Activities at Hazel Lodge Care Home

Hazel Lodge has joined forces with other volunteers and businesses to help Battle Poppy Appeal turn the town red with poppies to mark Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day 2025.

11th November signifies the signing of the Armistice Day agreement on the day that the guns finally fell silent at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. As well as wearing poppies, sharing memories and observing the national two-minute silence, residents and staff have been busy over the past few weeks transforming plastic bottles into beautiful red poppies that can be found decorating roundabouts and other communal areas around the town of Battle.

Kieran and Deborah Doyle from Battle Poppy Appeal, said “Sharon and the team made hundreds of amazing plastic poppies for the town. True Community spirit. We couldn’t recommend Hazel Lodge more highly.”

Sharon Ward, Home Services Advisor at Hazel Lodge, said: “It is very important that we keep the memories of those who fought alive and that we also think about those involved in conflicts around the world today. We’ve loved being able to support Kieran and the Battle Poppy Appeal and to see our small contribution come together in remembrance with the other amazing Poppy displays around the town.”
 

We are so thrilled to have been voted as Best Community Garden in the 2025 Battle in Bloom awards . Throughout the year our residents and  gardener Richard have met to discuss plans for the garden at our weekly gardening club . From early spring when we start planting seeds in the greenhouse , through to picking  juicy salad leaves for our lunch in the summer and now autumn walks to see the changing leaves , we really do have to agree our garden really is simply the best ! 🤩 Thank you to everyone who voted for us .

We joined in with one of Barchester's live events yesterday. Watercolour painting with expert guidance. The session was informative and a chance to chat with a lovely group of people. 
Barchester offers a whole range of live events, please do pop in or give us a call to ask about our life enrichment planner. We're always happy for members of the community to join in. 

We had such a fun afternoon when we hosted our summer BBQ , full of dancing, singing and some games. Not forgetting a delicious BBQ for all. We were joined by staff members and relatives to enjoy this lovely summer afternoon. Thank you to everyone who came along and the Hazel Lodge team who made it all happen. Such a funny afternoon watching the staff performances.

It's so lovely for us to be able to wander through the gardens and pick our favourite blooms and then arrange them into gorgeous displays around the home. 
With such a varied supply of flowers, we're a bit spoilt for choice but the Hydrangeas are spectacular.
This not only provides such wonderful life enrichment for our residents it also makes the home look lovely too !

We had such a lovely afternoon when the Battle Rainbows ( Girl Guides) came to see us recently . We heard all about the things they've been doing and they even treated us to a little song they've been learning . Many of our residents were able to tell their own story of being in the Girl Guides . The Rainbows are the youngest of the Guides being between 4-7 years old and do fun activities such as singing, games and making things . The residents loved chatting to the girls and we can't wait to see them again soon.

We all love it when the Rural Past Times tractor run visits Hazel Lodge. There was a slight nip in the Autumn air but what a beautiful morning we had.

We recently welcomed Battle firefighters to join us for fish and chip Friday. The firefighters dined with residents and had a tour of the home to thank them for their service. This was all in support of national emergency services day.
Thank you for joining us, our residents loved meeting you and hearing all your stories.

We recently had the pleasure of attending the Rural Past Times show at Horns Cross, nr Rye. As sponsors of The Heavy Horse class , Home Services Advisor Sharon had the difficult task of picking the winner and presenting them with their Hazel Lodge tankard.
Congratulations to Arthur & Archie the dashing 16yr Shires and of course their owner Ray

Winnie and her friends enjoy an afternoon of putting in the gardens. Winnie is such a patient and knowledgeable instructor, it's so lovely to see their friendships and hobbies being nurtured by one another. 

Celebrations have been in full swing recently when we had the absolute pleasure of celebrating a very special resident's 104th birthday at Hazel Lodge.

Edith Walker – known fondly as Pat, was joined by her daughter Jane and other relatives for a special birthday lunch prepared by the hospitality team at the home .

Pat who was born in 1921 grew up in Mansfield, Nottingham and went into the RAF as a WAAF RT Operator during the war. Stationed near to Ipswich Pat found life very different to living with her parents but took it all in her stride learning new things. When the war came to an end Pat was transferred to West Malling in Kent where she met her future husband who was an aircraft fitter in the RAF and had served in Africa during the war. Shortly after meeting the couple married and lived with Pat’s Mother-in-law for a few years before moving to Burwash where they had their beautiful daughter Jane. Pat had many happy years at home where later Jane cared for her before making the move to Hazel Lodge in 2023.

After lunch, Pat was joined by local members of RAF, residents and staff as they toasted her milestone birthday and enjoyed a slice of cake made for an extraordinary and very special lady.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Women's Wellness & Menopause . It was an amazing evening arranged by Lorraine from One You East Sussex and hosted by Hazel Lodge . Special Thanks goes to all of our guest speakers Sunshine & Wellness, Fiona Coffee Trichology, Link Beauty Martins Oak Surgery and Rural Rother PCN who were on hand to offer information and advice on nutrition, skincare,  HRT treatments, hair loss and anything else that we were worried about . It really was a super evening and great to see such a wonderful bunch of ladies all there to support one another .

We are so thrilled to be able to share that Warrick, our care lead for Pine floor recently got his results for his NVQ diploma in lead adult care, for which he passed with distinction 🎉🎉. We are incredibly proud of Warrick who has been with us since the home opened in 2022 and completed both written and practical assessments at Hazel Lodge. Well done Warrick, very well deserved. 

It really is the everyday things that are important and make all the difference when moving into a care home. 
After our recent residents meeting a few residents requested weekly trips to the local supermarket to pick up a few personal items . We took this on board and have now added it to our weekly planner. 

Recently we had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Emma and Daryl our local PCSO's who visited the home to give us some important tips on how to stay safe online and to avoid scams etc. We also heard all about the different aspects of their role and how no 2 days are ever the same . The residents found it very amusing to hear that on their way to Hazel Lodge that day Emma & Daryl had been called to a loose Bull that was taking a stroll along the road and they had to convince it to return to it's field....all in a days work apparently !