What types of care does Hickathrift House Care Home offer?

Hickathrift House Care Home offers Residential care, Dementia care, Respite / Short stay.

Activities at Hickathrift House Care Home

We have two Activities Coordinators here at Hickathrift House. We have a wide range of activities within the home, including musical entertainment, arts & crafts, clubs for like-minded people, such as flower arranging and gardening, board games, baking (where the best bit is the eating afterwards!), and we celebrate special events throughout the year. We also have trips out on a regular basis using our own minibus, where we find out places of interest each person would like to visit.

It is important to us that each individual who we support can get as much from these activities as possible, so we try our best to arrange activities that reflect their interests and capabilities, and encourage them to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join in with activities and events as often as they can.

For the less mobile residents, we unique one-to-one session, such as simple chats over a cup of tea, reading or listening to music. Activities are some of the most important aspects of a care home, so it is essential that our team are dedicated to ensuring that residents are entertained, and that life at Hickathrift House is fun and active.

Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Kat Colangelo

Activities Lead

Hello, my name is Kat and I am the Activities Lead here at Hickathrift House.

Since 2017 I have been working in the field of well-being and I am passionate and enthusiastic about enriching all our of residents' quality of life.

As the Activities Lead at Hickathrift House, my focus is learning about each of our resident's likes and dislikes and supporting them to remain receptive and active in addition to supporting them to engage with our local community friends.

I organise activities to stimulate the mind, body and soul in an enjoyable, comfortable way. My aim is to diversify and increase activities ensuring that there is something for everyone - from Wine and Cheese events, excursions on our home Mini Bus as well as individual bespoke person-centered activities.

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 Hickathrift House Care Home

Student Cross visits Hickathrift House

On Wednesday the 23rd March the Student Cross took a break from their pilgrimage to Walsingham and popped in to see us. They enjoyed some well deserved hot cross buns and some refreshments. We were lucky enough to get our hot cross buns donated by Tesco. Mallissa Russell, The Community Champion for the Wisbech Store delivered them personally and stayed to help us get everything ready, she also took the time to draw our Easter Raffle. A massive thank you to Mallissa and everyone at Tesco in Wisbech.
Student Cross is a pilgrimage organised by and for students, young adults, and pilgrims of all ages, which has been running since 1948. Pilgrims experience Holy Week and the joy of the Resurrection as a living reality. It's a chance to celebrate Easter in a unique way. Eleven different groups, known as Legs, walk from different parts of the country across Norfolk to Walsingham. Kind-hearted parishes provide food and accommodation along the way. Each Leg carries a large wooden cross as a witness to the people they pass. To find out more about the different routes, please visit the Legs pages. The climax of the week is in Walsingham, a centre of pilgrimage for many centuries. This is where all the Legs meet up to celebrate the Easter liturgies together over the Easter weekend, including a vibrant Paschal Party after the Easter vigil on Saturday evening.

Barchester Care Awards 2016 - Nominations are now open!

The Care Awards celebrate excellence in the quality of care we provide by recognizing those individuals who go the extra mile to make a difference to the lives of those we support.

The awards categories this year are:

• Activities Coordinator of the Year

• Apprentice / Learner of the Year

• Barchester’s Charitable Foundation Champion

• Carer / Support Worker of the Year

• Home Administration Champion

• Home Trainer of the Year

• Hospitality Champion

• Maintenance Champion

• Memory Lane Champion

• Registered Nurse of the Year

• Volunteer of the Year

• Chef of the Year

Nominations are now open and can be placed via the Barchester website. Hard copies of the nomination form will available from Hickathrift House so that families, friends and volunteers have the chance to nominate as well.

So if you know a staff member at the home that you feel deserves recognition, please place your nomination now!

The closing date for entries is 29th April. We look forward to receiving your nominations.

Sweets Treats at Hickathrift House

On Wednesday 3rd February the residents decided they would like to do some cake decorating. Nigel the chef whipped up a fresh batch of cupcakes which they then enjoyed decorating with coloured icing, chocolate chips, hundreds & thousands and cherries (They didn't all make it to the cakes!) They then made some very cute sugar mice with strawberry laces for tails!

Residents Win Christmas Cake Competition

The residents at Hickathrift House are celebrating having won the annual Barchester Christmas cake competition with their amazing culinary creation, which wowed judges with its display of skill and originality. The cake secured first place in the residents entry category of the competition, which was open to entries from all Barchester care homes throughout the Eastern division.

After many discussions over many cups of tea and lots of biscuits the residents decided that they would create and decorate their entry as an igloo, complete with penguins, a snowman and an icy pond.

Sue Scarlett, General Manager at Hickathrift House said: “I’m thrilled for everyone at Hickathrift House who helped make the Christmas cake. Creating it was a real team effort and a lot of fun was had in its creation – it tasted great too!”

Thelma Palmer, age 82, said: “Smashing!!! It’s wonderful that we won” and Rose Humphreys, age 90, said “That is a lovely surprise that we won. It was worth all of the effort”

Sean the Banjo Man Returns

We were entertained by Sean the Banjo man on Wednesday 23rd December, the residents love Sean's visits and he didn't disappoint as he sang lots of Christmas Classics so we could all join in.