Activities at Red Oaks Care Home

Red Oaks enjoyed a day of celebrations on 19th May in recognition of the royal wedding. Excitement had been building for the whole week when residents were busy making their own fascinators to wear. There was lots of talk about what Meghan would wear.

On the day, residents dressed for the wedding, wearing their fascinators with pride. Everyone enjoyed a big wedding breakfast and then we watch the ceremony on the big screen. After cutting the fabulous wedding cake that was made by one of our Chefs, residents were given the opportunity to visit our photographer to capture a memento of the day.

Red Oaks has been full of excitement over the last two weeks since 7 eggs and an incubator arrived. Everyone has been waiting eagerly to find out what type of chicks were going to hatch.

Residents kept watch and waited for the eggs to crack. Over a few days, slowly the chicks emerged! Each was a different breed and colour and the residents named each one as they emerged. Over the next few days, residents, staff and family members enjoyed watching the chicks grow until they were ready to fly the nest and were big enough to go back to the free range farm that they came from.

We hosted a party for our nursing team to celebrate International Nurses’ Day and support our nurses and care staff, who make a real difference to the lives of those we support.

The celebration party included a cake made by the catering team and the staff team came in fancy dress, with General Manager, Linda Ryan, dressed in Florence Nightingale attire. The Florence Nightingale dress instigated lots of discussions amongst everyone at the party, with residents commenting on how nurses use to dress compared to the modern day outfits.

Nurses’ Day is a chance to recognise and reward the important work and dedication of nurses everywhere, who often go above and beyond the call of duty.

Since the week commencing 16th April, we have been celebrating the Commonwealth of Nations with a virtual cruise around Commonwealth countries.

We began by sailing from Liverpool, which was followed by an exploration of India the next day through discussions of technology and by having an Indian supper.

On Wednesday, we stopped off at Kenya for coffee and then we travelled to Australia and made Anzac biscuits whilst chatting about the native animals. At supper time, we travelled back to South Africa and were treated to a meal made by our Head Chef, which included Bobotie and spicy butternut squash soup.

On Thursday, we stopped off at Nigeria and used their native fruits to make a Nigerian fruit salad. We moved on to Jamaica in the afternoon and were treated to some jerk chicken.

On Friday, making our way back to Great Britain, we stopped off in Canada and Malta, making Maltese biscuits and maple syrup pancakes.

On Saturday the 21st April, we celebrated the Queen’s birthday in royal style with our very own Queen and Duke during our open day. The party continued with residents, relatives and friends joining in a ‘London knees-up’ with traditional London pub music – and a fantastic time was had by all!

Because of the incredible array of food we organised to be prepared, we were declared divisional winners of Barchester's Nutrition & Hydration Week competition. A big thank you to all the staff, residents and loved ones who took the time to help make it such a success at Red Oaks.

To celebrate Red Oaks being awarded an 'Outstanding' rating by the CQC, we held a high tea party so that all residents, staff and loved ones could share the joy. Glenda Williams, one of our Kitchen Assistants and award-winning cake maker, made a very special cake for the event, which everyone enjoyed.