Care Home Open Week – fun for all

This year’s Care Home Open Week took place at the start of July. Precious Homes supported living and residential homes from across the country took part, organising events that lifted everyone’s spirits after a tough 18 months.

At Lucentio House in Torquay, the team and the people supported there did an absolutely fantastic job of pulling together an event that included a BBQ as well as fun and games including limbo. The event had a definite tropical feel to it, which looked absolutely stunning in amongst the garden’s palm trees and backdrop of the seaside town. Siobhan Maguire, Operations Manager for Lucentio House, commented “It was an amazing atmosphere. All of the people supported at Lucentio were actively involved in planning the event and it was great to see everyone pulling together to arrange everything. The result was an amazing day – a huge well done to the staff team! Everyone had a lovely time and we certainly did laugh!”

At Tolcarne Avenue and Veryan Place, the team and the people they support threw themselves into arranging an amazing tea party, complete with a range of fun activities including makaton and sign language workshops. They took the opportunity to raise awareness about what we do, with a lovely showcase of photos from over the lockdown period.

At Howe Park, where we support people with more complex needs, a BBQ was set up to make sure everyone could enjoy themselves whilst maintaining infection prevention controls. We invited the local police, giving them the opportunity to get to know Howe Park residents in a more relaxed environment.

At Fenny Mews, the team planned another amazing BBQ with music, dancing, and plenty of food! One of the team managed to organise donations from Tesco and John Lewis, which was a really lovely gesture.

We were joined by Mitesh, our chairman, who is part of the Care Home Open Week committee, as well as one of the Championing Social Care ambassadors. We also had a visit from the local YMCA, who spoke to everyone about volunteering opportunities.

At Dyers Mews, where we have fewer residents and a smaller space, everyone had a lovely BBQ, with some of the younger residents taking part in a dance-off!

All in all, while it may not have been possible to do what we had originally planned, the event was an absolutely amazing opportunity for everyone to have fun. It gave us a much-needed release from the day-to-day and we’re already looking forward to next year!