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.

Enriching life
Watch our video on life enrichment in our homes.

Ryan Palmer

Activities coordinator

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!  

Life-encriching activities booklet

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

Robbie, Resident Ambassador - Care Awards Finalist

Resident Ambassador awarded to Robbie, everyone's favourite at West Abbey

CONGRATULATIONS to our Resident Ambassador, Care Awards Runner Up, Mr Robert Ryan (Robbie) from everyone at West Abbey Care Centre - Barchester Healthcare where Robbie has been a resident for over two years.

Robbie was nominated 'Resident Ambassador' to acknowledge his outgoing and friendly nature, shown towards his fellow residents, staff and visitors to our home.

His favourite thing to do is to speak to our visitors when they arrive, and making them feel welcome with his friendly smile, quick wit and charm to put everybody at ease - we all love you Robbie!

Minibus adventures for residents at West Abbey Care Centre!

Today's trip was a tour of local villages and time to stop and enjoy refreshments - hot chocolate and tasty home-baked treats and a browse at Hamish's Farm Shop & Cafe with some of our residents.

We were made to feel very welcome by the friendly staff and look forward to next time to continuing our intrepid travels to who knows where?

Staff and Residents at West Abbey Care Centre 'Wear it Pink' Day

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, a chance for people to Wear It Pink, get involved in raising funds and find out more about how to check themselves and what to do if they find any symptoms of breast cancer.

On October 20th, staff and residents all came together to raise funds and awareness for 'Breast Cancer' https://awareness-days.co.uk/awa.../wear-it-pink/2023-10-20/ by 'wearing it pink', by organising a pink-themed, cake bake sale. Wear if Pink takes place on the last Friday in October each year to help make life-changing breast cancer research and support happen.

We all enjoyed being involved by wearing pink coloured outfits and accessories to show our support for the amazing work this charity does for men and women who are diagnosed with breast cancer.

When they're scone, they're gone!!

Friday morning and we’ve been cooking up a delicious baking storm here at West Abbey!

Residents and staff gave well deserved praise to our 'star baker' Diane, who stepped up to the plate, and led our scone-making operations, sharing useful tips and tricks to baking the perfect scone which was all down to the method of how to out the ingredients together, with an extra pinch of love!

The residents all enjoyed reminiscing and sharing their fond memories of baking with their loved ones throughout the years as children and adults.

Watch 'this;' space for details of more tasty treats we whip up next time!

Pumpkin carving & Halloween themed musical entertainment at West Abbey

Residents at West Abbey got into the Halloween spirit with pumpkin carving, crafting our home-grown pumpkins and learning spooky, fun facts about the history of Halloween, as well as enjoying a very specially themed Halloween performance delivered by the multi talented Jan McNeill - Entertainer and Speaker who was appropriately dressed in character this afternoon!

West Abbey revieves a 'Good' rating!

West Abbey Care Home passed a recent Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall “Good” rating after being praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service.

The CQC inspected the home on the 7th march (the report was released on 28th march) and rated the home as “Good” overall.

The report stated that, “People's experience of using this service and what we found People and relatives said they were happy with the home and the care and support provided. The home was friendly and welcoming.”

The report went on to say “The home was spacious, clean and tidy. People had access to safe outdoor space. Regular checks on the environment and fire safety were conducted.”

In celebration of the rating and to thank each member of the team for their contributions to the home, each team member was presented with £100 gift voucher in appreciation of their hard work.