Activities at Spen Court Care Home

We celebrated Remembrance Day with English National Ballet Associate Dance Artist, Richard Bermange, who led a creative dance workshop for our residents followed by a special extract of Akram Khan’s work Dust, premiered in 2014 as part of ENB’s Lest We Forget programme, commemorating the First World War.

ENB company dancers, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter performed the extract and provided some insight into this moving work.

Our residents had a wonderful time as they listened, danced and were able to singalong to famous war time music performed by ENB Associate Musician, Matt Hartley-Stevens.

All staff and residents at Barchester’s Spen Court care home, in Heckmondwike, are delighted to have received their booster Covid-19 vaccinations in the home, provided by Healds Road Surgery, Dewsbury.

General Manager, Sarah Sykes said: “We’ve all been through such a difficult time over the past 18 months but the vaccine has been so important in helping us get our residents’ lives back on track. I am so proud of the team and how they have worked together and continue to do so and we are all so grateful to be prioritised to receive the booster vaccine first.  We’re not completely back to normal yet but we know the booster vaccination is vital to help us keep everyone safe.”

Kirsty Bamford, Deputy Manager at Spen Court care home said: “We know that Covid isn’t over and we still need to be careful and follow the guidelines, but there is a huge sense of relief now that we have had our booster vaccinations.  We know that this will help keep our residents safe and allow us to enjoy some visitors and entertainment over the winter months.”

Keeping active, having social interactions and being mentally stimulated is very important to Residents at Spen Court.   Residents enjoy their gentle exercises and ‘boogie’ afternoons to music, resident Sybil was soon up on her feet dancing along to the music.

Residents had a lovely time joining Chef Alex Connell from Vegetarian for Life for a Halloween-inspired virtual cooking demo.

Alex demonstrated how to prepare a few themed dishes, such as root vegetable tagine, roasted butternut squash mac-n-cheese, chocolate pots with piped biscuits and flapjacks.

Our residents were delighted to be a part of this lovely virtual culinary session by tasting the vegetarian dishes from the comfort of our home.

We had a great time joining journalist and novelist, Mike Gayle, for an intriguing virtual interview, during which he shared top tips for creative writing with our residents and read passages from his latest book, All the Lonely People.

We were thrilled to find out about Mike’s background, to understand what led him to become a writer and his creative process.

It was a lovely talk, enjoyed by all, especially by our keen writers at the home.

We had a lovely time joining Paul Hawkins and Lisa Richards from Unilever for an exciting Virtual Cruise experience.

Our residents were welcomed with mocktails as Lisa and Paul took them on a magical journey to 3 mystery destinations, which were uncovered after a few clues.

Paul demonstrated how to create a few of the local traditional dishes, which our residents had the opportunity to try too.

The event evoked lots of great memories and it was truly enjoyed by all.