Activities at Denmead Grange Care Home
We understand that the people we support have passions and interests that could be difficult to pursue after moving into a care home – but that doesn’t mean we won’t encourage them to try! Some hobbies can define a person, so our activities team is dedicated to ensuring that everyone we support is able to do what makes them happy to the best of their abilities. Social events are organised with individual tastes in mind and with the idea that residents have the opportunity to try new and exciting things.
Lisa Harris
Being Head of life Enrichment isn’t just a job, it’s a passion.
My time with the residents has and will always be an honour and pleasure.
Finding out their interests and hobbies, so I can tailor the weekly planner is such a great thing to do, as this means lots of chats over a good cuppa! But it also means that I can get to know them personally and get to understand a part of their past, so I can continue to help them experience their interests in this next phase of their lives.
A truly rewarding role, where I can be part of and contribute to something meaningful. All I hope for, is to make this journey for both the residents and their families, as restful, easy and enjoyable as possible. Then I know I’ve done my part.
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 Denmead Grange Care Home
Caribbean Day
On Friday, we celebrated all things Caribbean! Lloyd, our Head of Life Enrichment, set out to decorate the dining areas to the max in tropical decor. Our residents indulged themselves in a three-course Caribbean-themed meal, which included traditional food such as jerk chicken thighs, grilled pineapple, vegetable curry soup and baked sweet potato, all prepared by our Second Chef, Jackson.
The afternoon was buzzing with music. Our Bank Carer, Sian, and her 3 band mates, kindly volunteered to bring us a Caribbean-themed, Samba Reggae Drum demonstration, and it was fantastic! Residents had made shakers from scratch to use whilst the drums were being played. Sian gave the session an interactive feel by coming around to residents and teaching them some easy drum rhythms.
Musical Magic
We enjoyed the vocal stylings of Simply Jen, who sang the hits of ABBA, Elvis, Peggy Lee and more. We danced and sung and had a ball! Check down in the comments for a fabulous video of our residents dancing the day away.
Denmead Village Show
Yesterday, we attended the 70th Denmead Horticultural Village Show. We had our own stand, asking people to guess the name of the teddy and how many sweets were in the jar!
We also had lots of merchandise to give away, including goody bags filled with stationary, fresh cakes from our Second Chef, Jackson, and leaflets with information about the home.
It was so lovely to meet everyone in the local community who came together yesterday. We met lots of different societies and associations that we'd love to partner with, including the Portsmouth Beekeeping Association and Denmead Spinners Group.
Theatre Trip
The Wishing Well at Denmead Grange has wishes ranging from small to huge! This week, Cathy and Mary received their wish to see South Pacific at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Both ladies were absolutely ecstatic when we arrived, looking forward to seeing the show that they know and love. With amazing seats, we watched the fantastic performers do their thing whilst we enjoyed a glass of wine!
Mary was ever so grateful that she has the opportunity to attend theatre trips, and Cathy, the same. The show was fantastic, thank you to Chichester Festival Theatre for the amazing evening.
National Doughnut Day
On National Doughnut Day, we celebrated the right way, by decorating our own dinky doughnuts to have with a cup of tea or coffee. Residents chose from a range of icings, chocolates and sugars, and sprinkles too! Here is Pam, enjoying her royal icing topped dinky doughnut with hundreds and thousands!
Knitting Blankets
Our residents have been very busy, creating sensory blankets for Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. A few months ago we set to knit as many squares as possible, in different colours, textures and patterns. Even our residents friends and families sent in their squares to add to our blankets.
Mavis, one of our residents, took the most important job of crocheting them all together and also knitting little frills and seams.
Cherish, a Health Care Support Worker who works on wards A1 / A2, came in last week to see and collect our fantastic blankets. She was overwhelmed with talent and generosity of our residents, she knew that a lot of time and hard work went into them. Cherish said, ‘our wards will benefit hugely from these blankets as we have new borns to elderly adults. They will bring such a homely feel to our hospital ward, as well as introducing a sensory, comfortable feature that our patients will adore. Thank you so much to everyone who helped join in and create such amazing blankets.
