Activities at Sutton Valence Care Home

After many months of planning and hard work by our very talented resident, Adele, her beautiful competition-winning mosaic design has been completed to create a stunning display piece to be mounted in the grounds for all to see and enjoy.

The inspiration for Adele’s mosaic design came from all the trials and tribulations, solidarity, loves and loss we all experienced during the lockdown of 2020.

Adele has described in great detail the meaning of all the parts that make up the mosaic, these include the shield, because we were shielding at the time this competition was set; the home that makes us all one large inclusive family; the tree of life that symbolises togetherness and a reminder that you are never alone; the heart that’s made up of the shaking of hands, meaning that everything is done from the heart, and the hands expressing gratitude for all that has been done. The dove is a sign of piece and a messenger to send messages home to our friends and family.

She should feel proud of her creation as we all are of her.

Lacey is a very talented and kind local girl who lives in Leeds village near Maidstone, and she is 10 years old.

Lacey has been busy hand making some beautiful heart shaped pocket hugs, which she has kindly donated to the residents at Sutton Valence to remind them that they are loved and always in our hearts.

Our residents here at Sutton Valence were touched by the kind gesture and enjoyed picking out their own pocket hugs in their favourite colours, and were all grateful to Lacey for her thoughtful gift to them.

Lacey was proud that she could do something within her community to make people happy and put a smile on their faces.

She should feel proud of her creation as we all are of her.

Jack came to us in November 2020, a little demotivated after being in hospital, lacking full mobility and required support to mobilise safely, which was an amazing joint effort from Jack's family and the team at Sutton Valence. He is truly a remarkable man, much loved by other residents and team members across the home.

Jack is not only in his 100th year, but is probably fitter than most young men.Since joining us at Sutton Valence, Jack has taken up table sport and has re-found his love and passion for table tennis. Jack plays four times a week with our Head Chef, Suraj.

It is lovely to see the blossoming friendship and has encouraged other team members join in as they pass to support his passion, with other residents now engaging in the table sports at the home, encouraged by Jack and the team.

Jack has always been into sports, being a former gymnastics teacher for the army; it’s something that comes naturally to him. Jack now has a sparkle in his eye and a spring in his step. He is an inspiration to us all at Sutton Valence.

Staff and residents celebrated Easter with a whole host of different activities, including a live virtual church service from local vicar with hot cross buns and a giant handmade Easter egg cut out for our residents to have their photo taken with; and an Easter quiz to round off the celebrations.

With this hot weather we have been blessed with the last couple of days in the UK, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get outside and resume our Sutton Valence Gardening Club.

With the help of residents Lynn, Ruth and Joyce and our Gardener, Peter, we were able to plant some tomatoes, green beans and carrots in our raised beds.

We made an afternoon of it and had some ice lollies to cool off with. Our residents will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour in the coming weeks.

A special thanks for the compost that was kindly donated.

For residents at Sutton Valence, 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.

There has been much anticipation of this moment by families and residents alike. Guidance was issued by the government on 4th March, and Barchester is proceeding with a safe and cautious approach to visiting. Strict protocols are in place, with all visitors required to have a negative Lateral Flow Device test result before being allowed into the home, and infection control measures and social distancing in place for every visit, with hand holding allowed but not recommended.

Despite the need for testing and social distancing, it was still welcome news for so many residents and their family members to be able to meet in the comfort of their bedroom. Residents and their relatives enjoyed getting together and catching up face to face.

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 or outdoors when the weather allows.