Activities at Dudwell St Mary Care Home
Our activity coordinator provides our home with a fun-packed weekly programme to engage all residents. Past activities include bread making, pottery, knitting, and card making. Not only do we run regular exercise programmes for the residents but we also have our regular entertainers come in to entertain our residents and their families. The activity coordinator visits residents on a one-to-one basis, for a chat, manicure and hand massage. The activity co-ordinator said "Residents love the one-to-ones and especially enjoy the manicure and hand massage, as not only is it stimulating but it boosts their confidence and pride in their appearance.''
Linda Lawes
My Name is Linda and I am one of the Activities Co-ordinators at Dudwell St. Mary care home.
I joined Dudwell St Mary in April 2008 as a Housekeeping Assistant and later became the Head of Housekeeping. In 2018 I then became an activities co-ordinator where I brought lots of new exciting ideas to the role.
I am passionate about my role within the home and aim to bring a smile to all our residents’ faces through different types of activities. My personality is bright and bubbly so aim to share this each day at work.
As I gather the residents likes and dislikes if you would like to come and chat with me about your family member please contact the home to arrange.
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 Dudwell St Mary Care Home
Halloween Preparations
We spent two days carving pumpkins and getting the residents involved in decorating the home. We finished off with a Halloween party for all the residents with some lovely cakes baked by our Head Chef, Tina Diss.
Cheese Tasting
We had a cheese tasting afternoon, where we had a selection of cheeses, including brie, stilton, wendslydale and cheddar, washed down with an alcoholic drink of our choice. Sisters Molly and Kate thoroughly enjoyed tasting all the different cheeses that were on offer.
A Kind Donation
Our local Boots dropped off this basket for our staff as a thank you for their hard work during the pandemic.
Wimbledon Celebrations
Despite the tennis being cancelled, the residents had been enjoying watching some of the old favourite matches on the TV and listening to the players new and old talk about the game. It was wonderful to see them smile as they revisited games that remain talking points of the sport.
As a special surprise, the residents were treated to a glass of prosecco and some strawberries with cream to enjoy as they watched Steffi Graff and Boris Becker. They all had a chuckle with the famous "you cannot be serious" clip from John McEnroe in 1981.
Pet Pals
We had a visit to the garden from Petpals. The lady showed the resident chickens, guinea pigs, ducks and a baby goat.
They were situated in the garden in pens for them to admire. The goat, named Twix, was on a lead and walked along the edge of where the residents were sat. Luckily, it was a pleasant day for them to enjoy the visit.
Making Extras for Supper
The residents enjoy getting involved with all aspects of the day in the home. On Thursday 25th, after discovering they had one of their favourite salad dishes for the evening meal, they asked to make something to add to it.
With the help of Amy from activities, and a thorough discussion on what they wanted to make, they decided on small savoury tarts, like a mini quiches.
The residents took turns to mix, roll, cut and fill the pastry cups with cheese and tomato, followed by filling with the egg mix.
Smelling their pastries cook made the residents talk about the different ways they used to make them as children, and the different fillings they would put in.
Needless to say, not a single crumb or pasty was left!
