We got ready for Easter by joining a virtual afternoon of chocolate-fuelled fun along with the staff and residents at over seventy Barchester care homes across the south of England, Jersey and the Isle of Wight and much to everyone’s delight we won!

Our staff and residents put on their best Easter bonnets and broke out the Easter eggs for an afternoon of fun activities culminating in the Barchester Big Easter Quiz when they linked up with all the other Barchester homes in the south of the country.  When they weren’t quizzing, residents enjoyed a feast of seasonal Easter dishes prepared by the home’s chef.

General Manager, Fatmata Cochrane said: “Now that we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel following what has been a year like no other for our residents and staff, we wanted to ensure our Easter celebrations were an extra special treat.  ‘Meeting up’ with the other homes virtually has given everyone such a boost, we’re so grateful to our brilliant Managing Director, Natasha Lazovic, for organising this event and for all her support.  We’ve all had so much fun letting our hair down, everyone really enjoyed the afternoon.”

We are running a photography competition on our Facebook page for spring nature themed photos which residents will judge and announce the winner on 7th May, please email your entry to us at stthomas@barchester.com, there is a lovely prize for the winner!

For residents at St Thomas care home the long awaited reunion with one family member has become a reality, as one single named visitor is now allowed to visit each resident in their bedroom.

Madge a resident at St Thomas, was delighted to see her daughter, Doreen, on Mother’s Day. Doreen commented: “I have just had a bedroom visit with my mum, we’ve had a lovely time and even done a Zoom call to America. It was so nice to get close to her and I can go home contented.”

General Manager, Fatmata Cochrane said: “We’ve all had a really lovely day. This is the first cautious step towards having a buzz of visitors in the home again. It was wonderful to see how happy it made the residents and their relatives. We have a great booking system in place to ensure the visits are well organised, and visitors are doing a great job of following the safety measures to keep everyone as safe as possible.  For those that are not able to come inside the home we are pleased to be able to continue to offer visits in our visiting suites, as well as video calls.”

We all enjoyed the Guinness tasting on St Patrick's Day together with a celebration of Irish tales and songs. The conservatory was decorated with lots of green and white balloons and the Leprechaun pictures were the subject of much discussion - would he really lead us to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? 

Residents enjoyed a lively lunch on Sunday in the conservatory, we always offer a glass of wine with meals and it was lovely to see residents relax and socialise with their meal the room all decorated for the occasion with fresh flowers. In the afternoon we also had a special cream tea, calories don't count on Sunday's!