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.
Gale Louw
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
Making Autumn Memories
Residents have been embracing autumn here at Milford House and they started the season off with the latest in our series of 'Making Memories Lunches' where the theme was ‘Harvest’.
The table looked fabulous, decorated as it was with all the warm autumn colours and as always our chefs served up a delicious meal and the team supporting the lunch were all dressed in suitably autumnal colours as well!
Elsewhere around the home, autumn has also been appearing with craft sessions producing some lovely work incorporating leaves, pumpkins and more, much of which is displayed in the home’s gallery area. There are boxes of pumpkins, leaves and flowers elsewhere to brighten up our communal areas and we are all looking forward to our wine and cheese evening later this month which will feature pumpkin soup to keep the theme going.
We will enjoy taking the warming memories of these events into the winter months.
Residents Present Cheque to Community Farm
Residents from Milford House were absolutely thrilled to be presenting another cheque to their chosen charity for 2023 River Bourne Community Farm, this time for an AMAZING £1000.
This was the result of their fundraising efforts over the summer which included the proceeds from the Summer Party, Silent Auction, Vintage Tea and more! So far this year we have been able to donate over £1600 to the farm, so thank you to everyone who has joined in to make this possible.
The farm and cafe are an amazing community resource which residents visit regularly and this time the monies raised are going towards a specific project - providing a mobile oven/kitchen for the farm's classroom. Sara-Jane Hancock who received the cheque on behalf of the farm said she was 'blown away' by the donation.
While at the farm residents also dropped in the Cafe at River Bourne Farm to view their art works which are on display there, and which everyone agreed looked fantastic.
Cuisines from Around the World Delight Residents
Working with our talented chefs and building on our regular Wine & Cheese evenings featuring cheeses from different countries we are now holding regular evenings highlighting Italian, Chinese and Indian dishes which are all proving popular with residents. With our Activities team ensuring that the dining rooms are suitably 'dressed' for each occasion these fun-filled evenings are so enjoyable and we are always delighted to welcome family and friends along to join in as well.
A Vibrant Vintage Tea Afternoon
It was a great afternoon as residents, friends and family enjoyed our Vintage Tea. Even the Bank Holiday weather played along, and we were able to set up our tables in and around the courtyard, in bedrooms and even on balconies so that families could get together for what was our last outdoor event of the summer. We had our special and surprise guest for the afternoon, Cosmic Sparkle who entertained everyone with a great playlist of songs that were the perfect accompaniment for the event. Our tables looked lovely with all our vintage china, pretty tablecloths and settings and our delicious cream tea with strawberries and a glass of pink fizz hit the spot. It was a great afternoon and thank you to everyone who came along as we also raised money for our 2023 charity River Bourne Community Farm and The Salisbury Hospice Charity.
A Trip Down Memory Lane at the Army Flying Museum
It was a great day out at the Middle Wallop Museum of Army Flying and for one resident in particular it brought back memories of his time serving there during the war. Everyone was so helpful and welcoming and a special thank you must go to those serving in the barracks and our wonderful escort Tom who let us look at the hanger number 2 where our resident had been based and who also let us look at the old accommodation buildings where everyone was billeted that were the same ones that had been used in World War II. Stories and memories were swapped and it meant so much to be able to retrace footsteps that brough back so many memories - it was a very special visit. The displays inside the museum were also fascinating and it definitely won't be long before we are back!
Lavender Wishes
One of our residents wished that she could visit our local lavender farm - and of course we just had to make that wish come true! On a slightly cloudy but warm day a small group enjoyed a great morning touring the Cottage Gardens at the New Forest Lavender Farm before heading back to the Lavender Tea Rooms for a delicious lunch. The gardens were looking gorgeous and, as well as the lavender, everyone was very taken by the gorgeous dahlias on display as well as the tranquil lily pool at the end of the cascade. Lunch in the tea rooms was delightful and cosy and we particularly liked all the bunches of lavender hanging down from the rafters to dry. It was a really relaxing and enjoyable outing, and to finish with there was a little retail therapy with little parcels of heart shaped lavender shortbread that just had to be taken home - now these were truly scrumptious!
