Leaves are beginning to turn to beautiful hues of reds, yellows & browns, evenings are drawing in and we're starting to reach for our jumpers again, which can only mean one thing...Autumn is here!
Find out how our care home partners' residents and staff have been embracing the beginning of Autumn below!
Image: Resident at Dean Wood, Bupa with her lovely autumnal artwork!
Woodland Grove, Oakland Care's residents have been showing off their creative flair!
Residents at Woodland Grove have been painting some beautiful Autumnal still-life and landscapes. One of the lovely residents, Pat Huntley, provided a lovely quote "Autumn reminds me of falling leaves, early nights, beautiful flowers and red berries. The leaves of orange, yellow and brown falling to the ground. Losing the summer heat and enjoying the cool weather.". We absolutely love their paintings!!
Dene Park, Akari Care's residents have been enjoying arts & crafts!
Dene Park have been enjoying celebrating the beginning of Autumn with arts & crafts engaging with their residents in hands-on creative activities. These are not only enjoyable but can improve motor skills, strengthen social connections, reduce stress, and alleviate anxiety.
“We love the colour and feeling of the leaves, Autumn feels like so much fun” – Anne, resident at Dene Park
Manton Heights, RCH, received some lovely autumnal pictures from the local nursery!
The residents at Manton Heights Care Home were delighted to receive some autumnal masterpieces, painted by the local nursery, Busy Bees Childcare. In fact, one resident was so grateful that she decided to create a picture in return as a thank you. Not only this, Manton Heights talented chef, George, baked a wonderful selection of delicious sweet treats for the children & staff at Busy Bees Childcare to say thank you on behalf of the residents.
World Food Tour brings joy to residents across Black Swan Care Group Homes
Black Swan Care Group has been gearing up for Autumn across the group by celebrating the culture and cuisine of Mexico throughout September, to get them in the mood for Winter and the Day of the Dead festival in October.
In September they provided their homes with a unique world food tour box containing activities; games, recipe ideas, colouring in and much more on the theme of Mexico. The homes were able to explore many aspects of the countries culture including their history, music, geography and cuisine.
As we headed into Autumn, Black Swan Care Group wanted to focus on the changing seasons and one of their residents favourite upcoming events – Halloween. Mexico was a perfect country to feature for September to mark this time of year, with residents learning about the upcoming Day of the Dead festival and its links to Halloween.
It was truly lovely for the team to see how each of their homes adapted the resources to suit the needs of their individual residents and ensuring that everything was accessible for all. All residents had a fabulous time with one resident at The Gables Care Home in Chatteris stating “It was an absolutely lovely lunch!” which featured classic Mexican dishes.
Image: Park House's residents enjoying the props!
Image: The Haven's residents did some colouring in!
Image: Staff at Chiswick House embraced the Mexican theme with some fancy dress!
Wellington Vale, Cinnamon Care Collection, held their annual MacMillan Drive-thru hosted by their own superheroes!
Wellington Vale's MacMillan drive-thru superheroes included... in yellow – Wonder Whisk, in green – The Egg-terminator & in pink – Angel Bake!
They raised over £300 for MacMillan Cancer Support thanks to their wonderfully supportive community who came to buy cake and coffee...they had so much fun too! Wellington Vale's residents enjoyed their own MacMillan Tea Party in the afternoon with entertainment, lots of homemade cakes, singing and dancing.
The Wellington Vale team can’t wait until next year to do it all again!
Romford Care Home, RCH's residents created an autumn picture using fingerprints!
Romford Care Home's Lifestyle Co-Ordinator, Hayley, hand drew the tree and then everyone in the home including staff & residents added their fingerprints in their chosen colour. Hayley then turned some of the prints into birds, turtles and frogs and added an Autumnal border. The painting has been hung in one of the home's communal areas for all to enjoy!
Parris Lawn, Caring Homes, celebrated a wedding and hosted a MacMillan coffee morning!
Parris Lawn's Deputy Home Manager, Costin, recently returned to the home as a married man! The Parris Lawn team pulled together to celebrate his well-deserved happiness. Once again, the home's team of chefs ripped up the script and created a superb buffet for all residents & staff to enjoy. The feast was worthy of any wedding!
The home also raised a whopping £300 at their wonderful MacMillan coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Support. Parris Lawns lead Well-Being Coordinator and Sharon, Head of Housekeeping, were thanked by all at the home. A member of staff said of the team members, "The passion and effort you put into today was something you should both be proud of. Our residents had such a perfectly yummy morning and this was all down to our amazing and professional catering team. Without these fantastic chefs, none of these events would be possible".
Sisters Hospitallers homes have enjoyed a wide range of activities!
Footherley Hall organise bespoke events for their male and female residents! For instance, the 'Gentleman's Club' where residents share a pub lunch of fish and chips with beer while discussing football and sports. For female residents, they have just launched a 'Ladies who Lunch' club where they also get to enjoy a delicious lunch together. They all dress up and even get hair accessories for the occasion! Residents also have fun together at many other events such as a concert they hosted where they got to dance and sing along. Activities Coordinator, Sue, made sure everyone had a good time!
St Augustine's Care Home started the month exploring their creative sides. During arts & crafts, they made hearts, flowers and a crucifix out of straws! Residents decided on their own designs and colours and had fun bringing them together. Another day at St Augustine's entailed the Rah-Rah Theatre Company visiting to entertain their residents with a performance called Rock Around the Clock. It was a comical musical tale set in the 1950s. The actors sang and danced to all the popular songs of that time and invited residents to participate and dance too!
For World Alzheimer's Day, St Teresa's Activities Coordinator, Christina, organised a heart-warming exercise for residents. Each of them shared a happy moment they remember from their childhood and explained how they felt back in the day. It was really sweet hearing everyone's stories and seeing their happy faces. On another day, residents partook in an eco-friendly activity! They made pom poms out of old magazines and newspapers in the spirit of 'reuse and recycle'. Once they had made their pom-poms, they used them as a themed accessory for a chair dancing session to ABBA. Everyone had a great time!
Cedar Care's residents are loving the autumnal colours!
One theme for Cedar Care's art class recently was ‘Autumn’. There were lots of orange and green shades being used by residents to create their masterpieces. Whilst colouring, the residents voted to listen to different musicals e.g. Hairspray. The felt tips were moving in time to the music!
Brook House, Caring Homes' courtyard is looking beautiful in the Autumn sunshine!
Dean Wood, BUPA's residents and staff have been busy getting into the Autumn spirit!
A full activity programme has continued throughout at Dean Wood. Clubs, individual one to one., tea parties, singalongs, flower arranging, garden entertainment, baking and more! Residents and staff are living in the moment and enjoying every day.
Dean Wood have celebrated Autumn and Harvest, with a foragers club in the gardens, leading to an art club using their Autumn forage. The home weekly Poetry Club also had an Autumn theme this week, with many of the residents choosing poetry and reading aloud to others in the club.
Rose Lodge Care Home, Country Court Care's residents take the bus back to school!
Residents at Rose Lodge Care Home in Market Deeping enjoyed a month of ‘Back to school’ themed activities throughout September. Care and Nursing Homes across the Country Court group were encouraged to use resident’s ideas and memories of school days to create fun and engaging activities.
The ‘back to school’ activities had a different weekly theme throughout the month, with prizes for the most engaging activity each week. In week one, the challenge was to learn a language, week two was poetry week and week three was science week. For the final week, the care homes held a school theme day, staff dressed up and residents enjoyed fun lessons and activities. Residents enjoyed school dinner themed menus for lunch with sponge pudding and custard for dessert to make it fully authentic.
To round off the month of school-themed activities, residents enjoyed a fantastic ‘Back to school’ party, including a ride on a double-decker bus courtesy of Bland’s Bus & Coach company. Drivers Adam and John treated the resident to a ride around Market Deeping. We loved waving to passers-by and looking out for local landmarks.
Wellbeing Coordinator, Claire Farrer said “We would like to thank the wonderful drivers and Kevin Hall from Bland’s for arranging it. They were so friendly and helpful and gave the residents a lovely time. We awarded driver Adam an A* for reversing the double-decker into our car park! I’d also like to thank my sister for the wonderful cake, it was delicious”.
Autumnal activities have begun at Greensleeves Care!
Harleston House - Lowestoft
Image: Jenny and Jean peel vegetables ready to make a hearty autumn stew for everybody.
Image: Jean making an autumn picture using leaves from the garden.
Image: Residents taking an autumn walk around their garden taking in the fresh air before lunch. Front to back, Marcella, Margaret, Eileen, Joan and Jenny.
Queen Elizabeth House – Bromley
Image: Autumnal tree art was made by residents and staff to celebrate the arrival of the season
Sharnbrook House- Bedfordshire
Image: Autumnal art at Sharnbrook House to also tie in with National Day of Arts in Care Homes
Celebrating Autumn; a cultural and creative feast for the senses at Four Seasons Health Care Group!
Four Seasons and brighterkind care homes are marking the arrival of autumn by enjoying a host of sensory activities with the theme ‘Beautiful Planet’. Working in collaboration with the charity ‘Paintings in Hospitals’, the project is part of the care group’s Magic Moments programme, designed to stimulate the mind, body and soul.
Residents and team members are exploring artworks from the Paintings in Hospitals collection that investigate the themes of land, sea and sky and taking part in activities inspired by the pieces. From collage making, photography and time spent in the garden exploring wildlife and nature to sunlit walks and stargazing as well as music, relaxation and reminiscence sessions.
Steve Gardner, Group Product Development Manager, who leads the Magic Moments Activities programme for Four Seasons Health Care Group, said: “Arts and culture offer a wide variety of opportunities to stimulate a diverse range of interests providing many benefits for health and well-being. The activities created for our autumn theme ‘Beautiful Planet’ are designed for residents of all needs to take part and encourage creativity, thoughtful discussion and good times.”
The autumn season also brings some of the residents’ favourite ‘high days’ and the Harvest Festival is being celebrated with themed menus and thanksgiving services. Many of the homes are arranging collections for local charities and food banks during this time which is a great opportunity for residents to engage with their local community. Halloween is another much-anticipated occasion and residents are making creative decorations and getting ready for lots of spooky fun! November will see celebrations take place in the homes to mark Diwali and Bonfire Night and residents and team members will join together to commemorate those who lost their lives during the war on Remembrance Sunday.
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