Read more in Activities , Care homes , Cheriton , Community , Fulford , Gorseway Park , Lansdowne , Queensferry , Spotlight
Care Home Open Week – a resounding success!
Published: Friday 8th July 2022
Care Home Open Week 2022 - Agincare
Care Home Open Week 2022 has been a blast!
Last week, our care homes hosted an event to remember. Following Care Home Open Week preparations, residents and teams enjoyed a countrywide celebration. The best part? Everyone was invited.
A national initiative from the Championing Social Care charity, Care Home Open Week gave homes the opportunity to make memories. Homes connected with their communities, challenged misconceptions about care, and showcased their facilities and activities.
The week was also a chance for people to discover careers at our homes, which come with a £500 welcome bonus, flexible shift patterns, fantastic teams, paid training and more.
Friends, family, and members of the community were all welcomed for an unforgettable bonanza. Across the country, people joined in with animal visits, sports days, tea parties, and musical performances… just to name a few.
Our Activities Coordinators have been busy capturing the highlights. We hope you’ll enjoy this video above, and a look back through some of our favourite moments.
Festivities at Fulford
Starting with a week of quizzes, tennis, skittles – and a BBQ! Residents at Fulford Care & Nursing Home in Littlehampton had their game faces on.
To balance out the competitive spirit, days of relaxation were scattered throughout the week. Residents and visitors enjoyed regular tea parties, knit & knatter club, and an appearance from some friendly alpacas!
Fulford’s Activities Coordinator Christine Tingley said:
Residents had a lovely time. The BBQ was a hit, we had a singer, a raffle, and relatives came to see their loved ones. Plus the sun was shining! I think the favourite event was the alpaca visit. They were loved by the residents, and were able to visit people’s rooms which made the fun accessible!
Fulford’s community has loved giving alpacas a tour of the interiors, playing neck-and-neck matches of balloon tennis, and revisiting classic fête games in the sunshine. Surely a week well spent!
Community cheer at Cheriton
Cheriton Care Home in Dorchester has had a blast! Residents, families, and care workers all joined in for the week of fun. Action-packed events took place, including music and entertainment, trips out and about, visits by giant rabbits, and more. However, one event was the crowd favourite.
Sports day at Cheriton was unforgettable. Teams and residents geared up to win medals in the egg and spoon race, three-legged race and sack race. Manager Denise Chrippes awarded the victors with medals, and everyone celebrated with a well-earnt reward of afternoon tea and cake.
Excitingly, our activities even made their way into the Dorset Echo!
Cheriton Care Home resident Madeleane Nock thoroughly enjoyed sports day. She said:
It was fantastic, great fun and very well organised – definitely as good as the Olympics I’d say!
Additionally, Cheriton Care Home Manager Denise Chrippes said:
There’s been thrills and spills during what has been a wonderful afternoon with relatives, residents, friends and our care team all getting involved in the races and enjoying a real sense of achievement.
Quality entertainment at Queensferry
Meanwhile at Queensferry Court Care Home in Derby, a variety of events were in full swing.
Alongside activities such as a cocktails, mocktails, and canapés soiree, and a performance from a violinist, Queensferry also welcomed alpacas!
Since Queensferry often welcomes animal visits into the home, it’s no surprise that the alpacas were loved by all. Because animals encourage natural interaction, they can provide wonderful company for residents living with dementia.
Eagle-eyed readers will have also seen our Derby home’s fun feature on television, with the BBC!
Good times at Gorseway Park
The excitement continued in Hampshire. At Gorseway Manor, our Hayling Island Care Home, and Gorseway Nursing Home, fun in the sun was on the agenda.
To mark the start of Care Home Open Week, Gorseway Park had the honour of a visit from the Mayor!
Cllr Diana Patrick, The Worshipful Mayor of Havant, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick off the week of activities. Following that, the schedule began with pottery classes, singers, parties, an Italian themed day, and miniature ponies!
Hayley Snook, Activity Lead of Gorseway, had this to say:
The best thing was putting everything together, for me. The teamwork and the planning was brilliant. The whole point of open week was to bring people into the home and show them how special our home is.
We do it all for the residents. It was very rewarding… everything I do in my job is rewarding. Seeing residents get up, enjoy themselves, dance, seeing the smiles on their faces… that’s why I do what I do.
Living large at Lansdowne Hill
Lansdowne Hill Care Home in Swindon had entertainment galore. Specifically flower arranging, card games with prizes, four different singers and a Jubilee themed party!
Jackie Ash, Activities Coordinator and newly-decorated Agincare Hero, described the week:
We had an eventful week with lots of activities and various entertainers, and we finished with a royal tea party. That turned out really well, the residents and visitors were very appreciative.
One of the visiting families kept saying how wonderful it is to be in the home all together again, enjoying the tea party. It meant so much that they could come in, and it was really nice to be surrounded by their loved ones.
Community is everything, we believe.
Care Home Open Week has been a beautiful and exciting treat for our residents, their loved ones, and our brilliant teams. Because we believe that a care home is not just a place to live, but a place to enjoy life, we thank everyone who has made this nationwide event a rip-roaring success.
Find out more about our care homes
We put people first, every step of the way, and have been proud to do so for over 35 years.
If you or a loved one is considering care options and would like to learn more about life in our care and nursing homes, contact us today. Our friendly team are always ready to help.
If you are interested in a career in care, check out our diverse range of care home jobs today.
