A room full of concentration and competitive minds.  Scrabble on one table, dominoes on the other, and plenty of residents having a pleasant afternoon together.

Making our Residents happy and fulfilling their wishes is what we are all here for at Kents Hill Care Home. 
And this time was no different. We went on a trip to our local garden centre where our Residents enjoyed an afternoon tea followed by a walk around the garden centre admiring all the plants and flowers. We had our minibus full of smiles on our return to the Home. Our Lifestyle team is busy preparing more outings for our Residents to enjoy, we might even go to the seaside!

So much fun was had when we did indoor bowling, just a day after receiving an excellent set of bowling equipment.  There was so much laughter and frequent cheers from the two teams as they played.  The residents named the teams themselves.  The red team being the Red Devils and the blue team being the Silly Beggars.  The atmosphere was wonderful, with an element of competition between the two teams.  Everyone wanted to know the final score at the end, and the Silly Beggars won by only 75 points. We're all looking forward to doing it again.

The people living with us enjoy getting ‘Out & about’ at some time every day (weather permitting) in the vast grounds of Gateford Hill. Everyone enjoyed the fresh air, scenery and nature.  Nicola, one of our lifestyle co-ordinators, writes the residents a poem for them to keep using the words they have expressed while enjoying being outside which is such a special and thoughtful thing to do.  

What a way to start our day!.  Gentle stretches and core strength exercises with Melanie who is brilliant at motivating and encouraging participation. Yoga balls are proving very popular in these sessions which sees the numbers increasing week on week. A fantastic way to boost energy, increase stability and balance and a great way to work up that appetite for lunch!.

Another cracking afternoon when much fun was had with a spot of outdoor bowls!.  'Just Bowl' is an innovative and exciting activity that encourages individuals of all ages, particularly those over 60 to get active.  Recent pilots that took place across several care homes showed that residents who participated in the programme felt the physical and mental benefits whilst improving their sense of well-being.   We had a fantastic amount of fun, friendly competition and of course ice lollies to keep us cool!.

The people living with us really enjoyed making the fruit kebabs.  It triggered nice memories of when they were children picking fruit from trees and making fruit pies at home with their mums. Other residents also spoke of during the war time when fruit was very scarce.

Being able to express yourself creatively is so important and can be so therapeutic.  We got the paints out with some of the people who wanted to get painting and enjoy a creative afternoon.  The end results were really lovely. 

Some of the people living with us really like to attend the local church which we organise for them.  We went over this week and really enjoyed the beautiful weather we had.

We wanted to thank our amazing local fire crew for their support and hard work so we organised them a hamper for their tea room which we hope that they all really enjoy.