Activities at Hafan-Y-Coed 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 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.
Marie Spires
I'm Marie, the lead activities coordinator for Hafan Y Coed. I have been the activities coordinator for nearly three years and am passionate about encouraging the wellbeing of our residents. Ensuring all abilities are catered for in a bespoke schedule is paramount to their individual wellbeing needs. I am joined by Clare and Sue who also help to create a life enrichment program suitable for all communities.
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 Hafan-Y-Coed Care Home
Oktoberfest Celebrations
Residents celebrated the inaugural Oktoberfest which was first celebrated in Munich in 1810 in honour of Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
We pulled out all the stops to ensure plenty of traditional foods were on offer, provided by our hospitality team. Our activities team dressed up for the occasion and residents enjoyed the folk music played by the Llanelli Ukulele players.
A pretzel or two were enjoyed, whilst listening to the ukulele band, which was then washed down with a craft beer or two!
Everyone said what a great afternoon they had.
Brynteg Farm pay us a visit
Our favourite Brynteg farm frequently invite us to their farm for a day trip, however, today we invited them to visit us at the home. Phil and Zara brought various animals for our residents to hold, from guinea pigs to the lion’s mane rabbit, there was something for everyone.
Vince said “I used to keep guinea pigs, so it was nice to hold them again”. One of our partially sighted residents, Mike said “it was a lovely sensory activity, I’ve always owned cats so holding others was a nice change”.
Monthly Gentleman’s Club
Our gents often enjoy a trip together to a point of interest. This week’s trip took us to Burry port Beach to the Harbour light tea rooms. We were warmly welcomed on arrival and due to the colder weather needed a nice warm drink. The gents decided upon a latte alongside their scones with jam and plenty of cream. Mal said it was the highlight of his week and could we go again next week.
Everyone said how much they enjoyed chatting and what a great afternoon they’d had on the bus outing.
Bringing the Seaside inside!
We may not have had the best weather this summer, but we haven’t let that spoil our fun. The scene was set for the residents to enjoy a seaside themed day, with musical entertainment from the fantastic Robbie Lee who sang songs like “We’re all going on a summer holiday” to “oh I do like to be beside the seaside”, everyone really got in to the spirit of a virtual seaside day.
Ice-cream cones with sprinkles and strawberry sauce were on offer from our ice-cream van and for a savoury treat, chips in a traditional newspaper cone were enjoyed. Gloria said “It was a lovely day and it got us all talking about our trips with our families and when we were children”. Ed said “The chips in the cone were a nice touch on the day”.
Gents enjoy a Reptile Experience
Today we took the trip to Carmarthen on the Minibus with some of our brave gentlemen.
Everyone had the opportunity to hold a snake, spider, bearded dragon and turtle to name a few. Even our activities team held a snake around their neck….definitely not for the faint hearted.
Cliff said “That was a great day out with my pals. I especially enjoyed the pint on the way home”.
Holding on to summer!
Each week we sit down and discuss our favourite recipes and then make the most popular after a vote by the residents.
Our residents choice of recipe this month was to make Banana Splits. Highly likely to be one of our final summer recipes ahead of the winter warmer classics. We rolled up our sleeves and peeled our bananas before adding our favourite toppings, alongside our ice-cream flavour, whipped cream, finished off with a cherry or two.
The proof was in the pudding and they devoured every bit of this classic summer dessert!
