Activities at Winchester House Care Home
Our activities team 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, including the local priory and garden centres, as well as visits from musicians, a wide range of entertainers. We are lucky enough to have a enthusiastic team of volunteers who regularly visit the home throughout the week, and our yearly pantomime is a real crowd-pleaser and is well-attended by residents, relatives and members of staff. 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, and that life at Winchester House is fun and active.
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 Winchester House Care Home
Virtual World Cruise Week
We kicked off the first week of October with a virtual cruise around the world, transforming the home into the HMS Wouldham for one week only! We set sail for Italy on Monday with entertainment by the fantastic Joy Dey, who sang songs from around the world, and also gave a dazzling performance of O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini's opera, Gianni Schicci. Later, we were treated to a delicious pasta carbonara and meatballs before a visit by the children from All Saints Primary School who came aboard to hand out beautiful hand-tied flower posies and sang songs whilst dancing with the residents - our first day of the cruise was truly spectacular!
On Tuesday, we arrived in France, where we played boules in the morning and learnt lots of interesting facts about the country. After a delicious lunch of beef bourguignon and crème brule, we had a visit from Ben Insall, who got us all singing songs with a French theme!
We were full steam ahead to arrive in Pakistan and then India on Wednesday, with arts and crafts in the morning and, after tucking into an Indian feast, we had a real treat in the afternoon when residents, their families and staff came together for a spectacular display of dancing by our friend, Dolly.
We crossed the Himalayas into China on Thursday and, in the morning, made Chinese lanterns before tucking into a buffet fit for an emperor! With bellies full, we spent the afternoon with Jack from the catering team, who wrote residents' names in Chinese calligraphy - everyone thanked Jack for a great afternoon.
On Friday, we landed safely back in the UK for a good ol' sing along with Trevor Osborne. We enjoyed fish and chips before spending the afternoon having cream tea and a quiz that tested our knowledge of all the countries we had visited during the week.
It really has been a special week; we are very lucky to have such a wonderful and culturally diverse team of people here at Winchester House, and this week would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of so many staff members. A special thank you goes to Fran Bannister and her fantastic catering team for providing such a lavish and delectable array of foods from around the world! Thanks also to Amarjeet Kaur and Ge Liu (Jack) for helping to make this virtual cruise a huge success.
We look forward to next year's virtual cruise to more incredible destinations!
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Residents were recently invited to the world’s biggest coffee morning to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, which helps families affected by cancer. All Saint’s Church in Wouldham hosted the event, where there was a tombola, bring and buy stalls and, let's not forget, cake! The event was well-attended and we subsequently raised lots of money for such a great cause which is close to so many of our hearts.
Rev'd Mike Hayes
On 25th September, we attended a service where Rev’d Mike Hayes was made Rector of the Parish of Burham & Wouldham All Saints’ Church. The Archdeacon of Tonbridge, The Ven Clive Mansell, was there to install Mike and afterwards, everyone enjoyed refreshments in the church. We look forward to Mike continuing his priestly ministry as Rector and thank him for all his support that he gives us here at Winchester House.
Wouldham All Saints School’s Scarecrow Competition
We had great fun in our community garden this September as we took part in the Wouldham All Saints School’s scarecrow competition. The theme of the competition was superheroes or storybook characters, so here at Winchester House, we created our own Bill Sykes from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, which we proudly displayed outside the school.
Olympic Activities
During August, we held our own mini Olympics with chair basketball and target games. We also had a great Olympic-themed session with Sue from Motivation. We had some very talented and competitive participants!
New Recruits
Here at Winchester House, we have welcomed five new recruits to our team! Our empathy dolls are a real favourite with residents on our Memory Lane units. Ben, Bonnie, Maria, Maiya and Oliver have been designed to be nurtured by people living with dementia and those who find comfort in nurturing and caring; the dolls can also bring about a real sense of well-being.
