Activities at The Fernes Care Home
At The Fernes we endeavour to make our care as personal as possible, including when it comes to activities. We will give you a 'Getting to Know Me' booklet for you to fill out with your loved one before they arrive, which includes a little life history and a tick sheet for a vast amount of activities. This enables us to offer the activities we know they will enjoy and enables us to learn valuable information about their lives and what might stimulate them in conversations and trips.
Our specialist Activities and Lifestyle staff make sure there are always meaningful activities to take part in, such as helping in the garden, baking some bread to have with our dinner, and trips out to various locations nearby such as the beach and the garden centres. Residents are encouraged to take part, but it is always the resident’s choice to participate or not as we believe that having choice is very important to help our residents feel in control of their lives. There are activities on offer every day (and night for those night owls) in the form of word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, arts and crafts, needle crafts and board games to name a few. We have entertainment that is organised at least twice a month such as Music for Health, Zoolab or musicians, and also have a wonderful Yoga instructor who comes every other week.
Activities are provided by everyone in our home from carers and specialised activities staff, right through to our admin team. If there is a task that needs doing and a resident would like to do it, such as sealing envelopes and putting stamps on or handing out popcorn for our Movie Mondays, they are very welcome to help out which enables us to give them a better feeling of purpose and self-worth.
We are a registered member of the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA), which means that we are always working to make the quality of life of all of our residents as high as possible by working with person-centred activities that aim to stimulate our residents, both mentally and physically.
Sophie Wasteney
Hi, I'm Sophie, I am the Activities Lead at The Fernes. I've worked in the care sector for 26 years and here at The Fernes for 3 of those. When I started here I worked in care so really got to know the residents, relatives and home very well. When the Activities Lead role arose I naturally jumped at the opportunity as it was one aspect of care I really wanted to do as I really enjoy making people happy. As you cannot put a price on a smile!
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 The Fernes Care Home
Residents cheer on Eng-Er-Land!
Fans of the beautiful game at The Fernes were delighted to be able to watch this year’s fixtures after the disappointment of last year’s tournament having to be postponed. Residents and staff have been getting together to watch the matches and celebrate with a cold beer and footie-inspired bar snacks.
Resident, Ernie, commented: “What a brilliant match tonight, it was so wonderful to be able to watch it here with all my friends cheering on our boys – they did us proud! I think it really might be coming home!”
Cassie Munnoch, General Manager at the home, said: “We have loved watching the Euros, we have watched pretty much all the matches – lots of our residents are footie fans. It has been fantastic to be able to cheer on all the home sides and especially England – it makes all the difference when your side is winning!”
Delicious chocolate treats!
Residents had a ball with our chocolate fountain to celebrate world chocolate day! with strawberries, marshmallows and fruit kebabs to dip we all took turns and it was truly delicious
Armed Forces Day Celebrations
Residents enjoyed our entertainment today with Ex Navy singer David Pepper, during the interval chat we discovered his Commanding Officer when a servicing officer was the husband of our resident Valerie! We all loved their shared stories of Naval life
Delicious and Nutritious!
We celebrated Nutrition and Hydration Week (14th – 20th June) with lots of yummy, wholesome food, thirst quenching beverages and some interesting activities along the way.
Nutrition and Hydration Week aims to highlight, promote and celebrate improvements in the provision of nutrition and hydration locally, nationally and globally.
At Barchester, each resident’s specific dietary requirements, likes and dislikes are individually catered for at all our homes. Meals are prepared to each resident’s tastes and all staff understand the importance of good nutrition and hydration for all our residents and patients’ wellbeing.
Staff and residents at The Fernes have devised an exciting, challenging and fun week of activities and competitions, with everything from healthy fruit-based cocktail making, delicious homemade ice creams, sorbets and smoothies.
Cassie Munnoch, General Manager at the home, said “Our chefs are trained to prepare dishes our residents’ specific dietary requirements as well as all their likes and dislikes. In addition to being trained in how to cook delicious and well prepared food, the chefs are trained in nutritional balance and special diets. They put a lot of time and effort into menu planning and so we all wanted to say thank you to them during Nutrition and Hydration Week.
Celebrating National Carers Week with our team
Residents wanted to thank all the wonderful staff at the home, whose hard work and dedication make a real difference to the lives of those living in their care.
Carers Week is an annual event to raise awareness of caring, highlighting the challenges carers face, and recognising the contribution they make to our residents, families and communities throughout the UK. The theme for Carers Week this year is ‘Making caring visible and valued’ - to shine a light on all those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to care for vulnerable people in our communities.
Staff were treated to afternoon tea with delicious cupcakes, all the team received thank you cards for CEO Pete Calverley and chocolates from Barchester Healthcare.
Delicious Lunch for National Fish & Chip Day
We all enjoyed a very special fish and chip lunch, chef cooked and served in newspaper cones while some residents went out on the mini bus to the 'chippy' on the beach! everyone enjoyed a splendid Friday treat
