Activities at Harton Grange 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.
Marius Sidoriuc
Hi, my name is Marius, I am the activities coordinator here at Harton Grange. I joined Barchester's family in 2021, as I found their approach and standards on dementia very interesting. Since early 2022 I work for Barchester as both activities coordinator and care assistant. In 2018, I started my journey in health and social care as a care assistant and very soon after, I completed courses on dementia and activities (NAPA, level 2) and I worked as both activities coordinator and care assistant in Kent. I'm also an apprentice in health and social care. I've met some amazing people that have guided my understanding of dementia.
The most important thing for me is to see our residents achieving a meaningful raison d'etre, living as they like and to benefit from a range of activities starting from Namaste to reminiscing and spiritual needs (such as praying or listening to hymns), art and craft, armchair exercises, music therapy or finger nail pamper sessions.
I like to acknowledge that I am working as a part of a whole team, including the fantastic management, hospitality and maintenance departments, promoting a person centred approach for each resident and we are glad to know each persons preferences and abilities in order to plan how the day will look with them. One way we are able to do this is through our residents' and family' meetings where we try to let everyone have their say about the way they want to live and the activities they take part in.
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 Harton Grange Care Home
Christmas lights shine bright
Throughout December, Residents have been busy counting down to Christmas with their busy life enrichment programme filled with fun-filled festive activities.
They have been busy making festive decorations to display around the home and also spreading a little festive cheer in lighting up the front of the home for all to see.
O'Christmas Tree
Well it’s that time of year again when the Christmas tree comes out to get dressed. This year all the residents got involved, everyone made an ornament for our Tree from Salt dough which we started making last month we also included paper lanterns, snowmen, stars and gingerbread people and we finished off making paper chains.
We listened to Christmas carols and reminisced about our childhood days when we dressed the Christmas tree with our family, we dressed the Christmas tree with all our work, once it was finished the crowning glory was placed at the top, the Star of David which was made by the residents, once this was placed at the top we stepped back and we were in awe. We are so happy with the finished look, it brought some happy tears! We all sat in the foyer sipping a little sherry, Christmas music in the background, what a magical day!
The joy of giving
The residents at Harton Grange were in for a surprise last week when the Hairdresser arrived to cut everyone’s hair. This has been a long time coming! After each hair cut the stylist took their photo and we decided to buy some Christmas cards with a picture insert, so the families can see their loved ones after their pamper. After sending the cards out, we got lots of lovely responses from all the families. We sent out 60 Christmas cards to all the families and these cards are sentimental and we wanted to bring some joy to the families of the residents at Harton Grange.
Creative pumpkin carving
Residents enjoy being creative in an old traditional way, as Halloween approached and the nights are closing in, they have been chatting about Halloween from way gone by and back in the day when it was all about carving turnips. Residents talked about the smell of the burning flesh (that sounds abit gory!) and how the wind kept blowing out the candles and having to get their fathers to re-light the candles, it was worth it to get dressed up in black and scare their friends they said!. This year Residents used pumpkins and it got very messy with their hands in the seeds and flesh when they carefully carved out the faces, put the lid back on the head and then everyone enjoyed a hot chocolate with little marshmallows. What a wonderful day they had!
Residents enjoy food tasting session
At Harton Grange, we decided to do something a little different, a blind tasting day! We prepared lots of tasty titbits like fruit, cheese, vegetables, chocolates and sweets in small pieces and covered them so nobody could peek!
We invited some residents into the dining room and with anticipation, we all experienced different tastes and tried to guess which food they were by the flavour, texture. The fruits went down lovely and some managed to guess correctly, the chocolate cake was the favorite, followed by the strawberries. After we finished the game, we ate all the left overs and it was a lovely day trying different things!
Residents join virtual Care Awards
This year’s care awards were a little different as held virtual. Harton Grange's lovely volunteer Brenda was nominated for “Volunteer of the Year”
Brenda has been at Harton Grange for 1 year and is a valued member of the team, she supports activities, doing one to one's with residents, helping to prepare rooms for activities. Brenda’s friendly nature makes all at ease and her good sense of humour keeps everyone going! Brenda also helps the care assistants with the tea trolley.
The care awards took place virtually in the comfort of Harton Grange, we had beautiful food, the atmosphere was excellent. When the time came for the winner, we held our breathe in anticipation but Brenda did not win this time but in our eyes, she is simply the best!
