Meet our Activities Coordinator, Karen Tipper

Hello my name is Karen and I am activity coordinator at Harton Grange care home. I have been an activity coordinator for ten years now, I really enjoy this job as there is never a day the same, everything from trips out in our mini bus into the community, to lovely group sing a longs with my little ukulele. I have a musical back ground and just love the effect it has on the residents

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 Harton Grange Care Home

The sound of music

On July 27th all was quiet at Harton Grange. Majority of the residents were sitting in the main lounge relaxing. When all of a sudden the carers on shift starting singing to the residents, the residents sang back and it was a beautiful sound. The management were in awe, the smiles on the residents faces were magical. The carers sang to keep the residents entertained while waiting for their afternoon tea. The atmosphere was fabulous. This followed by our weekly knit and natter, where the residents get together for a catch up, talk or sing while knitting. All the residents look forward to the weekly gathering.

World Chocolate Day

Residents of Harton Grange enjoyed a day of luscious chocolate as part of the homes World Chocolate Day celebrations! Residents spent the morning sharing bars of chocolate with each other as they chattered about their favourite bars and what they used to eat when they were children and how it was a treat to get a chocolate bar when times were tough!

In the afternoon they tested their knowledge with a chocolate themed quiz which explained the origin of chocolate and how it began as a medicine and has grown into the wonderful form it is today. Everyone chatted about cooking with chocolate, baking chocolate cakes, cookies and muffins and how they all enjoyed making chocolate crispy cakes at Harton Grange and there is nothing better than relaxing with a mug of hot chocolate and a couple of cookies!

Divisional Volunteer of the Year

Congratulations to Brenda Clark, who has been named as a Divisional Winner in the 2020 Barchester Care Awards. Brenda is a finalist in the Volunteer of the Year category, and has been invited to attend an awards ceremony on 8th October, where she will find out if she has won overall.

What's the Scoop?

With the lovely sunny weather we are having, we decided to bring one of our favourite places to our home. As none of our residents can go out to our local seafront and visit the ice cream parlour there, we decided: why not bring it to us?

We set up one of our newly refurbished dining rooms with lovely bunting, table covers and matching napkins and invited the residents to visit (whilst social distancing, of course) to choose what they would like from the menu.

Our ice cream parlour had waitress service, lovely sixties music and mountains of ice cream. A fantastic afternoon was enjoyed by all the residents!

Keep on Moving!

Residents have been enjoying armchair exercise sessions which gets their muscles moving. It is a lot of fun! As part of the interactive sessions, residents show their friendly competitive side as they play balloon tennis which is good for eye co-ordination! This keeps everyone active.

Everyone joins in and there is lots of fun and laughter followed by a cup of tea and a sweet treat in the middle to restore their energy!

Aloha at Harton Grange

On the hottest day of May 2020, Aloha arrived in style as the home hosted a Hawaiian day in the beautiful gardens of Harton Grange.

Residents and colleagues wore hula skirts and garlands in true Hawaiian tradition adding more colour to the occasion. Everyone danced to the music, sang lots of songs from the 40’s and 50’s era which had the toes tapping. Making the most of the good weather a BBQ was lit and tasty treats served. It was nice to spend some time outside, getting some sun and fresh air!