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
Garden Visits
We are thrilled to welcome back all families and friends. Our tent was set up and we decorated the walkways with banners and bunting. We have missed you all so much and, no doubt, you have missed your loved ones. Its been emotional, but in a good way.
Garden Art
Whilst the sun was shining in our beautiful garden, we decided to make the most of it. We set up our easels and all our budding Picassos came out into the garden. It was a lovely experience, as some of us realised we can still draw and still do it very well!
We enjoy making the most of our garden and love to spend time together out there having a cold drink and maybe a glass of wine or two!
Choir Club
Here at The Fernes, we love to sing, and one day, whilst sitting with one of our residents singing along to Songs of Praise, Rachel came up with an idea of starting a choir.
We made some song sheets and downloaded the music, then gathered in the dining room, and were so surprised to see about twenty residents ready to participate.
Our Divisional Winners
Congratulations to Emma Glanville, who has been named as a Divisional Winner in the 2020 Barchester Care Awards. Emma is a finalist in the Carer of the Year category and has been invited to attend a virtual awards ceremony on 8th October, where she will find out if she has won overall.
Also, congratulations to Rachael Anderson, who has been named as a Divisional Winner in the Activities Coordinator of the Year category.
Creations of Inspiration
Christy and Hayley, who love to crochet, came up with an idea of crocheting hearts for all residents and their families.
During the coronavirus pandemic, all our residents are missing their loved ones; we do have Skype and FaceTime, but it’s not the same as giving your loved one an extra special hug.
We attached a poem to the hearts and sent along a postcard to let all our families know we are well. It’s such a wonderful gesture; a big thanks to the girls for crocheting over 100 hearts!
Pottering in the Garden
The weather has been glorious so we have made the most of it. Our top floor balcony is on the process of an indoor garden transformation. The residents decided to grow potatoes and tomatoes on the balcony. We have brightened up the area with flowers and ornaments.
We are also moving outside this week to plant up our courgettes, radishes, beetroot and runner beans. It’s a busy time ahead for our green fingered residents. We can’t wait to harvest the crop! We also introduced some finger painting art, which, once finished, we will be able to hang on the balcony.
