Activities

Making it person centred 

Everyone has their own likes, dislikes, beliefs, culture, mobility issues, hobbies and interests. We believe that every activity should be meaningful to the person taking part, and so we celebrate dates and events that are special to them.

We build a person-centred plan of exercise and activities for each resident, recording your daily activities on your care plan. Residents with dementia or those who stay in bed have as much need for, and access to, enjoyable and meaningful activities as other residents and we ensure that they are also fully catered for.

If your favourite hobby is not included in our schedule of activities our activities team will try to support you with it.

Listening to our residents

We have regular meetings with residents and welcome feedback, ideas and requests so we can continue to offer activities that appeal to all. In that way we accomplish a lot of individual and group wish fulfilment.

We encourage you to join in with our activities and get to know people, but this is entirely up to you. You can participate as much or as little as you choose, opting out of group activities in favour of quieter or 1:1 sessions. Or if you prefer to read in the lounge or in your own room, that is fine too.

A ready-made social life 

Social interaction is an important element of wellbeing. The support and companionship of friends boosts self-esteem, wards off loneliness and isolation and even helps alleviate symptoms of depression.

Many of our activities, such as games, quizzes and bingo, provide regular opportunities for fun and social interaction, while coffee mornings, afternoon tea and other sociable events are regular features. We celebrate seasonal or special days, our residents’ birthdays, anniversaries and days of national and international significance together. Often we use these as hooks to organise craft, music/cultural and food-related activities before and during the event.

Your family and friends are welcome to visit you in your new home. There are no restrictions on visiting hours, so they can come whenever is convenient to them, and you. We encourage our residents’ families to get as involved as they wish with activities while visiting or attend our events.

Bringing activities to residents

We always try to bring that day’s activity to residents who need/prefer to stay in their room. Other favourite activities include anything from hand massages, listening to music, reading books, reading or writing letters, playing games (such as dominoes or cards), doing puzzles and chatting over a cup of tea.

Dementia activities

We have daily and weekly activities planners but each morning our activities team asks residents with dementia what they would like to do, depending on their mood. So they may set out a jigsaw on one table with art supplies, books and magazines on the others.

Many of our magazines are from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and help with reminiscence activities. In addition, specialist activities tap into memories, recalling past skills, experiences and interests, as well as explore different sounds, visual experiences, smells and touch.

We encourage residents to handle familiar objects (old and new) which helps to comfort and reassure people whose view of their world is changing because of dementia.  Our residents particularly enjoy nursing dolls or cuddling lifelike robotic cats or dogs.

It’s also important to help them to express their feelings as they can feel confused by what is happening around them. And because dementia can affect communication, sufferers often struggle to make themselves understood, leading to feelings of isolation and frustration.

We guide you to whichever activity you like and carers support you with this while the activities staff help residents who prefer to stay in their room with their chosen activity. We generally work around your personality and emotional needs. Some of our residents believe that they are going to work, so they might go down the corridor to ‘catch the bus’ or a former farmer might ‘plough the fields’ in the corridor with a chair.

We encourage residents with dementia to sit and chat in the communal areas and to eat and drink. People walk around the home or go out into the garden for some fresh air and sunshine.

Regular exercise is important and people with dementia often enjoy gardening, walking or gentle activity such as tai chi. They regularly participate in our trips out to shops, gardens and places of interest.

Music can be very powerful in reliving memories while group singing and dancing is often beneficial for confidence and overall wellbeing.