Activities at Four Hills Care Home

Resident’s decided that this month’s themed tea party should centre around Alice in Wonderland, so that’s what we did. The room was decorated in the theme, staff and residents joined the fun by dressing up in costumes and wearing our mad hats. 

Our queen of hearts brushed up on her science skills and showed the residents some illusion tricks. We played guess how many jelly babies in the jar, while we enjoyed some bubbles or a cup of tea if preferred, along with lots of delicious cakes and sandwiches. We were delighted to welcome in so many family members to join us and share in the magical day, spending quality time together.   

Residents from our gardening club enjoyed a day out at our local B & Q Garden centre selecting plants for our gardening club to plant in our garden. Residents loved all the different varieties to choose from our hanging baskets to bring lots of colour to our gardens. In the afternoon, residents spent time out planting, smelling all the delicious scents and getting our hands dirty. 

Betty said it is something she loved about Four Hills being able to help out in the gardens, choosing their own colours and styles of plants. This is something Betty was deeply connected to her, as her Dad was a horticulturist and she would often go to work and help him as a girl.           

Another fabulous community engagement event at Four Hills this month. We were delighted to welcome our family members for a day of Eater fun. 

In the morning, we hosted our own Eater Bonnet parade with bonnets that residents and our local school kids had made for our Arts & Crafts group, followed by a delicious Afternoon Tea Party creating new happy memories with our loved ones. It's always great to see our family members socialising with each other making Four Hills feel like a home away from home for everyone.  

We have now started our reminiscing sessions each week by collecting reminiscing boxes from the Open Museum. Residents loved the 50s music box, which had brought back lots of memories and lots of conversations.

One particular conversation was how the ladies dressed going out to the dancing and had a great laugh at how styles have changed with the big skirts and neck ties.        

It was a proper party atmosphere here at Four Hills as we celebrated the new year. Residents had a fabulous time enjoying an old-fashioned sing-song, singing songs from our childhood and youth, with the Scottish classics being a firm favourite. 

Of course, there was lots of dancing and toe-tapping. Residents shared stories of Scottish Hogmanay traditions, like it had to be someone dark-haired and carrying a lump of coal and a drink to be the person who first-footed after the bells, about cleaning your house top to bottom, wearing our best outfits, eating steak-pie dinners at midnight then visiting all your neighbours, back in the day when everyone knew each other. PJ said it was fantastic to sit and listen to all the weird traditions that people followed and for everyone to celebrate a new and fresh year together.     

The residents were treated to another fabulous day out. We enjoyed a beautiful stroll around the botanic gardens seeing all the exotic plants. 

Sadie said it felt like we were in the middle of the jungle as this was her favourite place in the world to come to, as she always comes with her husband and grandson. After our walk around the gardens, we were treated to a Trick Shaw ride around the park with our friends from Cycling without age. These trips are fantastic to still allow residents to experience nature and the wonderful parks of Glasgow and, of course, no trip to the park is complete without sitting on the bench people watching while we enjoy our ice-creams.

Here at Four Hills, we were delighted to be on the finishing line for the fantastic Tour de Barchester. Residents enjoyed lots of exercise-themed activities throughout the week. At Arts & Crafts, we made a Well Done Team banner, local school kids took part in a designing a cycling jersey competition. Our chef made delicious themed cupcakes, and we had guess the name of the dog and a raffle to raise funds to support the Foundation. The residents and staff thought this would be a great excuse for everyone to get a bit fitter and wondered if we could match the challenge as a team. We set up an exercise bike at our front reception and residents, staff and visitors joined in. Together we managed to cycle over 230 miles. There was a great buzz in the air as everyone cheered each other on. On Friday itself, we set about decorating our gardens in Scotland and using a chequered flag to welcome the riders across the finish line with a champagne reception.  

Residents had a great time enjoying the live entertainment from Gerry singing all our Rat Pack classics, with mocktails and cocktails to wash down our delicious buffet from our kitchen team.  We were also delighted to welcome into our home some of the lovely charities in our local area that have received grants and much-needed support from The Foundation to thank the riders for their fantastic effort in supporting The Barchester Charity Foundation.   

Now that Spring is in the air, residents now want to get out and about on adventures in our local community. This day out was along with The Cycling Without Age group, who treated our residents to an immersing Trick Shaw ride around the beautifully scenic Botanic Garden. 

Erich said it reminded him of the rolling hills and countryside of Innsbruck in Austria, where he grew up and spent many a happy childhood day cycling with his friends. He said it brought back many happy memories. Jim said he thought at his age he would never be aware of a bike again. PJ was amazed at spotting some squirrels feeding as they stopped for a rest. We are looking forward to sharing this experience with other residents over the coming months.

Our residents had a lovely afternoon making pancakes and then decorating them for Pancake Tuesday. Eating them was the highlight of the day. They couldn’t wait to try them.

They had made all different pancakes using chocolate, cream, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, honey and syrup. They said it was the best pancakes they had ever tasted.    

The residents at Four Hills were all shook up as we celebrated the 91st birthday of one of our favourite singers, Mr Elvis Pressley. We held an Elvis-themed day. In the morning, we enjoyed an Elvis and American-themed quiz. In the afternoon, everyone had their singing voices at the ready as we enjoyed a sing-a-long with residents choosing their favourite numbers to sing along to with some refreshments. 

In the evening, we settled down to watch one of our favourite Elvis movies, King Creole. Margaret said it was a brilliant day. She has been a massive fan of Elvis since she was a teenager and wishes she could have seen him performing live.     

Here at Four Hills, our residents love having animals come to visit, so they decided, after the success of hatching our own Easter chicks, we would try again and this time with ducks. We sat patiently waiting for 2 days to watch them all hatch. We successfully hatched 4 beautiful baby ducks. Residents' staff and visitors especially loved coming to see them, watching them grow every day. The residents were very hands-on with caring for the ducks, taking turns to feed and water them along with helping to clean their pens. 

These sessions were very interactive as we had the ducks in our paddling pools watching them swim, splash and play. We had our local school kids in to visit too, so it was a great success for the whole community. They stayed with us for 10 days before getting too big to be kept in their cage, and they went back to live on the farm.     

Residents enjoyed a relaxing canal boat trip on The Firth Of The Clyde thanks to our friends at The Seagull Trust. We packed up our picnics and enjoyed a lovely afternoon sitting out on the deck, taking in the scenery, watching fishermen fish, cyclists and walkers on the canal path and were delighted to see lovely families of Swans and Ducks on the water.          

PJ said it was a brilliant day as he has always loved being on the water, spending lots of his youth swimming and being on boats. Margaret said it was a fantastic opportunity to get out in lovely surroundings and see all the wildlife and this is an experience she never thought she would have when she came to live in a care home. We can’t wait for our next trip.

Easter time at Four Hills did not arrive with a bang, but instead, at Four Hills, it all started with a crack. Residents, families, staff, visitors, local school kids were all delighted to have successfully hatched 6 baby chickens. Residents watched in delight and amazement as they arrived into the world, took it in turns to look after and feed them. 

Helen was our hands on Midwife and sat and watched them for as long as she could keep her eyes open, telling everyone who visited them their names and what they behaved like and how to handle them carefully. PJ said it was an amazing experience that reminded him of growing up on the farm back in Ireland. This was a great intergenerational experience for the whole community to be part of. The residents were so amazed and delighted to have had them that we are already looking forward to our next experience of hatching our own Baby Ducks.       

Love was in the air as our residents celebrated Valentine's Day by making Valentine's cards for their loved ones. The afternoon was celebrated with a lovely afternoon tea where families and residents came together and shared some lovely romantic poems. 

It was a wonderful day had by all.        

There was a room full of smiles as we welcomed into our home Laura from Animal Magic for a pet therapy session. 

Residents were able to get up close and personal with some wonderful creatures, including a 10ft python which lots were brave enough to handle, some beautiful guinea pigs, rabbits and hamsters, along with two wonderful therapy dogs, Pixie and Begby and a talking cockatoo who showed us some wonderful tricks, residents were full of questions about how Laura cares for the animals and it brought them right back to looking after theirs and there kids pets at home. PJ said it reminded him of growing up on the farm when he was a boy.