Activities at Tixover House Care Home

A resident who served in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment had his wish come true when he was supported to visit King’s Cliffe Airfield Museum.  During the visit, Michael was presented with a piece written by a local gentleman who served alongside him entitled: “Task force to retake the Falkland Islands 1982”.

Michael served at Wittering between 1980 and 1988, before he retired. At Wittering, he worked in the EOD bomb disposal unit and was also a tank driving instructor. In 1982 when the UK was at conflict with Argentina over the Falklands, Michael was part of the Task Force that was deployed there. He was based in the Falklands throughout the conflict. Michael trained for EOD 1971 while serving in Kinloss in Scotland between 1968 and 1978, then then he served in Cyprus between 1978 and 1980. He also served in Germany, Malaya, Singapore, Iceland and USA.  As an armourer, Michael created numerous weapon designs. 
 

A huge thank you to Magical Minis, Loveable Miniature Donkeys for bringing your beautiful donkeys to our home this afternoon. 

Lots of residents took walks outside to spend time close up with the donkeys, whilst our garden lounge was full to the brim with residents wishing to be part of the event but warmer!

We cannot wait to see these donkeys again. In the springtime there is an event whereby you have afternoon tea whilst the donkeys walk amongst the tables. Many of our residents expressed an interest in hearing more about this activity.

We had a lovely afternoon with Emily being pampered, joined by our loved ones. 

We enjoyed massages, facials and hand and nail care. We had the added treat of rose flowers and chocs, nibbles and g&ts! We always love it when Emily visits our home, and it leaves everyone feeling relaxed and refreshed. 

We can’t wait to make more bookings with Emily over the coming months, for our residents, their family and friends, our staff and visitors to the home. Everyone deserves to have a moment within their day whereby they are cared for and come away feeling lighter.  

Realising just how much their residents love to sing, the team at Tixover House have launched weekly karaoke sessions in their dementia community. A playlist has been created and is continually added to each week, it includes classics such as Somewhere Over The Rainbow, White Cliffs Of Dover, Show Me The Way To Go Home, Stand By Me and Take Me Home, Country Road. 

The sessions have been going down an absolute storm with more and more residents taking part each week.

Bowling is proving hugely popular at Barchester’s Tixover House so much so that staff and residents have come together to launch a regular weekly bowls club meeting, and everyone is invited to join.  The club meets on Fridays at 11am, all are welcome.

Head of Activities, Caroline Geddes, said: “The idea stemmed from a friend of the home coming in to volunteer and teach us all Boccia last summer, it was soon quite apparent that it was a huge hit!  We quickly realised it was something we could implement on a regular basis and often found ourselves playing between meet-ups, as often as two or three times a week. Now that we have launched our weekly club, there is a real buzz around bowling in our home.”
 

We have some beautiful friendships within our home. It is so wonderful to see. Our residents truly care about each other and look out for one another.

In other news in our home, one resident has taken it on himself, to read to another resident daily, who would find it hard to do so themselves. 

He has reached out to activities, who having heard this beautiful act of thoughtfulness, has purchased a book of their choice, Sherlock Holmes short stories.