go at it themselves!
Cubbington Mill then ended the celebrations with a huge party which involved themed dining and traditional music in the beautifully decorated dining room. Activities co-ordinator Hannah Fawcett and Resident Ambassador Gerald Waterfield covered the walls with gold foiled curtains, hung Indian flags and colourful decorations to create an immersive colourful display.
Head Chef, Oliver Hopkins, prepared Onion Bhaji’s and Samosas to start which was then followed by a homemade Curry, Rice and Aloo side enjoyed with naan bread. Some of the residents were experiencing flavours they had never tried before and one resident even asked if we could have Indian food every day! The festivities didn’t stop here as staff member Jay joined our celebrations wearing a beautiful traditional outfit as well as displaying another on a mannequin for everyone to admire. We ended the afternoon by trying different Indian sweet treats and discussing all we had learnt throughout the week.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
To celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, residents at the home put their baking hats on and got stuck in to making a delicious dough filled with dark, milk and white chocolate chips. Residents were very proud of their yummy creations and cannot wait to make more delicious treats!
Our Very Own Shakespeare
It is amazing to see such talent from resident Gerald, who has produced over 20 poems so far! Gerald has a passion for poetry and writes about current events and life at the home, where he has been since 2019.
Gerald produces a few poems a week and they are sure to make residents and staff smile and laugh. He even dedicated a poem to friend and resident, Liz, and her two corgis. Liz shares Gerald's love for poetry so receiving her very own personalised poem truly made her day.
Activities Coordinator, Hannah Fawcett, surprised Gerald with a printed booklet of all of his poems with copies to send out to his family and friends.
