You may have noticed that I have not updated the blog for a while?!

I have handed this over to Jane and our residents on her fantastic website

Click HERE to go to the active in life website 

To access the comings and goings of our home, and keep updated on what is going on, just click on the link above – save it to favourites if you like – and check out the good work that is being done by Jane and some of the residents.

I wish you all well, and hope you enjoy active in life as much as we do.

Thank you Jane for all your input and help.

Emma

xx

www.activeinlife.co.uk

This is a fantastic link to a website that was created by Jane our activities facilitator.

A number of our residents have chosen to be involved in the creation of this website, and it is proving to be a big hit among relatives and friends, as well as the residents themselves.

A big well done to you Jane for such a fantastic idea, and such an informative and helpful website.

xx

We would like to give a big warm welcome to our 2 new voluntary workers, Maria and Jess who have been a fantastic help over the past week or so, giving their time freely to help with activities and caring.

Theresa is our newest member of care staff, having just moved back to Weston from Carlisle, and we have taken on our first ever apprentice. 

The residents seem to have taken to them all very well, and they are all fitting in as part of the family.

We have also had a couple of new people come to stay here at Annabel House, who have settled in well.

We have had lots of social events going on at Annabel House for our residents over the past few weeks, and still more to look forward to.

With the weather taking a turn for the better, some of our residents have had wonderful days out in Weston making the most of the sunshine.

Jane has been busy creating a website for( and with)the residents – if you would like to have a look feel free to log on to www.activeinlife.co.uk.

Its not only the residents that have been out and about over the past week or so… Our Matron Jean, was invited to the mayors ball on the 12th March, and after much gown searching and excitement, had a wonderful evening of dancing, eating and socialising.

How wonderful she looked too.

Finally a very happy birthday to Graham, Mary, Bill and Sylvia who have had, or will be celebrating their birthdays over the month.

Take care and we will be updating you soon

xx

This week we received a visit from the food hygiene  inspector.

We are proud to announce, that thanks to our very studious and hard working chef  Sue -and her team – we have been awarded a 5 star rating.

This is of course great news, and goes to show that in yet another area of our home our staff dedication and enthusiasm is keeping Annabel House to the highest standards.

In other areas of the home:

This months game of the month is musical bingo, and sounds like great fun. This will be held toward the end of the month.

The Piano has recently been tuned, so there will be more music and dancing for the residents and anyone who would like to join in.

And on a final note – there will be a quality circle meeting on the last Wednesday in March. So if you would like to come along, or have anything you would like to  input to the meeting as a friend, resident, relative or member of staff, please feel free to put your thoughts to Jane.

A very warm welcome to you!

This week I would like to share a few pictures of our residents having a jolly old time, singing dancing and making music!!

As you can see, we have had a good week, with plenty of fun activities and smiles.

We have now got a good selection of musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein  available for watching, this will be a wonderful source of entertainment for our residents and relatives and friends too should they wish to come and watch with their loved ones

As mentioned last week, Jane was going to help to create some email accounts for our residents, this has been very successful and a number of our residents now have email accounts. If you are a friend or relative and would like to email, please contact Jane, or email Emma email@annabelhouse.co.uk and I will pass the message along.

As always we have been keeping the home neat and up to date, with the lounge carpets being given a good deep clean, and some touch up paint work being carried out this week.

All in all a good week has been had by all here. Have a good week, stay warm and dry and enjoy!

We would like to announce that we are now introducing day care facilities at Annabel House.

We specialise in the care of Alzheimer’s / Memory loss / confusion and disorientation.

If you would like any information please contact matron either via the website or call 01934 416648.  

A very Happy New Year to you all, from all of us here at Annabel House. I hope you all had a great start to 2011 – May it be full of happiness, peace and love for you all.

There are a few things to keep you updated on this week, most of which can also be found in our news letter.

Jane has been giving the option of IT training to our residents for a while now, and those who chose to partake have found it informative and fun. She is now looking to help residents set up Gmail accounts should they wish to do so, in order to help them to keep in touch with their loved ones. We are hoping that this will prove to be a success, especially for those people who have relatives and loved ones far away. It will be a fantastic opportunity to share experiences, news and perhaps pictures with family and friends.

Every last week of each month, Jane will be playing selected games in the dining room, everyone is welcome to come along and join in the fun!

Improvements around the home are continuing, and we have faired well with the bad weather we have been experiencing.

We celebrated a birthday on the 3rd… so a very Happy Birthday to Anna!! We had a lovely day, with balloons, banners and birthday cake!!

I will hopefully be updating with another staff profile next week.

x

I hope you are all well and have had a fantastic Christmas!

Our Christmas here at Annabel House was lovely, and the residents had a wonderful time. The morning was spent opening their presents and cards from the staff, relatives and friends.

There was then a lovely Christmas dinner for everyone, which was very much enjoyed by all.

The efforts and commitment of the staff and relatives is very much appreciated as is shown in the following letter by matron.

Letter from Matron

Just a few words of thanks to all the staff who made a big effort to come into work whilst we had all the cold and snowy weather.

It is much appreciated by myself and Dr Wyatt. This shows your commitment and empathy towards all our residents.

Also a big thanks to all the friends and relatives who have managed to come and visit during these terrible weather conditions. We know it means a lot to the residents to see you, and the effort is very much worth it.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

I would like to wish all our staff, relatives, residents and friends a happy new year.

With best wishes

Matron.

Take care and look out for the next update. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures of our Christmas here, and share with you the festivities of the home!

Wow! What a week or so we are having. I am looking out of my window at a big down pour of snow, and feeling very festive!!

Last Night we had our raffle and the Rainbow singers came along to entertain us all. It was a lovely evening enjoyed by all, and some fantastic prizes were up for grabs!

As you can see we have had a generous selection of gifts donated by relatives, friends and staff. Thank you to everyone who has made this years raffle possible.

Well done to all the winners… the top prize was won by Mark which was a lovely Christmas Cake baked by our very own chef!

There are some lovely pictures of the outings over the past week or so to garden centres. It is always wonderful to get out and about, and into the Christmas spirit!

A fantastic winter wonderland at Sanders!

Meeting Father Christmas!

Wrapped up warm, enjoying a look around the garden centre

The smiles say it all!

Thank you to Jane and the care staff who helped to make these a few lovely days for our residents. We know it was enjoyed by all and look forward to the next outings.

The residents have also been getting creative and making Christmas cards. below is a selection of just a few of the cards made. Everyone who made one had a great time getting creative and using their imagination.

                        And what a fantastic job they did too.

In other news around the home, we have had a delivery of head boards this week to match the lovely new furniture. These should be up in the rooms by the end of next week.

On Sunday the 19th some of us will be attending the carol service.

Well that is the news of the past week, and a few up coming events. Wrap up warm and grab a cup of cocoa! 

We have  been carrying out a few improvements in the home this week. Mark ( our Marvellous Maintenance man ) has been busy!

The staff and visitors toilet has had a complete revamp. Mark has re tiled, re carpeted, and painted the toilet and it now looks fantastic.

Our quality circle meeting yesterday was very positive and informative. The general outcomes of the meeting were as follows.

• An additional sofa would be moved into one of the quiet lounges so that more relatives could sit close to their loved ones.
• The possibility of someone bringing their pet in for the residents to see, stroke, play with and love was discussed. We have found in the past that people have gained great pleasure from such activities. It was noted that if any pets were to visit they would need a letter from the vet to say that the animal was in good health, and up to date on vaccinations. Luckily a couple of the attendees of the meeting are willing to obtain these certificates for their dogs.
• Assurance was given that our residents are receiving the flu jab, and the up and coming events were discussed.

The meeting was successful, and the sofa has already been placed in the lounge!

We had a couple of day trips this week ( photos to follow ). Our staff and some of the residents had a wonderful festive time at Sanders and Cadbury Garden centres. It is lovely to get out and about at this time of year, shake hands with father Christmas and really get into the spirit of it all!

I will keep you posted on all the news and events, and hope to have some photos to add next week of the day trips, and evenings here with the entertainment.

Stay warm

Emma x