It’s not only TV chefs who can set up their kitchens anytime any place. With our new mobile kitchen equipment people living at Minster Grange can now cook or bake anytime any place too. Standing by is our first chef to test out the new oven with his chocolate chip shortbread cookies. 

Willowdene Care Home on Lizards Lane, Sedgefield are delighted to announce we completed the memory walk for Alzheimers Society on Saturday 19th September.  We walked from Durham to West Auckland which is approximately 14 miles and took 4 hours 15 mins and we raised £1000.

Thank you to everyone for sponsoring us. 

During these unprecedented times we find ourselves in, we come together on the 10th of September to celebrate International Day.  This Day represents cultural diversity between staff and residents.

We decorated the lounge with flags and balloons to bring the celebration together.  Some talented staff members kept us entertained with traditional dancing.  The Chef and some staff members prepared some traditional foods which was a great highlight to end off the celebration.

A great day was had by all!!

Thanks to the kindness of The York Bird of Prey Centre, our residents were treated to a garden visit by two of their stars. Cobra, a male Harris Hawk, and Angel, a female Barn Owl are two favourites at the centre and often feature in flying demonstrations.  This month, however, they took a day off to bring their handler on a trip to Minster Grange. With his help they settled into our garden for an afternoon and we were delighted in all the attention and admiration we could heap on them.

Celebrating all things French this week at Heeley Bank Care Home with a wine and cheese tasting event to start the week off, which was enjoyed by all.

Our French Boules tournament was very competitive with  lots of laughter and we are all looking forward to more activities throughout the week and hopefully lots more food tasting too. 

Jayne the home manager at Wyndham Hall was moved when she saw a balloon release recently held on Copacabaña Beach.  The release was in recognition of the 100,000 people who have died in Brazil as a result of COVID-19 and she decided she wanted to do something similar at Wyndham Hall for the people of Oxfordshire.

After a nail-biting week of dreadful downpours, the rain stopped and the sun peeped out just in time for our Summer Garden Party on Sunday 30th August.  We all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of live entertainment, hand jiving, garden games, bubbly, jam and cream scones and a chance to try out some rather jazzy photo booth props!

The residents at Willow Bank recently enjoyed a Caribbean and Indian Food Carnival. In preparation for the Carnival the residents made decorations and masks to wear. On the evening they enjoyed delicious food thanks to our wonderful kitchen staff, listened to Indian music and watched a colourful carnival on YouTube. The residents said they had a fantastic evening and were full of praise for the chef. 

Our green fingered residents had fun planting herbs, cauliflowers and spring onions in one box and pumpkin seeds in the other.

We have some very keen gardeners at Croft House  and we have previously grown our own potatoes and we all enjoyed them. Our pumpkins are coming along lovely.

When Anne separated from her husband 13 years ago, she never thought she’d find love again, that was until she moved into Willowdene Care Home in July 2019 and met Gerry.  Anne who is due to turn 78 at the end of September met Gerry, 82, when she moved into the home and the pair became firm friends. They enjoyed spending time with each other, laughing and taking part in the activities at the home and discovered they liked similar music and puzzles. In March, on Gerry’s birthday, Anne realised she thought more of Gerry than just a friend and the feeling was mutual.