Activities at Milford House Care Home

Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.

The Activities Team at Milford House are dedicated to providing a range of stimulating activities for both groups and individuals, that promote both physical and mental wellbeing based upon resident's interests both past and present. As a member of the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) the team are always striving to incorporate best practice into the array of activities on offer and to enhance their own skills through qualification with NAPA to NVQ Level 3 in Activities Provision. The team combine weekly activity favourites such as sherry mornings with special events, musical entertainments, slide shows, outings in our own mini-bus as well as interacting with local community groups such as Plain Arts Salisbury to showcase resident art and creativity and others who come into the home to interact with our residents. Milford House also benefits from a strong network of volunteers who support the Activity Team as they deliver their programme and who, along with friends and relatives, are always welcome to come and join in our sessions and outings.

Enriching life
Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Gale Louw

Activity Coordinator

Gale joined the Milford team in 2019, initially as a carer but has gradually transferred over to the Activities Team where she is now the full time Coordinator. Gale has a passion to create a comprehensive and inclusive programme of vibrant events for residents, family
members and friends to enjoy and, along with the rest of team, ensure that each resident is able to participate in meaningful activities tailored to their likes and dislikes.

Originally from South Africa, when not at work Gale loves nothing more than exploring the UK, catching up with family and friends, being creative across a variety of disciplines and keeping her eyes out for great activities and events she can bring back to the home for
residents to enjoy.

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 Milford House Care Home

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Musical Memories and Delight

We have been delighted to welcome Music Therapist Fraser from Nordoff and Robbins to Milford House to work with us bringing music to residents both individually and in groups around the home and the collaboration has been brilliant.

Our small group sessions have seen residents enthusiastically playing the drums, singing and playing a variety of percussion instruments, and we have also been delighted to have family members joining in as well.

The individual sessions encompassed music in many forms and were very personal sessions reflecting what each resident wanted to do and hear, and so ranged from playing the drums, to singing along to favourite songs or sometimes just quietly listening. There were lots of smiles and happy faces. We look forward to welcoming Fraser back during 2025, which has been designated the 'Year of Musical Expression' by the National Activities Providers Association, of which Milford House is a member, and developing some other musical initiatives throughout the year.

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Milford History Club visit to Salisbury Museum

The Milford House History Club had their first visit of the year to The Salisbury Museum - this will be a regular outing taking place on the third Thursday of each month - and were given a fabulous welcome by Alice Madicott, Project Learning Officer and the team, before stopping for a well-earned coffee at the museum café.

Some of the residents had not visited the museum before and were amazed at how much there was to see and can't wait to go back and explore some of the fascinating history of Salisbury and its surrounds. Special favourites this time were the wonderful Scout car, which is the only car to have been built in the city, and the Salisbury Giant - and who could resist the stocks!

Thanks to the team who arranged and supported the outing and to the Museum who took such great care of us - we will be back in February, and we already have residents looking forward to coming!

Volunteers arrive to start the new year!

Everyone was delighted to welcome our Duke of Edinburgh Award volunteers to the home for the first time as the new spring term started. The girls, who are all pupils at South Wiltshire Grammar School in Salisbury, will be coming to the home on Saturday mornings between now and Easter to meet our residents and take part in our activities, and we are thrilled that they have chosen to volunteer here with us, and we are looking forward to their regular visits.

Their first morning was a 'Getting to Know You' session over coffee and pastries and there was lots of chat and laughter around the room. The girls will be liaising closely with the Life Enrichment team as they continue their visits which form part of the programme so that they can achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Award, and we are delighted to be supporting them in this endeavour.

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Fabulous Fashion to the Fore at Milford

Residents, family, friends and staff members enjoyed our 'Winter Wonderland' Fashion Show as our gorgeous in-house models General Manager Aga, Gale, Wendy and Jo walked the red carpet in our Dining Room and Conservatory, which were both packed, as well as doing some modelling in rooms showing off a vibrant range of vintage fashions from the 50s, 60s. 70s and 80s. 

Residents and guests also got into the spirit of the afternoon by donning some great hats, scarves and accessories of their own as they perused the special show programmes while waiting for the proceedings to begin.

With expert runway commentary from Di Hampstead of Vintage Shuffle and Alice Madicott from The Salisbury Museum this was such a fun way to spend a cold and dull afternoon as the fashions lit up the two rooms. 

With ball gowns, polka dots, underskirts, sequins and plenty of fab accessories including a crowd pleasing Christmas bauble bag, each ensemble was enthusiastically greeted by the audience and after a final walk by our fab four all that was left was to decide which outfit was our favourite - a difficult task indeed!

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Milford Christmas Boxes are Delivered and On Their Way!

Over the past weeks, and for the second year running, Milford House has collected, sorted and wrapped Christmas boxes to be sent to Southern Europe and the final count was 34 and some extras - so a HUGE, HUGE thank you to everyone who dropped off items for our boxes ranging from baby clothes and toiletries to items for adults and everything in between!  

It was a real team effort from residents, staff, our volunteers, family and visitors to help us get them ready in-house and they are really going to make a difference to someone this Christmas.

Having assembled them they were delivered to the House of Opportunity collection depot at Woodfalls where they joined over 7000 other boxes from all over the country to be packed up ready to be sent on their way. 

It is a huge undertaking and residents, staff, family and friends are all delighted that we have been able to play a small part in spreading some Christmas joy and as one of our residents commented ‘I love the idea that these boxes are starting their journey and will be opened far away from here to make Christmas a little brighter for someone.’

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Christmas Tree Festival Visit is a Hit!

What a fabulous display of trees we enjoyed at St Thomas's Church Christmas Tree Festival in Salisbury where groups of residents visited on consecutive days. 

There were over 100 trees to admire, including our own at Milford Christmas House, and we were thrilled to see so many people looking at it and delighted that a photo of it appeared in an article by BBC Wiltshire celebrating 20 years of the Festival.

When anyone wanted a break from the trees we were able to sit and listen to one of the musical performances that were taking place throughout the day. 

This is the second time Milford has had an entry and looking at all the other trees on display we are already talking about ideas for next year! This was such a wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit and thanks to the team who co-ordinated all the visits, our drivers and volunteers - we all had a great time!