Activities at Fordmill Care Home

We celebrated the anniversary of the birth of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, also known as International Nurses Day, by acknowledging our dedicated and hard working nurses at Fordmill.

To mark the occasion and to say thank you, the home’s chef prepared delicious treats and refreshments for everyone to enjoy.

We received numerous cards and recorded thank you messages from relatives, friends and the local community, which were displayed around the home and shared with the team to make the day extra special.

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Fordmill were treated to an armchair work out courtesy of the Green Goddess, Diana Moran, and Shackleton’s furniture company, followed by a mindfulness session led by Shackleton’s Emma Raybould.

Diana rose to fame as a glamorous fitness guru on BBC’s Breakfast Time in the 1980’s and has made an outstanding contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the UK. She now brings that experience to Shackletons as their Health and Wellness Adviser.

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, staff and residents at Barchester’s Fordmill were treated to an interactive virtual cookery demo courtesy of chef, Alex Connell, from Vegetarian for Life.

Chef Alex whipped up some tasty, healthy vegetarian snacks in a live, interactive cookery demo.  Much to residents’ delight, Fordmill head chef had prepared the same recipes so that residents could try all the dishes. Residents sampled delicious, light and summery veggie dishes including Borlotti bean and dill pate, Greek fritters with Tzatziki and Coronation 'chicken' pastries. All finished off with a sweet and simple but totally yummy banana bread.

Celebrations have been in full swing at Fordmill Nursing Home, as one of its residents reaches her centenary in style.

Mrs Christine Cutler was joined by relatives and staff as she received a telegram from the Queen in recognition of her landmark birthday. Mrs Cutler and relatives enjoyed a special birthday cake made by the home’s chef Mat.

Mrs Cutler was a primary school teacher at Southesk School in Montrose before coming to Fordmill.

Celebrations are in full swing at Fordmill Care Home as one of its residents, former tennis star Colin Baxter, reaches his 90th birthday.  Glasgow born and bred, Colin was the first Scottish junior player to win at Wimbledon before Andy Murray.

In recognition of his landmark birthday, Colin received a personal video message from all the Murrays – Andy, Jamie, Judy and her father, Roy Erskine, a former competitor of Colin’s.  In the video Judy Murray calls Colin ‘Scottish tennis royalty’ and sends birthday wishes from all the family.

Mr Baxter competed at Wimbledon as a junior between 1946 and 1948 and at a senior level between 1953 and 1963.  Until Andy Murray’s appearance in 2005, he held the honour of being Scotland’s most successful player at the tournament.  The former Scottish number one began his playing career in 1942, as an 11 year old at Titwood Tennis Club in Glasgow, and is still recognised as its most successful player.

Rhyming couplets were the order of the day at Fordmill care home in Montrose where residents were keen to get involved in World Poetry Day.

UNESCO says: Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. Poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures.

Staff and residents at Fordmill care home decided to hold a poetry recital of one of their resident Barbara Willis from her book of poetry called ‘My Poems’ which she wrote and was published in 2010 by Blurb.