Activities at Kernow House Care Home
Our Activities Coordinators organise varied and regular events. The activities that take place depend on what our residents tell us they are interested in and the feedback we get from their families. We currently have pop-up cafes where we socialise and maybe visit the hairdresser. We have regular live music events, a storyteller and visits from animals and we are often joined by families or friends during our social activities where they are always most welcome.
Living in Cornwall the surrounding countryside offers many beauty spots and we often have trips out to wherever our residents would like to go. At other times a walk to nearby shops or cafes is what we enjoy.
Louise is our hairdresser and she is with us twice a week. Louise also supports us during our weekly Namaste sessions where she offers hand massages in a relaxing environment. Every Thursday afternoon we have a time of worship supported by our local community. Our ice cream van, Kernow Kones, and our mobile pub, Kernow Keg, also make a weekly appearance. We have monthly clubs, when we play bingo or watch a film in our pop-up cinema. Residents on all units are invited to take part in a monthly Resident’s Meeting and they tell us what they would like.
Apart from these regular events, we also celebrate special occasions and often have musical entertainers to visit but we also make our own fun. All staff take part in fancy dress or charity events that we support and often what we do evolves through interaction between residents and care or activity staff. All this makes Kernow House a vibrant place to be where things happen both as group activities as well as on an individual level.
Bea Porup
Bea has many years of experience working in elderly care and both experience and training in dementia care. She has also worked extensively with people with Huntington's disease. Bea works closely with Sue, Jackie and our management team, nurses, carers and kitchen team to ensure our home has a vibrant environment with lots of events happening and varied opportunities for having both new and familiar experiences, making sure the people living here lead a rich and fulfilling life.
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 Kernow House Care Home
Valentines Day
Love was in the air at Kernow House. We had a lot of fun on Valentine’s Day. We made collages with craft material from Creative Mojo and we put a tree up, decorated with fairy lights and love hearts. Staff, residents and visitors wrote messages and poems and displayed them on the tree. We also delivered long stemmed roses to every resident, wished everyone a Happy Valentine and read love poems. We had a huge range of poems from cheeky little rhymes to Shakespeare, so there was something for everyone. It was wonderful to share a little love and kindness. Many residents said, they had never had a rose before, so that brought a lot of joy. We also joined the Live Virtual Event, Come Sing! To Feel Good, which is a Choral Hub, where we sang love songs with Dan from Biiah. A wonderful day with lots going on.
Individual time
Sometimes we spend one to one time with residents doing something they have a particular interest in. Ian had a look at a book about ‘Memories From the 40’s’ and many of the photos and old film posters brought back memories. Some of the famous people from that era are still remembered and Ian reminisced about Sinatra and Churchill. The poster with the message ‘There never was so much owed by so many to so few’ inspired an interesting conversation and Ian enjoyed every minute of it.
Acts of Kindness
On International Flower Day we made bouquets of flowers for each other, so there was a lovely fragrance and colourful vase in every kitchen. Residents enjoyed arranging the flowers and we chatted about which flowers are our favourites. Giving a bunch of flowers is just a little act of kindness and we often do things for each other in the home to encourage friendships and kindness.
A trip out in the minibus
We are so fortunate to live close to beautiful places. When possible, we go out for a drive in one of our mini buses. Residents say, they like to see what the world looks like out and about, and on a recent trip we went just about everywhere. There are so many things to talk about and enjoy on a trip out and as long as we can stay warm and dry, it’s just very enjoyable.
A visit from 'Dude'
The wonderful Dude came back for pony cuddles. The Hugs Foundation brought Dude for another visit. He is such a placid pony, who is keen to have a cuddle. Lots of residents met Dude. Debbie is going to draw Dude. She has done this before and sent her drawings to Dude, where they have hung in his stable. Having animals around us is very therapeutic and we organise regular visit from various animals.
Christmas Carol Service
We had a wonderful Carol Service by our Christmas trees on the concourses. The rooms were lit by candlelight and we were surrounded by fresh decorations. Staff and residents got in the Christmas spirit by inviting the Mayor and Mayoress, Leighton and Gillian Penhale, Revd. Mary Williamson and Bill Roberts to come and join in with a carol concert to sing some festive Christmas favourites. The singing was led by Ruth Dymond and Revd. Mary Williamson told the Christmas story. There was mulled wine, mince pies and Christmas cake prepared by head chef, Dan Hill, to get everyone feeling festive. It was a lovely afternoon that left us all feeling warm hearted and very Christmassy.
