Activities at Westergate House Care Home
Our teams are trained to enrich the lives of residents through stimulating the mind, body and soul, and taking the time to learn about each person to ensure everyone receives support that adds enrichment to their life.
Our activities team are great at building the activities programme around the likes and interests of the people we care for. Ensuring that our social events offer fun and adventure is part of the ethos of our home; it’s important that those we support can enjoy an active and social lifestyle. Of course, there will always be those who prefer peace and quiet, and in these instances, a cup of tea and a chat are always welcomed.
Lee Austin
My name is Lee and I am the Head of Lifestyle here at Westergate House.
I support our residents daily to do the things they enjoy and it is extremely important to me that we are offering a premium and person centred service to each resident. I support our residents on a daily basis by providing meaningful and quality activities either in groups or on a 1:1 basis, to help encourage and build confidence while creating an enjoyable environment for everyone. Westergate House is the home of our residents, we as staff are working in it, so it is extremely important to me that we are respectful of that, while offering a premium and person centred service to each and every resident.
I am a trained actor and professional vocalist and not shy in making a fool of myself. If I do that every day to put a smile on our residents faces then I’m happy I have played my part, along with the rest of the amazing team, to brightening their day. If you hear someone singing along the corridor or see them dancing in the lounges, it will probably be me.
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 Westergate House Care Home
Westergate House Library Service
The activities team is proud to open the doors to the Westergate House library, organised and run by one of our residents in the House community.
Our librarian is a lady who created and ran a library in Spain for several years before making Westergate House her home, and has extensive experience in sourcing and organising books for the benefit of others.
Making good use of a trolley, she arranges the books and takes good care of them, wheeling them around the community to display to anyone requiring the service. The residents at Westergate House are enjoying the library service; they receive a warm welcome and a smile from our librarian, and unlimited information and conversation about the titles on offer.
A visit to Denmans Gardens
Visits out into the local community are a big part of the activities calendar and the Westergate House mini-bus can be seen out and about exploring various places of interest local to the home. On this occasion, there was somewhere on our doorstep! The activities team invited residents to put the brollies up and take a walk to Denman’s Gardens, a beautiful garden centre just a few strides away. The fresh air and exercise ensured everyone was ready for afternoon tea at the delightful coffee shop within the grounds. Hot drinks and delicious teatime treats were enjoyed in the company of good friends.
Cookery Club
The Memory Lane Cafe is a weekly event in our dementia community and is very popular with the residents. Every week we choose a different cake or dessert to prepare and there is no end to the range of delicious treats to be made. The café is a sociable activity, and the residents are keen to get involved. It’s never long before the delightful aroma of baking hangs in the air. Such a lovely trip down memory lane; we take the opportunity to reminisce, and talk about the times we enjoyed cooking with mother as children.
National Dog Day
In celebration of International Dog Day on 26th August we held a competition for our furry friends at Westergate House. Over the previous two weeks we had beautiful photos sent into the home from family, friends and staff, who entered their beloved four-legged pals into one of two categories; Pretty Pooch or Handsome Hound. Residents throughout the home had the tricky task of judging the winners. It was so hard to choose! After much deliberation, we were happy to announce Chilly Bean as Pretty Pooch and Max as the winner of Handsome Hound. Aren't they gorgeous?!
Indoor Exercise
When it’s a grey, blustery day outside, the Activities team get to work and provide indoor exercise sessions to help maintain our physical health, from the comfort of our chairs. The rain is soon forgotten with stretches and punches to the air, moving in time to music, and taking the lead from Julie, the Activities Assistant, who makes sure to show us how it is done. Each community takes a turn and the outcome is often the same; everyone is focused on a refreshing cup of tea!
We've achieved a perfect score on Carehome.co.uk
Staff and residents are delighted to reach their goal of a perfect overall score of 10 on the independent care home review website, carehome.co.uk.
Carehome.co.uk is often one of the first places people will look when searching for a care home for a loved one. It is independently run to ensure that all reviews are vetted and come from people who have genuine experience of the homes that they are reviewing.
General Manager Paul, said: “We are beyond thrilled to reach a perfect overall score of 10 on carehome.co.uk, it just goes to show what a credit to the home the team at Westergate House really are. I am so proud of each and every one of them for all of their hard work and dedication to the people they care for. We have a fantastic team here, I’m so lucky to work with such wonderful people and to have such lovely residents.”
