Activities at North Park Care Home
Our home is always full of life, and we can thank our wonderful Activities Coordinators for this. Dedication to creating a unique and interesting activities programme is what sets us apart from other homes. We always take into consideration that some people would prefer to pursue their own interests, which is why our team strive to incorporative activities that cater to a wide range of tastes and hobbies. Our trips out are always fun and exciting as well, and residents are guaranteed to return with stories to tell their loved ones!
Claire Liddy
Hi, my name is Claire, and I am Lead Activities Coordinator at North Park. I have 15 years’ experience in the role, three years at North Park and absolutely love my job. I like to involve the local community in events within the home, so we have connections with local churches, schools and community groups. We have a PAT dog that visits weekly, so our residents can enjoy pet therapy, and lots of external entertainers, who come into the home regularly as well; in addition to fairs, monthly coffee morning and so much more.
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 North Park Care Home
A virtual trip to Donkey Sanctuary
Across our services, Residents enjoyed a fantastic virtual tour of the Donkey Sanctuary Manchester. Residents were thrilled to meet the lovely herd of donkeys, including Henry and his best friend Tiny Tim and to learn more about their every day care. They were introduced to the sanctuary’s work and the impact they make to the lives of donkeys in need worldwide. The virtual experience was truly enjoyed by all.
Couple recognised by Royal British Legion
Brian Jolley of North Park Care Centre in Darlington has received a prestigious Fifteen Year Service Award in celebration of his work for the Royal British Legion. Brian served as a Sargent in the Royal Corps of Signals, in Aden, Yemen and Germany before finishing his 22 year service at Catterick before moving to Darlington. Brian went to the monthly meetings at The Royal Signals Association in Darlington where he began selling poppies in conjunction with the Royal British Legion. Brian and his wife of 58 years Barbara, who also sold poppies with him, were presented with their certificates of achievement by John Findlay and Stephen Brown of the Royal British Legion in front of family members’ and residents at North Park Care Centre.
Memory boxes
Residents at North Park are designing their own memory boxes to keep items which are precious and meaningful to them. Using shoe boxes that were brought in by team members, residents are using different types of media to perfect their own creations while having lots of fun.
Latest inspection CQC Good
North Park Care Centre on I’Anson Street in Darlington passed a recent Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall “Good” rating after being praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service. The CQC inspected the home on 14/09/2022 (the report was released on 05/10/2022 and rated the home, run by Barchester Healthcare, as “Good” overall.
The report stated that there were, “There were systems in place for communicating with people, their relatives and staff regarding peoples care and support. The environment was clean, safe and maintained to a good standard. It was also adapted to people’s needs with individualised risk assessments in place to ensure people could take risks safely.”
Residents cheer on runners!
Residents and staff at North Park care Centre in Darlington got together on Sunday 2nd October to watch the thousands of brave runners taking part in the 2022 London Marathon and to see if they could spot any familiar faces or creative costumes amongst the competitors. Marathon fans North Park Care Centre were delighted to watch staff join in the fun by linking virtually to the marathon and taking part themselves using a treadmill. Residents and family members got together to form a cheer squad encouraging Team North Park on their journey.
Lisa Frame, General Manager at the home, said: “Residents have loved watching the marathon this year, it is such a brilliant event and a feat of endurance. We have amazing staff here who always try to go that one step further engaging with residents and having a good laugh with them – it all adds to the fun!”
History of Botanical garden
Our homes enjoyed a wonderful virtual tour of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh with Community Engagement Manager, Charlotte Walker, and Botanic Cottage Operations Co-ordinator, Laura Gallagher.
The residents were thrilled to learn more about the history of the beautiful Garden, which is now a home to an impressive plant collection from around the world.
Charlotte and Laura also gave a demonstration of making fresh herbal tea and were happy to answer our questions. The virtual experience was truly enjoyed by all who joined.
Upcoming events
Meeting Room for Hire
Are you looking for a venue? Look no further! North Park is also close to local amenities and not far from the A1.
Could you be a Volunteer?
We recognise the impact a Volunteer can make on the lives of our residents, do you have any spare time? For more information we'd love to hear from you.
Emergency Services - Take a break on us!
Calling all emergency services personnel - police, ambulance and fire services, district nurses - come and take a break on us, there maybe a cake or two available....
