Activities at Sutton Valence Care Home

Our activities team are great at building the activities programme around the likes and interests of the people we care for. Ensuring that our social events offer fun and adventure is part of the ethos of our home; it’s important that those we support can enjoy an active and social lifestyle. Of course, there will always be those who prefer peace and quiet, and in these instances, a cup of tea and a chat are always welcomed.

Enriching life
Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Gemma Bhandari

Activities Coordinator

My name is Gemma I am an Activities coordinator at Sutton Valence care home. I have been working here for nine years and love it. I grew up in Sutton valence village and attended the local Primary school.

I have always been passionate about the care of others and enjoy enriching the lives of our Residents. I have a Diploma in Health and social care and have worked in private health care for over 14 years. I have always loved performing arts and studied this at school. I am a very proud Mother to Amaya and Jacob.

Life-encriching activities booklet

Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure

Activities and Events Partnerships

As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies

Life at Sutton Valence Care Home

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Pet Therapy with Koda

Dogs are not our whole lives but they make our lives whole.

It doesn’t take a lot to make someone smile. Put a dog into the equation and you get huge warm smiles filled with instant affection.

Koda (7 years old, Therapy, Australian sheep dog) certainly did the trick whilst visiting our family residents, staff and visitors.

To say Koda and owner, Alex stole the afternoon is an understatement.

Thank you to Alex and Koda see you both again soon.

Rose's Shopping Trip

Life isn’t perfect but your outfit can be…

What an adventure we had with Rose. The kindness shown towards Rose was immeasurable but then I’m not surprised because Rose is one special lady!

Our wholehearted thanks go out to Bonmarche and pavers at Newnam court shopping village. The service, kindness and enthusiasm to match Rose’s decided but undecided ideas of what she would like was sublime, to say the least.

Rose bounced out of the shopping village sporting her new shoes, carrying her shopping and right into the local pub for a much needed coke and packet of crisps.

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Reiki Session

Reiki is the highest and most profound vibration of life ... 

Can you image when we introduced Nick and Reiki? 

Asking our family residents what they thought it was gave up some absolutely splendid guesses... A type of food, New game, Culture costume, Are but a few. 

When Nick explained about Reiki scepticism fell upon several of our residents faces and the quizzical looks were beyond fabulous. Wished I captured them BUT I did capture their Reiki experience. 

Eileen afterwards told me she'd never felt so calm and at peace. Eileen just wished to sit in the quiet and stay in the moment.

Adele hugged us with such gusto as the moment overwhelmed her. Some of our resident's family also joined in. 

Our next session will be open to you all. More details will be posted when we've arranged dates. 

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Flowers don't show; they tell...

A stroll to the local Flower Show which was arranged by Sutton Valence Gardening Association was a must for the day. Our Lynn was ready for the sunshine; umbrella at the ready and Maureen sported her Sunday best.

We were joined by Ann's son, Lee, who spent some extra special time with his Mum and met a few of her friends. 

Our eyes were treated to first class home grown vegetable; some of them were extraordinarily large!

The selection and floral aroma tickled our smell but on a personal note the exceptionally large pink hydrangeas made my hair stand on end ... SO magical Sent me down a memory lane of my hero called Dad.

It's amazing how we attach memories to flowers; isn't it? 

CARE HOME HAS A ‘LATTE’ FUN AT MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING

Staff and residents at Sutton Valence care home in Sutton Valence held a charity coffee morning and bake sale on Wednesday 27th September to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Having a coffee morning is the perfect chance to catch up over a cuppa and a slice of something delicious for a great cause. The money raised helps everyone with cancer to live life as fully as they can.

Residents enjoyed spending time with friends and relatives, and members of the local community.  Head chef, Suraj, had baked lots of lovely cake for everyone to sample and for guests to buy to take home. 

Sutton Valence’s coffee morning was a big success - they managed to raise funds for MacMillan and, most importantly, everyone had a great time doing it!

Robert Dura-May, Senior General Manager at Sutton Valence Care Home, said: “Our Macmillan coffee morning has been a huge amount of fun, everyone at the home is always keen to support this fantastic charity in any way we can. We are very glad to be able to do our bit to raise further awareness for MacMillan and money for the charity.”

A resident at the home, commented: “MacMillan is such a fantastic charity and they do such amazing work in the community, we all love raising money for them and the best bit is, we get to each cake at the same time!”

CENTURY CELEBRATIONS FOR LOCAL CARE HOME RESIDENT

Celebrations have been in full swing at Sutton Valence care home, as one of its residents reaches her centenary in style.

Dorothy was joined by staff, and relatives as she received a telegram from the King in recognition of her landmark birthday. A morning tea party was held at the home where she enjoyed a special birthday cake.

Dorothy was a stay at home mum and later became a doctor’s receptionist. Dorothy’s real passion in life was the theatre, acting and singing.  During the war, Dorothy travelled all around the country singing to our troops on Bandstands including Brighton and Folkestone. 

Robert Dura-May, Senior General Manager of Barchester Sutton Valence added: “We’re delighted to be celebrating a truly remarkable woman as she reaches this amazing milestone. Dorothy is such a popular resident who always has an interesting tale to tell, and we look forward to hearing many more as she breaks into her next century.”