Our stories

Peace of mind

Moving into a care home made easy

Our care team are here to make sure that making the move is as easy as possible for you and your loved one. If you still need reassurance, here are some stories from our residents, their families and our care team.

We tried something a little different this week at Hope Green and used our fine motor skills with some Scratch Art. It was an absolute success, and we've decided that our pen pals at the local prep school might like them as a gift, so we're going to pop them in the post to them with a letter.

Trying Something New

They may not be the tallest of flowers but we're very proud of our sunflowers here at Bowerfield Court. We planted the seeds several months ago and have cared for them on a daily basis, watching them grow along the way. We believe they wouldn't look out of place in a Van Gogh painting.

The residents thoroughly enjoyed talking about the Royal family today. We started off with a quiz about Royal Weddings, which some residents knew all the answers to! Then we reminisced about the family and shared our opinions on the monarch.

Royal Family Discussions

Maria Mallaband Care Group (MMCG) is celebrating the success of Clinical Quality Team member and Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA), Jo Stokes, who has been selected to become an ambassador for Health Education England (HEE).

Aspiring Trainee Nurse Associate for leading care home group chosen as Ambassador for Health Education England

Love Parks Week in our home. We went for a walk around in our garden and we have done some gardening jobs. We enjoyed the music all day outside and played National Park Quiz in tea time.

Love Parks Week

Today at Buckingham House, we commemorated Apollo 11's first landing on the moon 52 years ago!

Everyone needs a bit of retail therapy and it was David, Veronica, Val and Janna who hit the shops. We travelled to Swindon designer outlet village to hunt out bargains and enjoy the history. The outlet is on the suite of the former Great Western Outlet Works and the history and archi

Never slow to take advantage of the beautiful weather we decided to hold a BBQ in the lovely gardens at Brunel House. Everyone got involved, including Andrew our head chef who cooked some amazing BBQ food and Sarah who helped to serve up the summertime feast.

BBQ at Brunel House

We recently visited Bristol Aquarium. The aquarium is one of the residents’ most enjoyable trips, we were all amazed at what we experienced. Two of the ladies had never been to an aquarium before and found it to be a very special experience.

Visit to Bristol Aquarium

Practice runs for Amber Court Wimbledon Finals 2021. We had teams of Roy and Callum versus Margaret and Rani, a decision for a winner could not be reached so we shall have a rematch before the grand finale. See you there.

Amber Court's Wimbledon Practice

Celebrating National Ice Cream Month with ice cream. Rosemary, Owen and Caroline were enjoying the sunshine. A few of the residents came to join us but some stayed inside for there ice cream. We finished of the day with some games in the conservatory.

National Ice Cream Month

Bowerfield House enjoyed a lovely BBQ Day, all carers and staff had a great day and we enjoyed eating out in our garden. Our chefs Maria and Debbie did a fantastic BBQ with homemade burgers, sausages and salad , which we all enjoyed.

Congratulations to Allingham House, the winner of the best activities in the regions Carnival themed competition. The home were delivered a sweet and chocolate hamper for staff and resident to enjoy.

We celebrated National chocolate day with playing chocolate bingo and having a chocolate quiz, Owen and Dorothy was some of our winners. It was a really enjoyable day.

National Chocolate Day

Bowerfield House had a very busy day on Friday but a great way to end the week. We had live entertainment and celebrated National Ice Cream Day with a delivery from our local ice cream maker Ginge & Co ice.

We at Manorhey would like to thank MMCG for the lovely chocolate hamper we received as our prize for winning the competition for the best Carnival cake. The hamper was enjoyed by all staff & residents. Thank you.

Chocolate Hamper

It's so lovely that residents at Hope Green like to keep busy and offer a helping hand from time to time, using their talents within the home.

Last week we celebrated national BBQ week with our residents by enjoying a lovely BBQ lunch. Residents enjoyed hot dogs and burgers with condiments which we washed down with a cold glass of coke which was perfect as the sun came out.

BBQ at Manorhey

Residents today made their portraits of Manorhey's pet budgie Bluey. We used tissue paper, colours and other crafts to make their masterpieces which look very like our Bluey.

Portraits of Bluey

There is nothing like relaxing in the sunshine whilst sipping champagne.

We celebrated National Donut Day by decorating our very own donuts with coloured icing pens and edible decorations which we later enjoyed with a freshly brewed cuppa.

National Donut Day

"Dear All,

With regard to the recent passing of our mother EG, thank you to all the staff at Troutbeck who gave so much care, love and patience in looking after mum in the last 18 months and certainly during her final days.

Thank You From Relative

Part of our Nutrition and Hydration - Appletree Court celebrated Cocktails and fruits party! Our residents loved this activity watching the staff Hola hoop and limbo dancing, all different cocktails and fruit were enjoyed, it felt like we were on holiday.

We had a party yesterday at Acorn House to boost everyone's morale and to celebrate an end in sight to lockdown restrictions, we're all looking forward to getting back to some normality.

Here at Buckingham House we prepared to celebrate “It coming home”! Unfortunately no matter how much we cheered on our team we did not win!

It's coming home!

We are all incredibly proud of our England players for the performance they put on, both in the final and throughout the Euro 2020 tournament, despite being beaten in the final. Hopefully football will come home next year in the World Cup.

National Pina Colada Day was a huge success at Hope Green with a celebration in the garden on a lovely summer day. After dressing the garden in colourful bunting and palm trees, our own cocktail bar was serving pineapple juice with coconut or refreshing lemonade.

National Pina Colada Day

We've been enjoying decorating our own doughnuts here at Bowerfield Court. We chose from a variety of colours and toppings and enjoyed creating some masterpieces. We all agreed however that the very best part of the activity was eating them!

National Doughnut Week

Our photography club members enjoyed a short ramble through the garden today spotting interesting objects to photograph. Jenny thought the raindrops on the leaf was particularly pretty and Christine chose to photograph the birdhouse.

Photography Club

The very wonderful Mrs Marjorie Sheehy celebrated her 100th birthday recently and everyone at Eltandia joined together in celebrating this momentous day.

100th Birthday Celebrations

Birch Heath Lodge staff and residents enjoyed celebrating the first MMCG Carers Day. Staff loved the cakes and drinks and we thank the catering staff for their input to ensure that carers have a day where it is all about them.

MMCG Carers Day at Birch Heath

Sadly, Football didn’t come home on Sunday night but England’s wonderful journey from 2018 when England got to the semi-final, in 2021 England got to the final. It only stands to reason that next time England are going to win it!

Wimbledon fever was reaching fever point as the Ladies Semi Finals were at the forefront of everyone’s minds at Ashmead.

Wimbledon Fever

The regular quiz and afternoon tea event at Deepdene is always popular and encourages some friendly competition as well as plenty of laughs.

Quiz Afternoon and Afternoon Tea

Here at Appletree we have done some crafts and lots of other creative activities. The residents get lots of satisfaction in doing the projects as they do looking at the end product.
Residents helped make a cardboard cut-out into an ice cream van to go on one of our trollies.

To celebrate Euro 2021 here at Appletree we had a little history on the game and shared our memories. We asked our residents “Where were you in 1966?”
Some of the responses we got were:

June birthday celebrations are very exciting.

June Birthdays!

Bowerfield House staff and residents would like to wish our beautiful Adin Beth a very Happy 30th Birthday and we hope you have a fantastic day and we hope you enjoy your much needed time off celebrating your birthday with your family.

Happy 30th Birthday Adin Beth

Here at Abingdon Court, we appreciate that Fathers Day has different meanings to the people who live here. Therefore, we decided to dedicate the day to honouring the male figures in our lives who have helped to shape who we are today.

Fathers Day Lunch

Throughout Abingdon Court, there is a shared love and admiration for the royal family. The Queen in particular, has had a huge impact on many lives, and royal stories evoke loving and heartfelt memories for lots of people.

Bingo, certified by Her Majesty the Queen

As we enter the summer months, everybody is falling into that summer holiday feeling. With most of us unable to jet off anywhere any time soon, we opened up Abingdon Airlines and brought the holiday to our home!

Abingdon Airlines now boarding to Canada!

One of the ladies who lives with us was telling us all about her life working in the fashion sector throughout her youth and how she loved following the trends and seeing what new and innovative pieces were being developed by the big fashion houses.

Our regular residents meetings are key dates in the Deepdene calendar where people who live and work at the home get together to discuss important matters.

Residents Meetings

Today the residents took part in a cheese and wine tasting afternoon in the gardens of the home. They learned about the different cheeses from England and France and which cheeses paired well with the white, rose’ and red wines plus port also on hand.

Cheese and Wine Tasting

We have decorated the lounge ceiling this week with bunting all cut out by one of our residents, the residents painted beach nuts to hang amongst the bunting. We celebrated a birthday with a cake and our special 'birthday hat'.

Birthday Decorations

Today the residents at Mary chapman court enjoyed some garden time with a parachute. We made it float like a butterfly then we made it a stormy sea. We had great fun and a little exercise too.

Parachute In The Garden

We celebrated International Kissing Day by making our very own lip balm. We had a choice of flavours including berry, citrus and cherry and we enjoyed decorating our own individual pots.

International Kissing Day

We have very artistic people living at Riverview such as Fidela who makes some beautiful flower arrangements. She is as beautiful as the flowers with her big smile.

Flower Arranging

Hope Green garden was filled with music and dancing in the sunshine with a wonderful visit from a talented local accordion player. It was delightful to see everyone getting involved whether that was tapping feet, clapping hands or dancing the waltz.

Live Entertainment In The Garden

Strawberries, raspberries and chocolate were chosen by residents at Hope Green as favourites for adding to buttercream and decorate some lovely vanilla cupcakes together. Individual flair and creations were wonderful to see, combined with the arrival of a well earned cup of tea too!

Cupcake Decorating