Activities at West Abbey Care Home
Our Activities Coordinators are constantly striving to mentally and physically stimulate those we support by organising group and individual activities for anyone and everyone to participate in. There are regular outings in the minibus to nearby places of interest, as well as visits from the Donkey sanctuary, musicians and entertainers. We also host evenings such as our Cheese & Wine evenings and BBQ's in the summer, that we encourage relatives to come to. Activities are one of the most important aspects of a care home, so it is essential that our team are dedicated to ensuring that residents are entertained. We encourage our residents to participate in any way they can. We also encourage relatives to join with activities and events as often as they can to ensure that life at West Abbey is fun and active for all.
Ryan Palmer
Hello, I'm Ryan and I joined West Abbey in 2018 in Hotel Services team where I was nominated 2 years running in the Barchester Care Awards by residents and their families. I moved to Activities in June 2021 which suits my outgoing personality. I know our residents well and love seeing their enjoyment of the entertainment we provide plus going out into the community on our mini bus, I have lived in Yeovil all my life so know all the best places to visit. The team call me the 'IT hero' as I'm always able to resolve the connection issues with our virtual events and our computer / tablets!
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 West Abbey Care Home
United We Trek
A care practitioner at West Abbey Care Centre in Yeovil put the ‘fun’ into ‘fundraising’ with a 26 mile sponsored trek around Stonehenge to raise money for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Paul Pippard, a care practitioner at West Abbey Care Centre took part in the sponsored walk in memory of his grandfather who passed away 2 years ago and to raise awareness and funds for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Paul and 300 other participants set off from Hudson’s field, Salisbury, at 7.30am before travelling through the city and going through woodland and farmers’ fields. The route finished along the A303 and alongside Stonehenge. Paul said that from there the “Views were amazing” even if the end was uphill!
When Paul crossed the finishing line he was met by his family, wife and little boy. His completed time to walk 26miles was 8 hours, 7 minutes and 44 seconds, which was overall 44th place out of those walking the 26 miles! Paul received a lovely medal and then had to walk back to the car, which was uphill again!
It was a fantastic day meeting new people, personally raising over £400 and joining together to help fund a cure for Dementia that so many people are affected by.
YTFC Visit
Resident, Donald Woan, at West Abbey had always wanted to be able to revisit Yeovil Town football club, the football club that he played for 60 years ago, so staff at the home made his wish a reality. Don was given a full tour of the stadium and even got a pitch side view of preparations for the new season.
Don has lived at West Abbey Care Centre for only a few months though is beloved by staff and residents alike. Staff at the home were delighted to be a part of making his dream come true, as they knew how much it meant to him, and they all wanted to be there to see the smile on Don’s face.
Staff first found out about Don’s dream shortly after he moved in and, ever since then, they have been dedicated to helping him achieve it with the help of Yeovil Town football club.
Casper the Alpaca
Casper, a famous alpaca, visited West Abbey on the 4th July from Copse View farm. On a sunny Thursday afternoon Casper and his uncle Midnight Prince walked around the home, visiting residents in the lounges and in their rooms! Residents got the chance to look and touch it. There were smiles everywhere!
In the Mood for Dancing
We were joined by Yanis the Greek dancer on 21st May, who put on a wonderful performance for residents in the garden.
Red Nose Day
We had lots of fun raising money for Comic Relief on Red Nose Day. In total, we managed to raise £67.
What have we been up to?
We have been keeping ourselves very busy here at West Abbey.
Residents have enjoyed regular live entertainment, fun and games, celebrated Chinese New Year and even got to experience a snow day!
