Activities at Sycamore Grove Care Home

We recently paid our first visit of the year to Bluebell Woods in Arlington.

The weather was glorious for a ramble in the woods and what a beautiful sight was waiting. There were carpets of bluebells, swathes of wood anemone and pale primroses. The scent was divine and the peace and tranquillity uplifting. 

The residents here always look forward to this time of year, visiting the bluebells is a firm favourite. The residents were captivated and delighted.          

Our residents joined fellow keen dabbers from over 260 Barchester care homes and hospitals across the whole of the UK, including Wales, Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Wight, to compete in the biggest game of bingo Barchester has ever seen!

Sycamore Grove got super competitive and took on its sister homes from all over the country to find out which Barchester home or hospital was a dab hand at bingo.  It was eyes down for a full house as the homes battled it out to find out who would prevail.

We have been out in our beautiful gardens looking for signs of Spring. The residents spotted daffodils and catkins. The daffodils are ones we planted in Autumn and are well on the way to making a wonderful spring display in our raised flower beds. 

We will soon be resuming our Snip and Socialise Gardening club for anyone to come and join and help plan and plant our displays.      

We held a lovely cheese and wine evening on New Year's Eve to celebrate. 

Once the food was eaten, staff and residents joined in the karaoke and a fun evening was had by all.   

Staff and residents took a trip to St Luke’s Church to visit the Christmas Tree Festival. 

It was a very special visit as our very own crafted tree was on display. Residents have spent the last few months knitting squares in different shades of green to make our beautiful tree. There were other trees there to look at from local schools and our friends at Bluebell Barn Nursery.   

We were very proud to host the local WI Group for their Annual General Meeting. 

The meeting took place in one of our lounges and was followed by an afternoon tea in our dining room. Our chef, Enrico, produced an amazing spread of sandwiches and savoury and sweet treats for all to enjoy.
We are extremely grateful to our local WI group for their help and support since our home opened almost three years ago. They have promoted our knit and natter group and attended regularly. 

They have initiated projects such as knitted blankets and even a knitted Christmas tree which was displayed at the local church. We were so happy to host them and look forward to all our future gatherings.       

Residents have been cheering on Team GB at the Winter Olympics and playing their own version of curling. 

We hosted a morning of fun with Ali from Happiness in Motion playing wedge bowling and curling. We weren’t quite up to Olympic standard but the red and blue teams were both very competitive. We are all looking forward to the next challenge in March.  

This month we celebrated National Activity Providers Week with our amazing activities team. This is an annual event to support activity professionals, and thank them for all the many different and varied activities they provide for our residents. 

They always go above and beyond their role and everyone at the home is truly grateful.   

Residents and staff  were in for a treat with a visit to the local pub to see a performance by an Elvis tribute singer. 

One of our residents here at Sycamore Grove is a lifelong fan of Elvis, so when we found out Andy T King was appearing at the Red Lion Pub as Elvis, we were determined to take her to see him. Along with her daughter and granddaughter, she had a wonderful evening, smiling and laughing the whole time. 

‘Elvis’ sang to her and even gave her a scarf to make it a memorable occasion. We thanked Andy for his kindness in making someone very happy.       

There have been lots of elves playing around and having fun at Sycamore Grove. 

Staff came in fancy dress and played Christmas-themed games with residents, including pinning the nose on the reindeer. The residents found it all most amusing and enjoyed the frivolity.  

Our residents  celebrated Mother’s Day with visits and video calls from family members near and far. The home was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and bunting for the occasion.

Staff at Sycamore Grove arranged a cocktail cart for the residents to enjoy. Our chef, Enrico, prepared a special afternoon tea with a selection of sandwiches and savoury scones to mark the day.

The residents prepared early this year for Valentine’s Day. They enjoyed a fun afternoon of crafting using Valentine heart art. Everyone used their imagination with an assortment of colours, and we will hang the decorations up for our loved ones. 

We also made some beautiful flower arrangements using red roses and carnations. We are so lucky to have a trained florist as part of our activities team.        

We took some of our residents to visit Royal Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells to finish off the festive shopping. 

An early start was in order to allow our residents plenty of time to visit all the shops and have a spot of lunch. They also had plenty of time to enjoy the delight of the beautiful decorations. It was a long day out, but good fun was had by all.     

Residents enjoyed an  afternoon of fun with a live choir performance that took place at the home. Local group,  the Indian Community Choir from St Thomas a Becket School performed a selection of Christmas carols and hymns for a second year, completely captivating the audience.  

The residents commented on how lovely the children were especially the one  entertaining them by dancing along at the front. 

We are extremely grateful to them for taking the time to visit us and give us so much pleasure.     

We recently took a trip out in the minibus to Battle to see the amazing Remembrance Day poppy display at St Mary’s church. They had 10,000 handmade poppies to mark 80 years since the end of World War Two. The residents were mesmerised by the beautiful sight. 

The journey was also a source of delight as the wonderful autumnal colours were in full array.