Activities at Upton Bay Care Home

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

Residents at Upton Bay celebrated their love for reading and storytelling, for Book Lovers Day 2021.

We were thrilled to welcome local author, Mary Louisa Fisher, to showcase her new book, ‘Memoirs of a Child in Poole’, a wonderful anecdotal history book about Mary’s life as a young girl in the loveliest of seaside towns.

We listened to a live reading of Mary’s book, which resonated with many of our Residents, having lived similar childhoods in the 1940’s. Brian, resident, said, ‘The book was great to listen to, hearing about old Poole brought back memories as a lad, mucking about on the quay!’

Mary kindly gifted Upton Bay a signed copy of her brilliant book, which we look forward to picking up and getting lost in, with a cuppa! We thank Mary and her daughter and editor, Sue, for joining us to celebrate the joy of reading!

Upton Bay was delighted to welcome The Mayor of Poole, Councilor Julie Bagwell, to join our team and residents for International Friendship Day!

We recognised an established friendship with The Friends of Hamworthy Park, who so kindly donated a commemorative bench and plaque to feature in our gardens, and also a new friendship formed with The Mayor, who took a tour of our Home, and met with residents over afternoon tea.

In teams, our guests, residents and staff got rather competitive over a pub-style quiz, making for a very lively afternoon tea indeed!

Copious amounts of freshly baked jam and cream scones were on the menu, homemade by our in house Chefs.

The Mayor, Councilor Julie Bagwell said: “It was brilliant to see the home in full swing, the team are doing such a fantastic job here. Upton Bay is a beautiful home, and the residents today were just so happy. There are some incredible facilities here, the spa baths in particular! What’s lovely is that there are even people living here, who used to work in the old Metal Box Factory itself!”

General Manager Mevin said, “We are all very excited about the official opening of our Residential Suite; our team have really enjoyed being part of the beginnings of the home, welcoming every new resident and their families. We were honoured to have The Mayor join us on the day too, it’s been such a wonderful experience for our residents.”

It’s been a busy month for our Residents at Upton Bay, so a little ‘Me-Time’ was in order this week.

Our Ladies spent the day in our stylish Salon, where our Beauty Team worked their magic to leave each resident looking and feeling her best!

Hair Stylist Jenny took excellent care of all barnet’s in the building, styling an array of cuts and blowdry’s. Whilst qualified Nail Technician Kirsty gave our ladies stunning sets of polished gel manicures, each choosing their own signature colour.

Moving in at Upton Bay really is the beginning of a social, varied, and exciting life, with every day tailored to our Residents wishes. 

No better way to spend a beautiful sunny day than with a delicious mixed grill ‘barbecue’ in the gardens, to celebrate International Day of the Cowboy!

Our residents had a fantastic time donning cowboy hats over an authentic range of smokey BBQ meats, and a scrumptious all-American key lime pie.

The afternoon saw us putting on our dancing shoes to learn how to line dance to a bit of Dolly Parton!

Some time to wind down was in order, where we enjoyed a showing of classic John Wayne film 'Big Jake', which was most loved by one of our Gents who absolutely loves a western!

This week, our Residents joined Blenheim Palace's Historian Antonia Keaney for an inspiring talk and tour through the incredible gardens at the Palace Gardens.

Created over centuries by esteemed landscape architects, the 150 acres of stunning land certainly took our breath away.

One of our Resident's, Norman, particularly loved the wondrous maze - "When I was a boy, a maze like that would have been my dream!"

Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.

Here at Upton Bay we have been cheering on our favourite teams throughout the Euros. Our Home has been decorated with flags, as we have been enjoying all the football action over the past 3 weeks.

After such a nail-biting match between England and Denmark last week, our Residents were on the edge of their seats for the first English Victory since 1966 – a day many of our ladies and gents remember fondly.

Well it wasn’t to be this year, but we were so proud of our Team nonetheless for doing such an incredible job to get to the fateful finals! We raised a glass of fizz to the Lions, and are looking forward to the World Cup next year!