Handmade Gifts from Barton Lodge Residents Bring Joy to Visiting Kittens

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Barton Lodge’s talented knitting club, known for their dedication to crafting handmade toys and blankets, had their efforts celebrated in a special way when they welcomed a group of playful kittens from the Lymington Cat and Kitten Rescue Centre.

The knitting club, always busy creating thoughtful gifts for the centre’s cats and kittens, saw their work come to life as five adorable seven-week-old kittens and a charming two-year-old, harness-trained cat visited the home. Residents were thrilled to see the kittens playing with the toys and blankets they had lovingly made.

Jon and Theresa, the joint managers of the rescue centre, arranged a delightful day for the residents. They took turns cuddling the kittens and playing with them, while the older cat made special visits to residents in their rooms, spreading additional joy and warmth.

Amanda Cooper, Barton Lodge’s Registered Manager, shared her enthusiasm: “It was wonderful to see the joy and companionship the kittens brought to our residents. We’d like to extend a big thank you to Jon and Theresa for bringing the kittens. Seeing them play with the toys and blankets our residents had lovingly made was truly special. Moments like these make a lasting difference in the lives of everyone here at Barton Lodge.”

The impact of the visit was deeply felt by the residents. Jean, one of the residents, reflected: “It brought back wonderful memories of my childhood pets.” Another resident, Val, added: “I won’t forget this afternoon for a long time.”

Barton Lodge has maintained a meaningful relationship with the Lymington Cat and Kitten Rescue Centre, which was founded over 40 years ago by Jeanette Frankland. The centre, with its capacity to house up to fifty cats, thrives with the support of community partners like Barton Lodge. Last Christmas, the care home raised £100 for the centre, showcasing their ongoing commitment to supporting its vital work.

Barton Lodge looks forward to continuing their support for the Lymington Cat and Kitten Rescue Centre and eagerly anticipates the next visit from their furry friends.

Rocking Wellness: Woodley Grange Champions Mental Health

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Woodley Grange were proud to take part in Mental Health Week from 13th to 19th May. The theme this year was ‘Get Moving’ so our Wellbeing Champion Rachel set up an engaging challenge for our staff and residents to get moving outside and enjoy the fresh air.

 

   

 

Rachel created a fun treasure hunt and hid hand-painted pebbles with our core values around our beautiful grounds for everyone to find. Each day, Rachel placed more stones for people to discover – there were eleven in total. This encouraged everyone to get outside, enjoy the glorious weather and work together as a team to find the pebbles.

 

 

 

Our residents loved getting involved, taking in the scenery and the sounds outside. It was also a great chance to spark new conversations and spend quality time with the carers and other residents.

 

 

 

We had fantastic prizes for our residents, with the winning resident on each floor winning a lovely bunch of flowers. Our incredible staff were also given badges, stickers and small gifts in recognition of their support for such an important cause.

 

   

 

Rachel said: “The staff enjoyed walking around the garden looking for the stones with the residents. Tt was great that they got to share our core values within Woodley Grange. I am passionate about mental health and this was a great way to include everyone within the home and to promote the values we all share.”

One of our lovely residents said: “The weather was lovely which made it extra special. It was nice to see the staff having fun, they work tremendously hard.”

We’d like to thank Rachel who worked really hard to capture the ethos of Manucourt’s core values, and everyone who made it such a fun experience.

Follow us on Facebook or check out our blogs for all our latest activities!

If you would like to arrange a visit to see our home in action, contact our team on 01794 337326.

Barton Lodge Volunteer Named Finalist in Hampshire Care Awards

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We’re excited to announce that Margaret Bailey, an incredible volunteer at Barton Lodge, has been named a finalist in the Hampshire Care Association awards for Volunteer of the Year!

For the past six years, Margaret has been a dedicated volunteer at Barton Lodge, forming remarkable bonds with our residents and providing them with invaluable comfort and support.

Margaret’s creativity shines through in her innovative ideas that engage everyone. Whether she’s assisting on outings, organising entertainment, or spearheading projects like the knitting initiative for an orphanage school in Tanzania, Margaret consistently helps our residents create cherished memories.

Commenting on the nomination, Barton Lodge Manager, Amanda Cooper, said; “We’re immensely grateful for Margaret’s tireless contributions, and we couldn’t be prouder to have her as part of our Barton Lodge family. Congratulations, Margaret, on this well-deserved recognition!”

Stay tuned for updates as we cheer Margaret on in this well-deserved honour!

 

Manucourt awarded ‘Top 20 Small Care Homes Group Award’ for eighth year in a row

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We are thrilled to announce Manucourt has been honoured with the ‘Top 20 Small Care Homes Group Award’ from leading UK care home review site carehome.co.uk, for an impressive eighth year running.

We are so proud to receive this prestigious national award, as it recognises the top-rated care homes based on over 310,000 reviews from residents, family and friends across 16,721 care homes in the UK.

Woodley Grange team & residents

This incredible achievement is a true testament to the dedication of our staff at our Romsey-based care home, Woodley Grange, and New Milton care home, Barton Lodge, for delivering outstanding care and making our homes among the best in the country.

Barton Lodge team & residents

Upon receiving the award, Manucourt’s Director of Operations, Rizwan Walji, said: “We are thrilled to have won this award for the eighth time. It is a tremendous achievement that recognises the dedication and commitment of our staff to delivering outstanding care on a daily basis.

“We would like to thank our residents, friends and family, we couldn’t have achieved this recognition without your support. It just goes to prove, together, we can achieve great things and we look forward to what the future brings.”

Our remarkable achievement has featured in the Hampshire Chronicle, please click here to read the full article.

For more information about the exceptional care we provide contact us, and keep an eye on our blogs for more information about our latest events and activities.

Luxury redevelopment wows guests at Barton Lodge’s Open Day

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We hosted a special Open Day at Barton Lodge in March to reveal our extensive redevelopment. We’re really proud of the impressive transformation, and are delighted that our guests were wowed by our dedicated new dementia, enhanced residential space, plus five-star amenities.

We were honoured to have the New Milton Town Mayor and Chairman of New Milton Town Council, Cllr David Hawkins, return to Barton Lodge to open our luxury redevelopment, with a memorable ribbon cutting ceremony.

 

Throughout the day, we offered guided tours, showcasing our new dedicated dementia area on the first floor and enhanced ground-floor residential space, both offering stunning views of the Isle of Wight, Barton Golf Course and The Needles.

   

Our guests were really impressed with our five-star amenities, including a new activities room, an upgraded hair salon, welcoming drinks area and updates such as new flooring, wallpaper, furniture, lighting, themed corridors and bedroom schemes

The Open Day was made really memorable with incredible live music and delicious food prepared by Barton Lodge’s talented in-house chefs.

 

Reflecting on the day, Amanda Cooper, Manager of Barton Lodge said: “We are thrilled with our redevelopment and were delighted to welcome so many people to our event and get such incredible feedback.

“We would like to extend a big thank you to everyone. It was such a special day, and having the Mayor return to officially mark the occasion with a ribbon cutting ceremony, after he helped open the care home in 2014, made it even more memorable. We can’t wait for the next 10 years!”

New Milton Town Mayor and Chairman of New Milton Town Council, Cllr David Hawkins, added: “It’s wonderful to return to celebrate this remarkable redevelopment. It was evident from everyone I met how dedicated Barton Lodge is to delivering exceptional care and luxury amenities for their residents. I’m excited to see Barton Lodge continue to flourish in the years ahead.”

   

In case you missed it, or just want to relive the fantastic day, we’re thrilled to share our video:

Watch our Open Day video below.

To arrange a tour of Barton Lodge, or discover more about the outstanding residential and dementia care we provide, please contact our dedicated team on 01425 209235.

Residents received the royal treatment at our Jubilee parties

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We were very lucky that the sun shone on our Jubilee parties at Woodley Grange and Barton Lodge earlier this month, making them the perfect celebrations fit for the Queen!

At Woodley Grange, Romsey’s Mayoress, Celia Dowden, opened the street party for the residents, their family members and our neighbours. Guests were treated to an afternoon of traditional games, entertainment from a local singer Mike Sideway, as well as a pop-up bar!

One of our Woodley Grange residents said: “It was the best day ever. The music, the food and the decorations were all fantastic.”

Another said: “It was a lovely day indeed – what an amazing thing to do!”

We also held a raffle which raised £137 for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Our Jubilee street party at Woodley Grange was even featured in the Romsey Advertiser! Click here to read more.

Leading up to the celebrations, the residents at Barton Lodge helped with preparations, colouring in different decorations and accessorising different T-shirts. On the day, everyone had a fantastic time wearing crowns and dancing away to guest singer Stephen’s tunes.

Rizwan Walji, Manucourt’s Director of Operations remarked: “We would like to thank the families and local residents who joined us for our Jubilee parties, it was great to celebrate together.

We must also give a big thank you to all our wonderful staff, who worked incredibly hard to make the day so memorable. The residents had a fantastic time!”

Baby chicks bring back egg-cellent memories for Barton Lodge resident

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Baby chicks bring back egg-cellent memories for Barton Lodge resident

Barton Lodge recently brought back treasured memories for one of its residents, a former chicken farmer, by hatching a brood of chicks.

Kathy took over her farm in 1998 where she looked after around 700 chickens, ducks, sheep, and cows.

When our activities team at Barton Lodge discovered more about Kathy’s background in farming they decided to organise eggs for Kathy and the other residents to hatch.

Kathy said: “I was extremely excited to see the chicks. Working on the farm was very hard but lots of fun.

“My greatest love was always incubating the eggs and watching the chicks hatch. This experience has brought back such lovely memories of my time on the farm.”

Kathy’s farm also had a large poly tunnel where they grew fresh produce to sell to local businesses and she even helped to set-up the Sway Farmers Market.

As she got older, Kathy cut back her involvement in the farm before moving to Barton Lodge in 2019.

The eggs were donated by a local farm and staff lovingly incubated the eggs over a three-week period before seven beautiful chicks finally hatched.

Barton Lodge Manager, Amanda Cooper, said: “Raising these chicks has been a wonderful experience for all our residents and we’re so grateful to our staff for organising this wonderful initiative.

“For Kathy it brought back some amazing memories of her time on the farm and this kind of reminiscence is so important.

“It’s been wonderful to see her smiling when they finally hatched.

“The chicks will eventually return to a local free-range farm, but we all wish we could keep them here with us!”

To find out more about activities at Barton Lodge, follow our Facebook page here.

 

Barton Lodge residents take a trip down under to celebrate Australia Day

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Barton Lodge residents take a trip down under to celebrate Australia Day

On 26th January, also known as Australia Day, Barton Lodge residents fully embraced Aussie culture, to celebrate the international holiday which honours the first European settlement in Australia.

To make the day extra special, the staff transformed Barton Lodge with Australian themed decorations, including Australian flag bunting and placemats, kangaroo and shark table decorations, plus a wonderful display showcasing Australia’s indigenous animals.

Jenny, Barton Lodge’s Activities Co-ordinator said; “None of the residents had been to Australia before, so this was the perfect opportunity to experience Australia and learn new things.”

Throughout the day the residents enjoyed learning about Australian animals, Australian music and Australian TV, before having a good old Australian sing song!

The residents were treated to a special Australian Day menu for lunch, which consisted of: ‘Pie Floater’, a very tasty meat pie, which was served on a bed of pea soup and topped with tomato sauce; ‘Barbequed snags’, a big crowd pleaser of sausages served in barbeque sauce, which was finished with a delicious pavlova for dessert.

Barbara, Activities Co-ordinator added; “All of the residents and staff had a fantastic time learning about Australia and sampling the food! We’re now thinking of ideas for our next country visit.”

The residents are already looking forward to visiting the next country! To find out more about the special activities held at Barton Lodge, please click here.

Woodley’s Winter Emporium is back by popular demand!

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Woodley’s Winter Emporium is back by popular demand!

Last year, as part of our Wish Maker initiative, Woodley Grange helped grant Pat’s Christmas wish. Pat wanted to go Christmas shopping with her daughter but was unable to due to the pandemic, so the team at Woodley Grange decided to bring the shops to Pat!

The home received generous donations by staff, relatives and local Romsey businesses to help make this special wish come true. Even a till was kindly donated to help create a realistic shopping experience for the residents.

Due to the huge success of last year’s event, the team at Woodley Grange plan on running the Winter Emporium again this December.

Commenting on the Winter Emporium, Woodley Grange’s activities team, said: “Our residents had such a lovely time – they really appreciated it. We’ve been asked by family members and our residents if we can do this again, and we can’t wait. We understand Christmas can be an expensive time of year, but if you would like to get involved and send in home-made or new gifts for the store, we would be delighted! Any items need to arrive in time to be quarantined for 72 hours before the shop opens on December 6th.”

If you have any questions, please contact activities.woodleygrange@lovingcare-matters.co.uk.

Clive takes to the sky thanks to Manucourt’s Wish Maker campaign

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Clive takes to the sky thanks to Manucourt’s Wish Maker campaign

Clive, a resident at Woodley Grange, wanted to fly like his son in the RAF, so the activities team reached out to the local community for help.

The team received an overwhelming response to Clive’s wish – from people offering VR headsets so Clive and other residents at the home could experience flying, to British Airway’s Cabin Crew offering to visit the home and give an inflight safety briefing. The activities team were also approached by Simon Hughes, a Consultant at Southampton Hospital and Doctor for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, who generously offered to take Clive for a trip on his plane.

On Wednesday 25th August, Clive and Tony, another resident from Woodley Grange who used to work with Spitfires as RAF Ground Crew in Gibraltar, were invited to Popham Airfield for their first outing since before the pandemic. Clive and Tony set off on a short flight with Simon around Hampshire, taking in the breath-taking scenery.

Watch Clive’s special wish come true below:

For more information about our Wish Maker campaign, please click here.