Activities at Thistle Hill Care Home

Residents of Thistle Hill set sail on a virtual cruise and sailed to an array of different locations including South Africa, Italy, Malta, the islands of Greece where they stopped off for some games on the beach and by request sailed on to the American coastline and made it back just in time for dinner!

Using the homes projector, big screen and Wi-Fi video streaming our residents were able to experience the virtual cruise in a whole new way, been able to see and hear the locations they were visiting.

Each country allowed our residents to discuss and reminisce about holidays and adventures from times gone by as well as have a song and dance to music based on the country they were visiting. Hazel said “I spent a lot of my adult life, living in South Africa and it was just lovely to go and see it all over again”

General Manager Mandy Scott said “it is so important to offer a variety of activities to our residents, the virtual cruise was a great example of this. They had a lovely time and they can’t wait to set sail again”

Not to be deterred by our countries intermittent weather, Residents of Thistle Hill attended an indoor picnic as part of the great get together community event. A whole host of treats were laid on to celebrate including scones, biscuits and cakes.   The fun didn’t stop there as some of the other delights on offer included chilled wine and refreshing juices

Mandy Scott General Manager at the home, said: “The great get together is a special event as it reminds our residents they are a part of a community and they loved having the excuse to take part in a fun indoor picnic in the lounge, we won’t let the rain stop us celebrating! In these unprecedented times, we are continually finding new ways to make sure every effort is focused on creating an enjoyable environment for all of our residents, whilst adhering to social distancing advice.”

.Residents and staff at Thistle hill care home in Knaresborough were at the ready for Wimbledon with delicious strawberries and cream, which was due to run from 29th June - 12th July.

Tennis fans at Thistle Hill were delighted by this and were able to enjoy the event from the comfort of their own armchair. Residents and staff got together to watch the matches, and also celebrated by playing balloon tennis before proceeding onto having a themed party with food, music, decoration and afternoon tea with a choice of scones or strawberry and cream.

At Thistle Hill there was jokes and fun a plenty as memory lane laughed in the month of July by celebrating ‘International Joke Day’. Our residents were welcomed into a made up comedy club environment, with photos laid out showing comedians of yesteryear for some easy reminiscing.

The residents were eased in to a morning of hilarity by watching classic sketches by the fabulous greats, Norman Wisdom and Sid James.  After this our residents were treated to a specially recorded stand up performance by Farnham resident Martin Askew.

At our coffee mornings, Martin’s humour always draws laughs a plenty and the residents of memory lane were in stitches watching his performance on the big screen. It was certainly the highlight of a colourful morning.

Residents from the Thistle Hill got creative during lockdown and took part in a national virtual race by drawing and writing signs of support to give local runners encouragement and a smile.

The Endure24 event which under normal circumstances would have taken place at Wasing Park in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds would see thousands of runners take part in a 24 hour relay, that had to be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.  However race organisers decided to take the race virtual and raise money for charities helping to battle the pandemic.

Currently the just giving page has raised over eighteen thousands pounds for charity.  This saw thousands of runners in their home towns run for 24 hours solo, or in teams of two, four, six and eight as part of the virtual relay.

Mandy Scott, General Manager, said: “The residents wanted to take part in the event to do their bit in showing support for local runners including our activities coordinator Mark who was taking part. Our residents enjoyed themselves and did an amazing job and did us all proud”

Residents at Thistle Hill enjoyed a pub themed afternoon in celebration of Father’s Day.   This year, due to the current situation, family and friends joined in the celebrations by being able to visit their loved ones in the gardens of Thistle Hill, adhering to social distancing.

Staff and residents enjoyed an afternoon of music and drink in a pub themed setting. A special traditional homemade lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire puddings and all the trimmings was prepared by the home’s chef.