Activities at Westlake House Care Home
Residents enjoy playing hoopla and bocce bowls, which combine exercise with the thrill of competitive sport. We invite entertainers and musicians to visit the home on a regular basis and residents very much enjoy watching them perform.
We also have our pet therapy dog, Marley, visit the home on a fortnightly basis, and residents love petting him. They also enjoy health and fitness days, where they get the opportunity to participate in armchair exercises and target games.
We always celebrate National Volunteer Week, which we use as a chance to say thank you for the wonderful work that our volunteers do that further enhances the quality of life for those who live at Westlake.
As well as continuing with our favourite activities, such as arts & crafts, bingo, knit & natter, Scrabble, board games, bridge, quizzes, pampers & manicures, reminiscence sessions and musical memories, we always like to launch new activities for residents, which give them the opportunity to socialise with their friends and families. These could be our own vegetable patches, flower arranging sessions, a book club or anything else that our imaginations conjure up.
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 Westlake House Care Home
Harvest Celebrations
Residents, loved ones, friends and staff members at Westlake House celebrated the Harvest Festival by donating a food hamper to St Marks Church to be distributed in the local community.
The occasion was also marked with singing of hymns and light refreshments and the residents decorating the hamper boxes. This really helped everyone at the home to get into the spirit of the festival. Food donations brought in by visitors were gifted to the church, which were very well-received.
Making Dreams Come True
Resident, Nora, at Westlake House, had always wanted to go back to the bowling club to pursue her past interests; she had won the Ladies Coben Cup in 1987 and the Ladies Championship pairs in 1992.
Nora has lived at Westlake House for 10 years and is beloved by staff and residents alike. Staff at the home were delighted to be a part of making Nora’s wishes and dreams come true. Our staff members knew how much it meant to Nora for her to be back on the field playing the bowling games once again, and they all wanted to see the smile on her face.
Staff found out about Nora’s past interests and hobbies as part of her life history and wanted to revive her dreams of being back in the bowling club to play the games she most enjoyed when she was younger. Nora has been playing the game with her husband for many years and this reminded her of the precious time they both had.
The staff members, including the activities team, have been dedicated to helping Nora to achieve this and relive her past experiences. Nora was also accompanied by other fellow residents and staff members, who were there in support of the occasion.
Bringing the Community Together
Westlake House hosted a BBQ lunch on 19th August and fantastic, live musical entertainment, which was enjoyed by everyone who came to the event.
Staff at Westlake House made everyone feel welcome and were delighted to see everyone having fun together. Visitors enjoyed plenty of refreshments, such as cold beers and wine, burgers, hot dogs, a variety of salads, sauces and other refreshing beverages, which were prepared by the catering team, who were hard at work making sure that a great time was had by all – it really was a team effort!
Our New Care Practitioner
Senior Carer, Jane Matus, completed her training to become a Care Practitioner, a new role which will enable her to support nurses in the home.
Jane was presented with flowers at a celebration at Westlake to mark her achievement.
The Care Practitioner role has been introduced by Barchester in order to further develop talented care staff and enable them to give more support to the nurses working here.
Jane is the first person at the home to complete the course and she is already making a big difference to maintaining and developing our standard of care.
Summer Party
On Saturday 22nd July, Westlake House hosted a summer party and charity fundraiser, which was open to anyone from the community who wished to join staff, residents and their loved ones for a fun day of celebrations.
Clinical Development Nurse, Helen Rooke, shaved her head at the party to raise money for the Connor Saunders Foundation, a charity set up in memory of 19 year old, Connor Saunders, who tragically died in 2012 on a night out with friends. After his death, Connor saved the lives of five other people through organ donation and the Foundation strives to keep alive his legacy of life-saving by promoting organ donation and providing first aid training and heart defibrillators to schools and football clubs. They also aim to provide qualified football coaching for people with physical or learning disabilities.
Hoopla
We play many types of floor games and one that always proves to be a huge success is our blow-up Hoopla. This is an activity that is fun to do, but else helps with interaction, social mixing and provides great exercise.
