Activities at Highview House Care Home

We had a lovely time joining Angela Cobbin for a theatre-inspired virtual talk about her book ‘My Name is Not Wigs’.  ‘My Name Is Not Wigs’ is the ultimate read for fans of witty behind-the-curtains memoirs, especially those with a penchant for the bright lights of stage and screen: tears and accolades aplenty!                                                                                                   

Angela shared interesting facts with our residents about her book, her life and her experiences as a wig creator in London’s West End in celebration of World Theatre Day.

Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17th March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.  Today we celebrated with a very special guest, our very own Lisa the Leprechaun.  Lisa delivered gold to the residents and offered them the chance to try Baileys Irish Cream and Guinness, some traditional Irish drinks.  The residents also enjoyed donning their very own hat and beard.

It’s British Pie Week! Throughout one of the most delicious weeks of the year, our residents got involved in fun-filled activities and pie tasting sessions.

Pies are considered as a British National dish and we spent some time learning about the history of pies and exploring different recipes.

Our talented chef prepared residents’ favourite pies, so we can all enjoy them, from British Fish Pie to Chicken and Mushroom Pie and Cheese and Onion Pie.

Of course we focused on the sweet side of pies too with Choc Chip Pecan Pie and Cherry Crumble Pie.

We were treated to an amazing live virtual talk and a tour of Cliveden, hosted by the house and chapel guides from the National Trust Talks Service.

The volunteers kindly gave us a tour around the famous house taking an in-depth look at Cliveden’s many stories from its 350 year history, from devilish dukes to scandalous headlines and boundary-breaking garden designs to political notoriety.

Starting with the Duke of Buckingham who built the first house in 1666, our residents met the key owners who helped shape the house and its gardens including the Orkney, Sutherland and Astor families.

The talk was accompanied by an illustrated presentation which brought to life these individuals and showed how their influence at Cliveden still continues today.

It is important that we know as much as we can about our residents, their lives before they came to live with us and their aspirations now that they are here. We utilise our "Getting to know me" booklets to gather information on their likes/dislikes, hobbies, family, friends etc. and create a mini life story for each individual. These are updated and added to regularly to reflect our residents current desires and to assist us in helping our residents to achieve them, it is also a wonderful way to spend quality one to one time with our residents.

Some of our residents  took advantage of a little winter sunshine and enjoyed some much needed fresh air. We have a fish pond in the garden and our residents were delighted to see the fish swimming around. We are looking forward to more outdoor activities weather permitting. We also visited our vegetable garden which we started last year to give it a clean so we can prepare for this year’s crop. We have had lots of ideas from our residents and staff of different  vegetable’s to grow, so in the next couple of months we will be starting to sow the seeds ready for planting.