Hylands House Newsletter

January 2021

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is over and we are now in a New Year. While sadly we still have  COVID-19 Virus keeping us all indoors, here at Hylands House we are bringing the fun indoors for all our residents. Over Christmas all enjoyed many festive activities including a socially distanced show from the talented (The Entertainment Providers company) who put on an amazing 1 man singing show for the residents who thoroughly enjoyed dancing to the music and laughing at the staff’s dance moves, which was heard throughout the home. We hope that you all enjoyed Christmas and would like to wish everyone a happy New Year!

Vaccinations

Hylands House residents and staff have all had their first Covid-19 Vaccination on the 29^th of December 2020. We are lucky to have received this vaccination so early on in order to help us fight against the virus. We are currently awaiting confirmation of the second dose and will update you when we here further.

Christmas

Christmas 2020 was a year to remember, waking up in an uncertain time ment we knew we needed to make christmas extra special at Hylands House. Residents woke up with stocking full of goodies including yummy chocolates. Once they had a lovely breakfast it was time to open all the amazing gifts they had been sent from friends and family which brought much happiness. Each resident had a smile from ear to ear as they read cards from all their loved ones. Once all presents were opend the residents enjoyed a beautiful traditional christmas dinner of Cotswold Roast Turkey with all the trimmings followed by a fantastic homemade christmas pudding all prepared by our chef. The festive fun didn’t stop at just presents and food, crackers were enjoyed by all with christmas hats being worn creating lots of laughter along with the jokes inside each craker. The evening of christmas, all residents got cozy in the lounge ready to watch some festive favourite films along with a buffet for supper where residents shared fond memories of christmas with the staff and told lots of stories.

Care Review Meetings

Care review meetings are an important part of a relatives involvment in the care provided. Regular care review meetings enable relatives to discuss or raise any concerns they may have regarding their loved ones. It is also a good way for relatives to maintain conctact with the home manager for support and guideance if required. If you would like to book a Care Review Meetting over the phone with Shelley to discuss matters or ask any questions you may have, please email Jade or Shelley on [email protected] to book this in.

All the staff at Hylands House would like to thank everyone who brought in gifts over christmas. It was very much appriciated and very kind of you all. We hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year.

Hylands House

Hylands House Newsletter

Septmeber 2020

September-Where does the time go!

Visiting

We hope you are all safe and keeping well. As you may have seen on the news, we are experiencing a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases, across the UK population. I need to alert you to the first signs this rise is being reflected in care homes too.

Over the past three days, Public Health England (PHE) has reported an increase in notifications of COVID-19 cases in care homes. Testing data has also shown an increase in the number of positive results. Currently, the infections are mainly affecting the workforce but clearly there is a risk the virus will spread to care home residents, or to other parts of the care sector. With this in mind we would like to inform you that Hylands House will be placed on lock down from this time until further notice.

We hope you can appreciate how important this decision is to safeguard our residents, staff and your family members. We are pleased to inform you that Hylands House remains Covid-19 free and the we continue to undertake regular Covid-19 testing of both staff and residents.

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your continued support and understanding during this difficult time. Please do not hesitate to contact Shelley if you wish to discuss this matter further.

Instagram

We are uploading photos regulalrly on to Instagram, so please take time to have a look.

Care Review Meetings

Care review meetings will be held with the manager over the telephone due to the home remaining closed to visits. Many of you have already completed the care review meetings but for those of you who have not, please feel free to contact Shelley to arrange a time and date for a care review meeting to take place.

Also – a gentle reminder to those of you who have not yet provided an email address, please let us have these as soon as possible. Thank you.

Our email address is: [email protected]

Finally, the newsetter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com

Shelley

Home Manager

Hylands House Newsletter

January 2021

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is over and we are now in a New Year. While sadly we still have  COVID-19 Virus keeping us all indoors, here at Hylands House we are bringing the fun indoors for all our residents. Over Christmas all enjoyed many festive activities including a socially distanced show from the talented (The Entertainment Providers company) who put on an amazing 1 man singing show for the residents who thoroughly enjoyed dancing to the music and laughing at the staff’s dance moves, which was heard throughout the home. We hope that you all enjoyed Christmas and would like to wish everyone a happy New Year!

Vaccinations

Hylands House residents and staff have all had their first Covid-19 Vaccination on the 29^th of December 2020. We are lucky to have received this vaccination so early on in order to help us fight against the virus. We are currently awaiting confirmation of the second dose and will update you when we here further. 

Christmas

Christmas 2020 was a year to remember, waking up in an uncertain time ment we knew we needed to make christmas extra special at Hylands House. Residents woke up with stocking full of goodies including yummy chocolates. Once they had a lovely breakfast it was time to open all the amazing gifts they had been sent from friends and family which brought much happiness. Each resident had a smile from ear to ear as they read cards from all their loved ones. Once all presents were opend the residents enjoyed a beautiful traditional christmas dinner of Cotswold Roast Turkey with all the trimmings followed by a fantastic homemade christmas pudding all prepared by our chef. The festive fun didn’t stop at just presents and food, crackers were enjoyed by all with christmas hats being worn creating lots of laughter along with the jokes inside each craker. The evening of christmas, all residents got cozy in the lounge ready to watch some festive favourite films along with a buffet for supper where residents shared fond memories of christmas with the staff and told lots of stories.

Care Review Meetings

Care review meetings are an important part of a relatives involvment in the care provided. Regular care review meetings enable relatives to discuss or raise any concerns they may have regarding their loved ones. It is also a good way for relatives to maintain conctact with the home manager for support and guideance if required. If you would like to book a Care Review Meetting over the phone with Shelley to discuss matters or ask any questions you may have, please email Jade or Shelley on [email protected] to book this in.

All the staff at Hylands House would like to thank everyone who brought in gifts over christmas. It was very much appriciated and very kind of you all. We hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year.

Hylands House

Hylands House Newsletter

April 2020

We hope that you are all safe and keeping well in these unprecedented times.  We appreciate how difficult it is to not be able to visit your loved ones, but hope that you are reassured that the care they are receiving continues to be of the highest standard.

Many relatives are taking the opportunity to stay in touch with their loved ones via Facetime and Skype using the dedicated ipad number and also by calling Hylands House and sending emails.

I would like to continue to promote these methods of communication as the residents and relatives seem be getting a lot of pleasure from this. If any relative is unsure of how to contact their relative, we have attached the communication information. Please reach out to the office and we would be more than happy to talk you through setting this up.

I am pleased to inform you that Hylands House has remained free of any COVID cases, for both residents and staff. As you are aware the number is people infected continues to rise, but we are being resilient and taking all precautions.

I believe that this is due to our decision to close Hylands House to visitors at an early stage and before the official Government lockdown.  This is also due to staff training on infection prevention and control measures and the use of ppe which we have been able to maintain through our supply chain.  We are accepting no visits from other professionals, unless absolutely necessary.  The GPs are completing a virtual ward round with the residents, which enables them to see and speak to the residents.

As we have had to cancel all of the entertainment and visits, the staff are working hard to make sure that there are varied activities every day.  We continue with wordsearch, flower arranging, poetry, arts and crafts, chair yoga exercise to music and bingo to name a few. Easter was celebrated with all residents receiving a chocolate easter egg to enjoy. As the weather has been so lovely recently, the residents have enjoyed being the garden.

Residents and staff have enjoyed music and songs, with singers provided by the “kissing it better” charity.   The singers set up outside in the driveway and sing to the residents in the conservatory.

We are also setting up a Instagram account for Hylands House in due course and will share the details with you. We will look to post pcitures of residents so relatives can view these. If you have any queries around this please feel free to contact Hylands House.

Also – if you have not yet provided an email address, please let us have this as soon as possible.

Our new email address is: [email protected]

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Shelley – Home Manager

Hylands House New Year’s Newsletter

January 2020

Much of this newsletter seems to be about what has already happened!

Remembrance Service. As announced in December’s newsletter, we held a very special and emotional service where we remembered past residents by welcoming their families to join us to celebrate their lives. Names were read out and a rose placed in a vase for each resident.  We would like to thank Betty for taking the service.

Relative’s Meeting. At the recent meeting with relatives we were asked if it would be possible to inform everyone when a resident has passed away.  We have discussed this and decided that, due to GDPR and confidentiality issues, we will let you know of the passing of a resident in the following way:   A red rose will be put in the corner of the newsletter that month, which will indicate that a resident has passed away.  We will also put up a picture of a rose on the noticeboard in reception. You are then welcome to enquire in the office as to who it is.

****************************

The Christmas Party Thank you to everyone who supported this event to begin our Christmas celebrations.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon with Christmas songs and carols sung by Phoebe Appleby. Residents wore Christmas hats and joined in the singing with musical instruments!  The Lady Mayor and her party arrived at 14.30 and stayed to the end.  They managed to win several tombola prizes and enjoyed coffee and mince pies with the residents and family members.  The bear was won by “Little Man”, our therapy dog who visits every fortnight.  We raised an amazing £295.80 for the Residents’ Fund.  Well done.  The re-raffle of the hamper among the staff was won by Jackie Smith, who is still on her sensible eating diet, so quite a bit of it was further distributed among her family and friends!

 

New Year’s Eve brings memories of the past and a welcome to 2020. We hope that you all enjoyed Christmas and would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year! Christmas at Hylands was very busy and everyone enjoyed the festivities.  Christmas morning was fun: all the residents were given their presents and opened their stockings, which, among other things, had chocolates inside – yum!  They didn’t spoil appetites for lunch though, which was enjoyed by everyone. Thank you Clive for making this a very special meal for everyone. Boxing day was a nice relaxing day when time was spent playing board games, chatting and watching classic films.

Events for January are displayed on the notice board.  One particularly important occasion this month is Chinese New Year. This is the year of the “White Rat”, and we celebrate this with a special Chinese day, including food: fun for all.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Tony will be here every Wednesday afternoon as usual doing exercise to music, everyone is welcome to come along and join in! The hairdresser visits every week and our residents look forward to this special time.  A full list of activities and visits is displayed on the notice board. Something is going on every day and you are always welcome to join in.

Also – if you have not yet provided an email address, please let us have this as soon as possible.  Our email address is: [email protected]

If you would like to speak to me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can. I am out regularly on a Thursday afternoon doing a course in Operations Management.

Shelley – Home Manager

Hylands House Newsletter

December 2019

As we have Christmas quickly approaching, we all at Hylands remember residents who have passed away this year.  We will be holding a service on 11^th December to remember them.  The service will be held at 14.00 and we welcome their families and friends.

We welcome three new members of staff this month. – Marie, Handeep and Maureen. We hope they will all enjoy working here.

Our Christmas Party will be held on 20^th December and we look forward to seeing everyone. Phoebe Appleby will be entertaining from 14.00 and the Mayor will be visiting at 14.30.  Coffee, Tea and Mince Pies will be served and we will be drawing our Christmas Raffle etc.

As you may be aware, I have taken on the role of organising the activities at the home.  If there are any hobbies or activities or interests that your relatives would like to do, please see me when you visit Hylands and I will get this arranged.  Thank you, Martyn.

Christmas!

At the present time we are all excited for Christmas and are going to enjoy a festive season at Hylands. Christmas and Boxing Day lunches are available for relatives too.  We have put up our menus for Christmas and Boxing Day on the board in reception. If you would like to join us for either of these days (or both!), please let Dawn know.  The cost will be £10.00 per lunch.  Spaces are limited, so if you would like to come please put your name down as soon as possible.

You may have noticed the lovely white teddy bear in reception, we are having a “name the bear” competition which will be drawn at the Christmas party on 20^th December.  If you would like to have a chance to win this bear, just write your name next to any of the available names on the board.  It costs £1.00 per go and you can have as many goes as you like. Raffle tickets are also available to buy for the Christmas Hamper and other great prizes.  These are £1.00 per strip.  We are also asking for raffle and tombola prizes and a box is in reception for these.  We hope to have a table selling books and puzzles if you can help with this.  Please have a good look at the notice board for all details.  All monies raised will be put into the Residents’ fund.

Hylands House and all the staff would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Tony will be here every Wednesday afternoon as usual doing exercise to music, everyone is welcome to come along and join in!  This is some of the other activity planned for December.  Do please feel free to join us.

December:

1^st   Film Afternoon

2^nd  Magic Table – group activity / Christmas Trees arrive

3^rd   Games & Puzzles

4^th   Tony – exercise to music 14.30

5^th   Crafts

6^th    Music Therapist

7^th    Tree decorating

8^th    Board Painting – group

9^th    “Little Man” pet therapy – 11.00

10^th   Prize Bingo

11^th   Tony – exercise to music 14.30 / Remembrance Service – 14.00

12^th   Word Search

13^th   Christmas Cards / Decorating Trees

14^th   Baking

15^th   Christmas Film

16^th   Post Box Crafts

17^th   The Music Man 14.30

 18^th   Tony – exercise to music 14.30

 19^th   Paper Chains

20^th   Christmas Party

21^st   Christmas Word Search

22^nd   Prize Bingo

23^rd   Little Man / Barry Juckes

24^th   Crafts – Birthday Cards

25^th   Christmas Day

26^th   Boxing Day – Christmas Film and Sweets

27^th   Magic Table

28^th   Christmas Film

29^th   Bingo

30^th   Christmas Memories

31^st   New Years Resolutions

The hairdresser visits every week and our residents look forward to this special time.

A full list of activities and visits is displayed on the notice board.

Also – if you have not yet provided an email address, please let us have this as soon as possible.

Our email address is: [email protected]. If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Shelley – Home Manager

May 2019

 

Spring seems to be here and the weather is much warmer with lighter nights nowthat the clocks have gone forward. The gardens are looking very colourful with allthe flowers popping up everywhere and it is lovely to see the blossom on the trees.

The re-decoration in the reception area is nearly finished. The walls have all been painted and there are new coffee tables, clock and notice boards. Make sure you look at the board nearest the office for any future events etc. There is also a new staff board and shelf for photo albums of activities. Thank you for all the lovely, positive comments regarding the “new look” reception area.

Welcome back Elaine! Many of you will have seen Elaine back at Hylands House after several months absence due to illness. It is good to see you back here and looking so well. Elaine will be having a phased return to work over several weeks.

Easter Day Lunch

We were very pleased to welcome two relatives who joined us for Easter Sunday Lunch. The warm weather helped to make it a special day for everyone.

If you would like to have lunch at any time with your relative, please see Dawn, Elaine or Shelley. We need 24 hours notice and make a small charge of £5.00 to cover costs.

EASTER RAFFLE:

Thank you to everyone who supported our Easter Raffle afternoon. The lovely easter egg baskets were won by: Jackie Emms (staff) and Liz Ball (relative). A beautiful chocolate cake, made by our chef Clive, was won by Christine Linguard (relative).

The first prize is still unclaimed! If you have a pink raffle ticket, number 30, please bring it in to the office and give to Shelley or Dawn to claim the prize!!

The chocolate tombola proved very popular with lots of lovely prizes ranging from large easter eggs, chocolate liquor, boxes of chocolates, gift bags full of chocolate and even a chocolate coloured toilet brush!

It was lovely to see so many people here enjoying tea and homemade cake and having a go at winning some prizes.

Thank you very much to everyone who donated chocolate for the raffle and tombola. We managed to raise £177.00 for the Residents Fund.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY in May

Tony will be here every Wednesday afternoon as usual doing exercise to music, everyone is welcome to come along and join in!

6th Spring Bank Holiday

7th Dog therapy at 11.00. Everyone is welcome to come along and see “Little Man” a beautiful French Bulldog who will be visiting every fortnight.

9th Barry will be entertaining from 14.30. Everyone welcome.

16th Communion 11am

 

21st The Music Man will be entertaining from 15.00. Again, everyone welcome

27th Spring Bank Holiday

28th Phoebe Appleby will be coming along at 15.00 to entertain us with a variety of songs. All welcome to come along, especially if you will join in!

Relatives’ meeting.

A reminder that there will be a meeting on Tuesday June 11th at 16.00.

A list of dates for all meetings throughout the year is on the notice board.

Also – a gentle reminder to those of you who have not yet provided an email address, please let us have these as soon as possible. Thank you.

Our email address is: [email protected]

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Finally, the newsletter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com

Shelley

Home Manager

Hylands House

APRIL NEWSLETTER

Spring and the warmer weather have arrived at last.   The gardens are looking colourful with all the daffodils and tulips popping up everywhere and it is lovely to see the blossom on the trees.  Easter will soon be here and we have a couple of events to look forward to, details are below.

CHICKENS! 

We had nine fertilised hens’ eggs delivered in an incubator on Monday 18^th March and these hatched over the next couple of days, with one being very late to arrive!   They were all different colours ranging from pale yellow to orange and even striped.  See the pictures…..Everyone was able to watch them develop and even handle them!  They have proved to be impossible to ignore with staff, residents, relatives and visitors to Hylands all captivated by them.  The chickens will be leaving on Thursday 28^th March and taken to a farm where they will carry on being looked after.

To raise money for the residents’ fund, we held a “name the chick” competition:

A list of 50 names was put in the reception area and we sold these at £1.00 each.  The names sold so quickly that another list of 50 names was put up.  The final amount raised was an amazing £92.00.

The main prize was won by Clive (chef) with the winning name Paxo!!

Thank you to everyone who bought names and well done to the winners!

Mothering Sunday

Everyone enjoyed the lovely lunch prepared by our chef, Clive.  It was nice to welcome family members to enjoy the day as well.

Easter Day Lunch

You are very welcome to join your relative or friend for Easter Sunday Lunch.  A poster and menu have been put up in the Home.  We are charging £5.50 to cover catering costs.  We are limited as to numbers so if you would like to join us, then please let Dawn know as soon as possible.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

APRIL:  Tony will be here every Wednesday afternoon as usual doing exercise to music, everyone is welcome to come along and join in!

And then

Tuesday, 2^nd  Phoebe Appleby will be coming along at 15.00 to entertain us with a variety of songs.  All welcome.

Monday,  8^th

Dog therapy at 11.00.  Everyone is welcome to come along and see “Little Man” a beautiful French Bulldog who will be visiting every fortnight.

Thursday 11^th  Barry will be entertaining from 14.30.  Everyone welcome.

15th Elaine has been on sick leave for the last six months, but we are pleased to know that she is well enough to come back to Hylands part time and will rejoin the team.

Monday 16^th  Easter Raffle with Chocolate Tombola.  Tea/Coffee and Cakes from 15.00.  Please come along and support this event.  For details, see below.

Thursday 18^th  Communion

19^th  Good Friday.  Hot cross buns at coffee time.

21^st  Easter Sunday

CHOCOLATE!

22^nd Easter Monday

Tuesday 23^rd  The Music Man will be entertaining from 15.00.  Everyone welcome

EASTER RAFFLE and CHOCOLATE TOMBOLA!

Tuesday 16^th April at 3 o/clock –   We will also be  serving Tea / Coffee and Cakes

Donations of chocolate items for the tombola (Easter eggs, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars etc.) will be gratefully received. Please leave in the basket outside the office.

Come and join us for this fun event and help raise money for the residents fund!

Also – a gentle reminder to those of you who have not yet provided an email address, please let us have these as soon as possible. Thank you.

Our email address now is: [email protected]

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Finally, the newsletter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com

Shelley

Home Manager

January is usually a rather quiet month, apart from when the weather gets worse, grey, cold and perhaps snowy, but we have Christmas to report, so this is a looking back as well as forward.

Sad things first: Ethel had been with us for just over 5 years when she died peacefully in December. Gary had been here on transitional day care for a while and then came lately to live with us, but died, just before Christmas. May they both rest in peace.

The Christmas celebrations were a lovely mixture of music and food with presents and a raffle too which raised £103 for the Residents’ fund. We also had lots of visitors of course, including the Mr Music, Barry Juckes. The Mayor came and both he and his wife won prizes (no fix, I promise!) There was also the colourfully dressed Town Crier. Thank you very much to them all. Thank you also to Baileys, who supply us with fruit and veg all year. They gave a lovely basket of fruit for our raffle, which was won by one of the chefs, who generously donated it in turn to another member of staff.

This month we have the Music Man coming on January 29th, a Tuesday. If you can make it, please feel free to join us. Tony continues to come on Wednesdays for movement exercise, dressed in shorts, whatever the weather!

Next month, Barry Juckes will be here on February 8th and the Music Man will be back again on the 28th.

This is an opportunity to meet other relatives and staff, make friends, share experiences and, if you have any concerns, it is a good time to raise them aside from a review meeting.

Most important: Relatives’ Meeting on February 11th at 4pm

If you need to speak to me at any time, please feel do contact me, either in person, by phone or email at [email protected]

Very best wishes for the New Year,

 

Michelle Sheasby

Hylands House Newsletter December 2018 

Its hard to believe that this year is coming towards its end. As usual, it seems have flown by, but a lot has happened. The house is being decorated in readiness for Christmas but it doesn’t seem possible that it’s almost a year since we took the decorations down.

As usual at this time of year, we have lots of entertainment. On December 4th, the choir from HAMPTON LUCY PRIMARY SCHOOL are coming to sing for us at a special CAROL SERVICE.

The following week, Wednesday 12th is a very musical
date. At 11am, we have an ACCORDIAN BAND coming which promises to be very jolly and later on, at 2.30pm, Tony continues to entertain and stimulate with his weekly ‘movement to music’ exercise. He is still wearing shorts, whatever the weather!

Holy Communion will take place on Thursday 20th December at 11.00

Party. Friday 21st is the residents’ Christmas party, to which everyone is

warmly invited. Do come along, even if you can only spare half an hour. We’ll be ready for musician BARRY DUKES at 2.30 and carry on for the rest of the afternoon with the usual party food. The MAYOR, CLLR JOHN BICKNELL, will arrive at about 3.30 and we will ask him to draw the RAFFLE while he is here. We have some fantastic prizes, so make sure you have plenty of tickets. All proceeds to the Residents’ Fund.

The usual routines carry on as normal with hairdresser Jane Slater coming every Wednesday and the Chiropodist, Karen Harrison, coming on Thursday 20th. Fixing the feet before the party!

Elaine is in good spirits. She is having surgery on 24th December, so perhaps you would keep her in mind? Her daughter Laura is expecting a baby in February, so she has a big EVENT to look forward to. We wish her all the best.

Just a gentle reminder, could all visitors please fill in the visitors book in the reception, even for short visits. This is to comply with CQC and Fire regulations.

We have provided a handwash by the door to the lounge for the use of all visitors and staff. It is especially important that it is used at this time of year when ‘outside’ there are so many bugs on handles, railings and other surfaces which most people have better resistance to than our residents.

We are continuing the resident reviews, which are intended as a formal exchange of information and ideas, and we hope to have them finished shortly, meanwhile,  if you need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

The newsletter will be available on our website www.hylandshousecare.com and on the noticeboard in the reception area.

On behalf of all the staff at Hylands may I take this opportunity to wish you a very merry Christmas and peace and happiness in the  New Year

Shelley
Home Manager                         

 November Newsletter

Well, if there was ever any doubt that winter is upon us, we’ve been woken up to some very cold  mornings lately.  Is it in my imagination or is it true that, once the clocks have changed, winter quickly races in and the days suddenly seem very much shorter? 

   Hallowe’en brought a little witch and a vampire into Hylands, and very shy but scary they were!      

Thank you Elgee for bringing in little Cameron and Naomi.  We shared our ghostly shortbread biscuits with them.

The Music Man with live guitar continues to be very popular with residents and visitors alike.   Thank you Sara for arranging this. Somehow, once the music starts, we can remember more words than at first we thought we knew.   He is coming on November 16th and again on November 30th.  

Tony does exercise to music every Wednesday afternoon and everyone enjoys that too.  Do feel free to come along this or any of the other events.  We have regular entertainment from Barry playing keyboard and singing. He is coming next on 22nd November in the afternoon. 

There is a Holy Communion service at 11am in the morning of that day,  Thursday 22nd November, 

at Hylands which is run by Trinity Church congregation members and you are very welcome to join us.  

Some residents enjoy going to the Tea Party event at the Methodist Hall each month.   

And now for some details about our new Manager, Shelley Sheasby, who will be with us while Elaine is on sick leave.  Firstly, I have to say a big ‘Thank you’ to her for giving up her job to come to us on a temporary contract. Its quite a bold move and I extend a very warm welcome to her. Shelley has lots of experience of working in Care, although she hasn’t worked in a small Home before.  We hope she will look at Hylands with a new eye and give us the benefit of her experience.  There are always things we can improve and I hope you will use this change of Manager to communicate any ideas which you may have.  She is looking forward to getting to know people, so do pop your head into the office or stay for a coffee when you are in Hylands and introduce yourself. 

We are also very pleased to tell you about a new member of the night staff.  Caroline Copeland has just moved to Stratford from a big care home in Birmingham and again, has lots of experience of caring. I hope that she will enjoy working with our staff and residents.   

Clive and I have agreed a new menu for the next 4 weeks, which I will add to the website, so if you have      any comments, please tell us. 

As most of you know, I have been in Hylands for 3 days every week now for some time and I must say that I have very much enjoyed getting to know people and their needs better.  I am off to Australia next week just as Shelley arrives (I promise you that it was organised a long time ago!) to see 3 of my grandsons, including one newly-born.  I shall be in touch frequently on WhatsApp and emails however and I am of course eager to know how things are going.  

As always, if you have anything which you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to contact either Shelley or myself or one of the seniors. 

Fiona Roebuck, 

[email protected]

07779  329255

Hylands House Newsletter

October 2018

Autumn has arrived after a long and very hot Summer.  I think we have all noticed the cooler temperatures and started looking out our woolies!

Entertainment.

Barry will be coming to entertain on Friday 26^th at 14.30

Also

The Music Man  will be coming on Friday 19^th October and Thursday 1^st November at 14.00. This has very kindly been organised by Gordon’s family.

We continue to have Tony on Wednesday afternoons to provide exercise to music for the residents.  Any visitors who may be here are welcome to join in!

You are welcome to come to our Saturday afternoon film, when we enjoy ice cream in the interval and indulge in some nostalgia.  On Saturday 13^th we will be watching High Noon from about 2pm.  A fortnight later, 27th October, it will be Casablanca.

There will be some KES students joining us regularly on Thursday afternoons  to join us and interact with the residents, doing jigsaws and playing games and so on.

 

Holy Communion will take place on Thursday 18^th October at 11.00

Coffee Morning 

It was decided to hold a MacMillan coffee morning on Friday 28^th of September.  As this was a last minute decision, thank you to everyone who supported this event and attended at short notice.  We raised £109.50 for this very worthwhile cause.

Lots of staff news

As most of you are now aware, Elaine has been diagnosed with a serious illness which requires surgery and several months of treatment.  She will not be in work during this time but any messages can be left in the office and Dawn will forward these on to her.  We wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, we are very fortunate to have a new Manager while Elaine is away.  Michelle (Shelley) worked in the Stratford area at the beginning of her Caring career but promotion in recent years took her to Leamington.   She has lots of experience of  working with dementia.  She will join us at the end of the month, but will be popping in at intervals before then.  Some of you may have met her already.  Thank you Shelley for joining us.

Following the retirement of Wendy, we have a new Chef, Clive and a new relief Cook, Neil.   We also welcome Martyn, a new, very experienced Carer. We hope they will all be happy in Hylands. It is also good to have Carol back with us after a period of recovery following her hip operation.

New residents

We also welcome two new residents to Hylands House.  Francesca and Gary.  Some of you will remember that Gary used to come in for day care but has now come to stay permanently.

Birthday celebrations this month:          

John Pardo on the 6^th and Jackie Smith and Sorina Vasilache on the 4^th and 11^th.  Congratulations from us all.

And finally…..

Just a gentle reminder, could all visitors please fill in the visitors book in the reception, even for short visits.  This is to comply with CQC and Fire regulations.

At the request of a relative we have provided a handwash, this is by the door to the lounge for the use of all visitors and staff.  

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

The newsletter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com   and on the noticeboard in the reception area. 

Very best wishes

Fiona Roebuck

Director   

Hylands House Newsletter

August 2018

The excellent weather and beautiful sunshine have continued and many of you have managed to sit outside and enjoy the garden.  Temperatures have sometimes been a little too hot!

We have Barry coming to entertain on Friday 24^th August at 14.30.  You are all welcome to come along and join in. 

We continue to have Tony on Wednesday afternoons to provide exercise to music for the residents.  Any visitors who may be here are welcome to join in !

Holy Communion will take place on Thursday 16^th August at 11.30.    

 

We held our Summer Fete on Saturday 21^st July. The weather was beautiful and very hot. The tables were arranged around the garden and a gazebo kept the cake stall under cover!  The entertainment was provided by “Mr PeeWee”, a drumming puppet!  with music ranging from the 1950’s through to the 1980’s.  He proved a great hit with everyone and we all loved his rescue dog, Pepe, who lay by his side throughout the show.   A total of £252.95 was raised for the Residents Fund.  A big thank you to everyone who helped on one of the tables, especially Amanda,who bravely took charge of the extremely busy cream tea and drinks table!!  Well done!  Also, Christine on the cakes, June and Maddy on crafts and Fiona who ran the Tombola. Not forgetting Dawn and Elaine who ran the raffle!  Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event.

 

We are very happy to tell you that we have taken on a Chef who will be joining us in September.  He has come very highly recommended and has worked at some quite prestigious places during his career.  He is looking forward to joining the team and is very keen to interact and hopefully do some cooking with the residents  We hope that he will be very happy at Hylands House.

It is with regret that we have to inform you that after many years as a Senior Carer, Michelle has decided to step down from this role and become a Carer.  

Chris has agreed to take on the Senior Carer role, on a trial basis for a month, to see if she is happy with the extra responsibilities.

Both of these changes are with immediate effect.

Sadly, we have recently lost two of our residents.  We send our condolences to their families.

Just a gentle reminder, could all visitors please fill in the visitors book in the reception, even for short visits.  This is to comply with CQC and Fire regulations.

At the request of a relative we have provided a handwash, this is by the door to the lounge for the use of all visitors and staff.  

The newsletter will be available on our website and on the noticeboard in the reception area. 

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Finally, the newsletter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com

Elaine

Home Manager

Hylands House Newsletter
July 2018

 

 

The weather has continued to stay lovely and hot with just a few showers which has helped us to do some work in the garden.  Diane’s family have planted a lovely fragrant, golden yellow rose bush to celebrate Diane and Tony’s golden wedding anniversary. Many congratulations to both of you.

Mary recently celebrated her 101^st birthday.  The Home was decorated with bunting, banners and balloons and a special buffet tea was served with a lovely birthday cake made by Wendy. Everyone joined in the celebrations and a lovely time was had by all.

We have Barry coming to entertain on Tuesday 17^th July at 14.30.  You are all welcome to come along and join in. 

We continue to have Tony on Wednesday afternoons to provide exercise to music for the residents.  Any visitors who may be here are welcome to join in !

Holy Communion will take place on Thursday 19^th July at 11.30.    

Our Summer Fete is on Saturday 21^st July from 2.30 to 4.00pm.  If the weather is nice, we will arrange the tables outside in the garden.   We will be holding a Raffle and also Tombola, Cake and Craft stalls as well as serving Cream Teas.  Posters have been put up around the Home with further details.  Any offers of help, please see Elaine or Dawn in the office. Donations for the raffle and tombola can be left in the box in reception, or given into the office.  All proceeds will go into the Residents Fund so please come along and support this event.

We would like to welcome a new member of staff:  Michael Smith, who has joined as a Gardener.   His photograph will soon be on the board in the reception.  We hope that he will be very happy at Hylands House.

We are looking for a cook to replace Wendy, who, after many years at Hylands House has decided to retire in September.  We also require a relief cook to help out in the kitchen and to cover days off and holidays.

If you are interested, or know someone who would like either of these jobs, then please let Elaine know.

Just a gentle reminder, could all visitors please fill in the visitors book in the reception, even for short visits.  This is to comply with CQC and Fire regulations.

At the request of a relative we have provided a handwash, this is by the door to the lounge for the use of all visitors and staff.  

From next month, to cut down on costs, all newsletters will be emailed and not posted, if you have not let us have an email address previously, then please make sure that we have these as soon as possible.  The newsletter will also be available on our website and on the noticeboard in the reception area. 

If you do need to see me about anything and I am not available when you visit, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will contact you as soon as I can.

Finally, the newsetter will be available each month on our website: www.hylandshousecare.com

Elaine

Home Manager

Hylands House Newsletter

June 2017

To:  

All Residents, Relatives and Friends

Here is our June Newsletter – keeping you up to date with what has been happening at Hylands House.

On June 20^th Mary celebrated her 100^th Birthday and received her greetings card from the Queen.  Her family and friends spent the afternoon with her and a buffet tea, with birthday cake, was enjoyed by all the residents.  A very enthusiastic “Happy Birthday” was sung by everyone.  For those of you who read the Stratford Herald, you may have seen Mary’s photograph in the newspaper!

Beverly has a birthday at the beginning of July so “Many Happy Returns” to her from everyone here.

Two new residents moved in this month.  I would like to welcome Georgette and Eileen to Hylands House and we hope that they will enjoy living with us.  Georgette has been a regular day care visitor and has now become a permanent resident.

We have a new member of staff.  Heather Evans joined us recently as a Care Assistant and we hope that she will be very happy working at Hylands.

Our photo board in reception has been updated and is full to overflowing!  You will now be able to put a name to the faces you see

when you visit.

Mandy, who has worked with us since 2005, is now working on our bank team and will come in when she can.  She has had to give up her work here on a regular basis due to family commitments.  Thank you Mandy for all your hard work since you started almost 12 years ago.

Just a reminder – our annual Quality Assurance questionnaires were sent out in May but we have had very few returned.  I should be grateful if any outstanding forms could be completed and sent back please – this is our main way of finding out what we are doing right – and wrong!  Thank you.

Barry entertained us again last month and was as popular as ever – he will be returning on 13 July at 2.30pm.

We also enjoyed a visit from the Bollywood Dance Company when Rani danced for us and encouraged everyone to join in!!  This was something different and was very well received.  They will be making a return visit!  Friends and relatives are always welcome to join us for any of these events.

As the weather has been so hot recently, we have a new gazebo for the garden where residents can sit comfortably in the shade.  This will also be useful at our SUMMER FAYRE on 22 July from 3.00 – 5.00pm.

Many thanks to everyone who has brought in raffle and tombola prizes for the Fayre – any donations are gratefully received.  All proceeds from this Fayre will be for our Residents Fund.

In August 2014 when we first booked the steel band, it was agreed by everyone present then that this was one of the best events we had ever held.  Please come along and enjoy their return visit with us.  We look forward to seeing you.

Lastly, if you need to speak to me and I am not around, please leave a message with a member of staff and I will get back to you.

Elaine, Home Manager

Hylands House Newsletter

December 2017

All Residents, Relatives and Friends

First of all I would like to wish you all   A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR   from everyone at Hylands.  I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas – we all did here!

I would also like to thank you for the Christmas presents you kindly brought in for our staff.  We were inundated with bottles of wine, boxes of chocolates and tins of biscuits which meant every member of staff went home with something.  This is very much appreciated by us all.  We also had some lovely cards with many thank you messages – again, this means a lot to our hard-working team members.

We had three main entertainments for Christmas spread out through December.  At the beginning of the month Eva Long Productions brought their pantomime “Mother Goose” to Hylands.  Although there were only two performers they were “big” characters and the show was very lively and colourful.  Residents, relatives and staff enjoyed the afternoon, joining in and having fun.  We will certainly be having Eva Long Productions here again with another show.

Then we had a visit from St Gregory’s School when some of their pupils came to sing for us.  They had spent some time making cards for every resident which was a lovely idea, and they sang very nicely for us.  St Gregory’s have started to make this an annual visit and we will look forward to their visit next December.

Finally we had our annual Christmas party for residents, relatives and friends.  Barry entertained us and then we had the hamper raffle and a festive buffet tea.  The Mayor of Stratford, Councillor Victoria Alcock, joined us for this occasion with the Beadle – they enjoyed our party, and a glass of sherry!

Wendy cooked the traditional lunch on Christmas Day as usual and residents received family and friends throughout the day.

So now the decorations have come down and we are back to normal again!

January is usually a quiet month but we have Barry returning to play and sing for us at 2.30pm on Friday 26 January.  I know he is very popular, so please come and join us if you would like to.

We have four birthdays to celebrate in January.  Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns go to Pam, Diane, Eileen and Saff.  We hope they enjoy their special days.

I now have two new members of staff to introduce to you.  I would like to welcome Dora and Stacey to our care team and we hope that they will be very happy working here.

Finally, if you need to speak to me, please leave a message with a member of staff if I am not available.  Otherwise I am usually to be found in the office or around the home – somewhere!

Elaine (Home Manager)

Hylands House Newsletter
May 2017
To:
All Residents, Relatives and Friends

It appears that summer has come … and now gone again! We have enjoyed the lovely sunny days in May by sitting out in the garden with tea and coffee and taking family and friends outside. Everyone is saying how pretty the garden is looking, so many thanks to Marion our gardener.

We have two residents who celebrate their birthdays in June. Many Happy Returns go to Sheila whose birthday is at the beginning of June. Then on June 20 Mary will be 100!! We all look forward to making her day special with her friends and family.

We are sad to tell you that Mollie passed away recently. She had only been a resident at Hylands House for a few months but had quickly become “one of the family” and we will all miss her. Our condolences go to her family and friends.

Now for some staff news. We would like to welcome Jessica Radbourne to our care team. Jessica will be working night shifts and we hope that she will be very happy here.
Sam (our Housekeeper) and Max (our Domestic) have recently been on a “Cleaning – Back to Basics” course which they both found very useful and interesting. They came back full of inspiration and immediately put
several new cleaning regimes in place! Everyone remarks how clean the home is, so now it will be positively sparkling!
Many of our care staff have now enrolled on a “Dignity and Safeguarding” course which will mean a lot of hard work in their own time, but will be a valuable addition to their training. As you can see, training is ongoing here – there is usually a course being taken by someone!

Ken (our Maintenance man) has been busy decorating the reception area and I think you will agree it looks nice – fresh and welcoming.

As you will have noticed, our car park is quite often very congested these days. Therefore we would ask that, during the week, please only use our car park if you are visiting one of our residents. If you do have to double park, please let a staff member know so we can ask you to move if necessary. Many thanks.

Our annual Quality Assurance questionnaires were sent out this month. Thank you to everyone who has responded so promptly and a “polite reminder” to anyone who may have forgotten!

Entertainment this month was varied! We had a visit from Andy Dwyer and his puppets which was enjoyed by all. Then two Shetland ponies came to Hylands – Lollipop and Tinkerbell. They were very well behaved and spent an hour with our residents who were thrilled to see them.

Our next sing-along session with Barry will be on 13 July at 2.30pm. Then of course there is our Summer Fayre on 22 July from 3.00 to 5.00pm with the steel band which is a date not to be missed!

Finally, just to remind you, that if I am not here and you need to speak to me, please leave a message for me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Elaine (Home Manager)