Activities at Overslade House Care Home

Overslade House recently presented The Croft Happy Circle with a cheque for £1000. The Happy Circle is a friendly village social club with around 50 or more regular members and have been meeting in Croft for the last 62 years.

The grant had been awarded by Barchester’s Charitable Foundation, a charity that helps older people and adults with a disability or mental health problems across England, Scotland and Wales by offering grants to help people connect or re-connect with others in their local community.

Overslade House welcomed Alan Wing, Secretary/Treasurer for The Croft Happy Circle along with members and committee members to a small gathering in the home with live entertainment and Afternoon Tea to receive the cheque from resident Ambassador Anne Fletcher and celebrate being awarded the grant.

Alan, Secretary/Treasurer, said “We are very grateful for this donation and this will help immensely towards offering outings to people feeling alone or isolated”.

Violeta Baesu, General Manager at Overslade House Care Home, said: “We are always keen to show as much support as we can to local charities. The Croft Happy Circle is close to our hearts as we also try to alleviate the feelings of isolation or loneliness in our home and also for people struggling with mental health. Our doors are always open for people to join us for Afternoon Tea or events and activities.

A huge congratulations to all our Regional Directors who swapped their business suits for aprons and took part in the Charity Cook-Off to raise money for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation!

The competition was fierce, the creativity was outstanding, and the dishes were nothing short of exquisite. From mouth-watering starters to delicious desserts, each team truly impressed the Barchester Executive Board judges, who had the tough job of selecting a winner. 

Thanks to everyone’s efforts and generous support, the teams raised £16,000 to help vulnerable people and those living with disabilities connect with their communities. Overslade House were pleased to have raised £50 towards this amount with their bric a brac stall and guess the sweetie jar and also held a food quiz and live entertainment whilst awaiting the results. Our Divisional Managers won best dessert and personal favourite of CEO Dr. Peter Calveley.

We had so much fun following along with some of the amazing recipes.

Residents at Overslade House started Easter week with Arts and Crafts on Wednesday with Creative Mojo, also recognising World Art day and Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday. Our artist of the day was John, who looked very pleased with his certificate and this collage was displayed during our Easter Service on Maundy Thursday.

Many thanks to Cecil and Angela from Gift of Years for conducting our Easter Service with lovely hymns and readings.

On Good Friday, Easter Gifts were delivered to all of our residents by the Mad Hatter and his two white rabbits. A huge thank you to Anton Swaby, another friend who has become a family member, whose mother was at Overslade House and has a lovely memorial bench, magnolia tree and memorial stone in our gardens. Anton always offers his services for free and was our Father Christmas last year, and now he has swapped clothes for the Mad Hatter.  

On Easter Saturday, we held our Easter Fayre with a visit from the gorgeous Alpaca Pals, who also visited residents room to room. Anton again assisted and became the Alpaca whisperer. We were also treated to wonderful hymns from the SDA church choir and hope to see them again.

Easter Sunday residents enjoyed singing hymns and family visits.

Rachel Coldicott, Learning & Engagement Assistant, Suzanna Vandervelden, Education Facilitator and Bernadette Griffin, Volunteer from the Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, joined residents in arts and crafts for VE Day.

Inspired by a bustling street party, with crafted 'sponge' cakes and vibrant bunting. Union Jack Mosaics and charming decoupage tea, the team also brought with them reminiscent boxes and books and residents enjoyed talking about their memories. Resident, Joyce, was joined by her son, Paul, who has retired from the military and helped his mother create a stunning Union Jack college.

Our residents had a wonderful session attended by relatives and are looking forward to seeing their creations that will be on display at the exhibition, from Tuesday 29th April–Sunday 25th May, in Rugby Art Gallery and Museum's Community Space in the main foyer.

Overslade House had a Hoe Down for International Day of Happiness. We were joined by the Southam Stompers Line dancers, who danced for our residents and put everybody in a country mood. Even our Nurses and Activities Team joined in to learn some line dancing, with lots of Yeehah's and thigh slaps and a few beers or shandy to refresh us.

We did have a few suspected wanted criminals in the room and also some lovely relatives who joined us.

We had a wonderful time and hope to see the Southam Stompers at our saloon again soon.

Overslade House had a fabulous St Patrick's Day afternoon celebrating. We were entertained by Bob Oakley with some lovely country and Irish music.

Our pot of gold was taken around to all of our residents to guess how many coins were in the pot of gold. Our lucky winner was Sheila, guessing 110 coins and there were 113 coins. 

Our Memory Lane residents played a game of Paddy Pairs in the morning and also did exceptionally well!! Many thanks to Head Chef, Corey Leake, for our St Patrick's Day-themed cakes and to all our residents for getting into the spirit of things, dressing up and singing along.