Meet our Activities Coordinator, Maria Wells

I have been at Derham House since 2014 and have subsequently gained a lot of experience and knowledge in the care sector.

Working here has been a wonderful experience; the staff are very welcoming.

My previous roles have included a Care Assistant, but I am now an Activities Coordinator – a position that I fully enjoy. I love spending time with residents and ensuring that they are happy.

Activities at our 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 don’t encourage them to try! Some hobbies can define a person, so our Activities Coordinators are 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.

Life at our home

This Little Pygmy

We welcomed back Claire & Glen from Blackwater Alpacas & Pygmy Goats. Residents, staff & families really enjoyed seeing the baby goats. Even the little human kids turned up to see them whooping with delight at the sight of them. One lady didn’t want to give the fur baby back!

Open Day

We started our open day with a visit from the Covenant Women’s UK gospel choir, who belted out hymns, which got the whole room rocking. We half expected to see Whoopi Goldberg jump out & conduct us all!

Our Head Chef provided a lovely platter of fresh cream cakes & loads of tea & coffee flowing for the visitors that were streaming through our door.

Derham welcomed our afternoon entertainer, Tim Arthur, with his first visit to our home, and boy he didn’t disappoint us, playing an electric guitar & singing classics. Residents, staff and guests really enjoyed his set.

School Choir

Today at Derham house we welcomed our local school into our home. The children came in their droves to sing Christmas carols for the residents to enjoy a boy did they enjoy it some watched some sang with them & one resident conducted the choir.

It was beautiful to watch how children brighten up the resident’s day so as a thank you the home manager bought them some sweets.

Special Wedding Day

Derham house was privileged to help make a wish come true for one of our residents to attend her daughter’s wedding day.

Her daughters arrived at the home to get dressed with their mum to make the day extra special all the staff waited in anticipation to see the wedding party emerge from the room & they didn’t disappoint as they all looked lovely.

The wedding party then stopped & posed for some pictures the mother of the bride looked so proud of her beautiful daughter they were then whisked off to the ceremony by the wedding car.

Derham house would like to congratulate the bride & groom on their special day & best wishes for the future.

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Derham House joined the whole country in raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

We all had our wonderful chef make some cakes & other staff donated. We had a lovely time watching families enjoy the morning with their loved ones.

We also enjoyed playing the games; residents & families couldn’t stop laughing & we raised a fantastic £116 for the charity.

We would like to thank the residents & families for supporting the event & the staff who paid for the privilege of non-uniform day.

A good morning was had by all!

Dementia Friends

Derham house opened its doors for a dementia friends information day. Our guest speaker, Hillary Sweeney, talked about the different effects of dementia & the impact it has on families & friends.

The two separate sessions were a great success with families joining staff, we also had some of the residents asking if they could attend as they wanted to learn more.

Also a friend of one of the residents came as she wanted a better understanding of how to act around her friend as they were friends from church & only ever known her without dementia.