Activities at Highview House 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.
Aiden Wylie
Hello, my name is Aiden Wylie, and I am Head Activities Coordinator here at Highview House. My job is to ensure a mentally and physically challenging and varied calendar of activities. I want to involve all our residents in a warm and welcoming environment.
My career has been in education and I have lived in countries as diverse as Japan and Iraq, but in 2022 I came to Highview with the ambition of offering a range of activities, trips and entertainment which lead to lasting memories and experiences.
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 Highview House Care Home
Chocolate truffles
We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Steve Wilkes from Unilever for an exciting immersive Christmas experience.
Our residents were welcomed with chocolate treats as Paul and Steve took them on an exciting chocolate truffle making and biscuit decorating journey.
To finish off the Christmas special event, our residents enjoyed a themed quiz and a singalong.
We all had a wonderful time.
Colour therapy
Over the past months some of our residents have been doing some colouring in and colouring therapy. Where a resident isn't able to participate fully, we invite them to help our activities coordinators colour for them whilst they choose the colours and guide us to how they want the picture to look.
The benefits of colouring in and colour therapy are it relieves stress and improves concentration, whilst encouraging mindfulness. The repetitive nature can help ease agitation and it has been likened to the practice of meditation. The therapeutic values of colouring stems partly from the participants need to concentrate and relaxation and improvement in mood often follow colouring sessions.
It also helps maintain motor function, improves dexterity and provides a sense of accomplishment for residents. Colouring sessions are especially suitable for people living with dementia and we try to provide pictures which they recognise from their daily lives or their past: like birds, flowers, animals and landscapes. We at Highview try to promote a calm and reflective atmosphere for our residents through our activities.
Creative workshop
We all had a wonderful time joining Jennifer Owen - founder of Goldfinch Floral Studio for a creative floral bauble workshop.
Jennifer transported our residents to the out of the ordinary world of flowers and crafts and demonstrated how to create stunning hand-made baubles filled with dried flowers and grasses.
Our residents enjoyed filling and decorating their own glass baubles and their unique creations will be displayed at the home for everyone to enjoy.
Blenheim Christmas lights
We experienced the Christmas extravaganza of Blenheim Palace with Social Historian - Antonia Keaney, who took us on a recorded tour around the Christmas sights at the palace this year.
Winston Churchill's love affair with Blenheim Palace
Our residents were thrilled to join Antonia Keaney - Blenheim Palace’s Historian for an intriguing virtual talk on Winston Churchill.
The private resources of Blenheim Palace were drawn upon to afford very new and refreshing insights into this remarkable man. During the talk Antonia shared fascinating information about the breadth of talent, achievement and personality of the "Greatest Briton": soldier, politician, statesman, painter, writer, orator, family man - and bricklayer!
We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed learning more about UK’s former Prime Minister.
A question of knowledge
On Friday afternoon we had our 3rd weekly moderate difficulty general knowledge quiz with some our residents. Everyone answered all 25 questions and many residents received bonus points for further knowledge that they provided. Everyone had their answer sheets scored with A, A+, A++ and A+++ and received comments such as brilliant work, excellent work and other encouraging scores.
Residents get to keep their answer sheets to show their family and friends and everyone also received a prize for their efforts. They were all beaming with their scores.
These quizzes are specially designed and delivered to boost self-confidence, self-esteem and self-resilience in our residents, as well as exercising the temporal lobe and hippocampus (brain anatomy associated with memory).
Upcoming events
May
May is the gateway to summer and we have lots of fun filled activities planned - all welcome.
Could you be a Volunteer?
Volunteers provide a valuable and wide variety of services in many different settings. Do you have spare time? For more information we'd love to hear from you.
Calling all Emergency Services
Calling all emergency personnel! Come and take a break on us - there may be a cake or two available!
Are you looking for a place to host a meeting?
Looking for somewhere to host a meeting? We can help! For more information please contact the home direct.
