Nursing | Residential | Care Homes
Latest News from Abbeyside Care Group
February 2025
Abbeyside
Dear all Residents Families and Friends,
We have had a lovely month on the come down from christmas, celebrating birthdays and Burn’s night!
We are looking forward to the month ahead with lots of activities planned, and hoping to get a start back in the garden as the weather eases up and the evenings get lighter!
We are excited for Valentine’s day and getting prepared with some decorating activities, and looking forward to a delicious special Valentine’s meal!
We invited the residents from Abbeyvale and The Grove to our home for a whisky tasting session! We had a lovely time chatting with different people and some great whiskies too!
We have enjoyed playing Bingo as always and enjoyed a good pamper day with face masks and relaxation! We were all looking 10 years younger!
We hope to see you all soon.
Claire England
Abbeyvale
Dear all Residents Families and Friends,
As many of you will be aware we have introduced a daily afternoon tea for our residents which have been going down incredibly well and we have noted a remarkable reduction in falls. Visitors are more than welcome to join us any day for afternoon teas too!
We have many plans for the coming month, including Chinese new year celebrations and valentine’s day, where we will be having a ballroom dancing show and lesson and we can’t wait!
We will be having a family drop in session on Wednesday the 12th of February between 3-4pm, where all residents, family, and friends are welcome to pop in and chat with management in the quiet lounge.
What We’ve Been Up To
We had lots of fun one evening when we all decided to have an impromptu pyjama party!
We played some music, and all got up having a sing and dance along. We then all had a very good night’s sleep!!
Some of us went up to Abbeyside for a whisky tasting session! We had a lovely time and lot’s of fun, although the whisky wasn’t to everyone’s taste….
Our weekly baking sessions continue to be lots of fun, working well as a team to create some delicious goodies for us all to share with a cup of tea!
We had a wonderful afternoon watching and joining in with some ballroom dancing. The dancers will be back for Valentine’s day and we can’t wait.
As always, we had a brilliant time celebrating Burn’s night. We decorated the home and had a wonderful piper in to pipe in the Haggis. Norman did an amazing job addressing the Haggis and he and the piper brought us all to tears!
Rhian Evans
Grove
Alison Robertson
January 2025
Abbeyside
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2025! As we step into this new chapter, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the joys of the past year and set intentions for the one ahead. I’m wishing all of you a year filled with purpose, peace, and happiness.
We are looking forward to a positive new year to enjoy with our staff, residents, and families too and hope to see lots of visitors coming through our doors to join us for activities and events.
We are proud to say that more of our staff members have completed their Enhanced Induction Training, passing their probationary period and are officially permanent members of our team!
We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and new year, with plenty of food and drink, as well as the best company and an abundance of fun and laughter!
We love to keep our home looking and smelling fresh with flower arranging to create center pieces for our dining tables. This is always great fun to do and rewarding for the following days too!
We love to have a sing and dance along in the home especially to live music which we very much enjoyed as part of our Christmas and new year celebrations!
Our weekly baking sessions are still going down a treat and we are enjoying the group bonding and of course the eating. We also love a good game of bingo and using our prizes throughout the weeks reminds us of our good fortune!
Best wishes,
Claire England
Abbeyvale
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2025! As we step into this new chapter, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the joys of the past year and set intentions for the one ahead. I’m wishing all of you a year filled with purpose, peace, and happiness.
We are looking forward to a positive new year to enjoy with our staff, residents, and families too. Again this year, we will be holding fundraising activities for local charities and charities close to our hearts, and are always open to suggestions of any charities that have helped you or your family and friends in the past.
We will be setting more dates for residents and family drop in sessions, and hope to see lots of you there! All family, friends, and residents are welcome. The focus of these meetings will be to catch up and set plans and expectations for the year ahead, so please bring any queries or suggestions with you!
We have been enjoying our afternoon teas in the dining room each day, chatting, laughing, and eating and drinking lots of tasty things!
These are helping to increase our food and fluid intake, as well as keeping us moving throughout the day.
We had a shaky start to the festivities with the bug going around, but we manage to have a good day of celebrating Christmas and new year with a party and entertainment from “Bedhead”, courtesy of the late Janet Howard and her lovely family.
Our party meal went down a treat! We enjoyed festive themed food and drinks, and wore our party hats with pride!
We had lots of laughs and of course plenty of singing along to Christmas songs and having a good dance too!
Rhian Evans
Grove
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2025! As we step into this new chapter, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the joys of the past year and set intentions for the one ahead. I’m wishing all of you a year filled with purpose, connection, and happiness.
Have you thought about ways to start the year off on a positive note? One idea is to focus on nurturing both your physical and mental well-being. Research continues to show that staying mentally engaged and learning new skills can do wonders for brain health. Picking up a new hobby, exploring an interest, or even taking part in a discussion group can improve focus, memory, and overall happiness.
This month, why not challenge yourself to try one new activity? Whether it’s joining a book club, taking an art class, or attending a talk, you’ll be surprised how these experiences can energize you and connect you with others. Let us know how we can help you discover something new—you just might find your next passion!
Life In Our Community
We are still loving it when Atlas and Alan come to visit us here at the home, the resident have a brilliant time. He even got into the Christmas spirit with his Santa hat on!
Christmas & New Year was a very special time here at The Grove for our residents, they enjoyed their visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and got such lovely gifts! They also had a brilliant time at our New Years Eve party with food, drinks & dancing! It was a lovely time had by them all. We had the pleasure of Dave & Ken on NYE for our Entertainment – thank you very much! Lots of happy, cheery faces over the festivities!
Alison Robertson
December 2024
Abbeyvale
We cannot quite believe December is here and Christmas is upon us already! Although we say that every year…
We have already begun enjoying the festivities with our Christmas BBQ which we managed to avoid the rain and the residents enjoyed the BBQ food from the comfort of indoors!
Our weekly baking sessions continue to be lots of fun, working on our fine motor skills as well as team work. Head chef Norman is always there to keep us right too!
Some of our men headed over to The Grove to celebrate gentleman’s day. They enjoyed some lovely food, tea, and of course some wine to wash it down! 
Our Christmas decorating has begun! We have made some beautiful table decorations with holly leaves and berries that are making our dining room feel festive, along with the Christmas wreaths decorating our front door.
Rhian Evans
October 2024
Abbeyside
We have had a good few weeks enjoying various celebrations and occasions, coming together to celebrate Onam, and Indian flower festival!
We are very proud to announce that Asha has completed her enhanced training course and has been awarded her certificate after 6 months of working hard and learning with an open mind and care towards our residents!
We have been enjoying lots of activities as usual, and especially enjoyed our blind tasting day which the residents did a fantastic job of figuring out the food! We look forward to some cosy days and spooky activities as Halloween comes, and of course getting started on some Christmas plans!
Claire England
Abbeyvale
We too have had a good few weeks enjoying various celebrations and occasions, coming together to celebrate Onam.
Our staff spent time making beautiful flower carpets teaching residents and staff how to create them, and the kitchen ordered authentic Indian ingredients to make a delicious dinner! We could not have done this without the knowledge and generosity of our staff, and the dedication of our kitchen team!
We look forward to some cosy days and spooky activities as Halloween comes, and of course getting started on some Christmas plans!
We will be having our residents Christmas party on the 11th of December, keep your eyes peeled for updates and entertainment!
Rhian Evans
Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
This month, we celebrate the proper fall of autumn, where the leaves on the tree’s change colour, the nights get darker, and we celebrate Halloween! We will be getting spooky in the care home, decorating, pumpkin carving, colouring in, painting and so much more!
We were very busy last month, with celebrating the Onam Festival of Flowers, which in this country its like celebrating Thanksgiving. The residents and the staff were very much involved, and we all had a fantastic day!
We also went on plenty outings, which the residents absolutely love to get out for a bit of fresh air! Keep an eye out in this month’s edition of the newsletter for plenty photos of your loved ones having the time of their lives!
Alison Robertson
August 2024
Abbeyvale
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We apologies for the lack of newsletters recently but rest assured we have been very busy with lots of activities and great fun!
Although the weather has not met us with much sunshine, we have managed to get out for a little gardening and relaxing in the fresh air when we can! Our terrace area is the perfect spot for relaxing outside, and we welcome visitors to make the most if it when you come!
We have been working hard on our activity plans recently, and have introduced weekly baking, cooking dinner, regular music entertainment, and of course our BBQ’s and Tea’s!
Our next BBQ will be Friday the 8th of August starting from 5pm. We welcome all family, friends, and staff to join us.
Rhian Evans
Grove
Welcome to the August edition of our newsletter! This month, we celebrate International India Independence Day, a National holiday celebrated annually on 15th August.
Independence Day marks the end of the British rule in 1947, brought about by the Indian Independence Act of July 18 that year, and the establishment of a free and independent nation.
Here at the home on Thursday 15th August, our staff and their families will help us celebrate India’s Independence Day. The staff and residents will wear their National costume and the residents are keen to learn the National Anthem of India which they will perform on the day.
We will be having a traditional Indian lunch of ‘Biriyani with ldli, Payasam and Traditional Indian Tea or Chicken Korma naan bread and Lemon soda. Our staff members will he helping our Chef George cook the beautiful food for us all to try.
If you would like to join in this celebration, please let us know ASAP.
We are looking forward to celebrating this cultural day with our Internationals and the residents!
Alison Robertson
July 2024
Abbeyside
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We have been enjoying getting stuck into kitchen activities, baking our own snacks, mixing our own cocktails, and even making our own pizzas!
The residents added their own sauce and toppings to their pizzas and sent the off to the kitchen to be cooked and they tasted amazing!
We have taken every opportunity to enjoy our garden areas, eating some meals on the patio and having a good laugh with some friends!
Although the sun has not made much appearance, we have enjoyed getting out and about when we can! Our weekly bus trips are always great fun, heading to the beach for some ice cream, or to a café for spot of lunch
Claire England
Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
As we kick off this month, let’s not forget the excitement that comes with the beginning of the Olympics!
As we gather to cheer on the athletes, let’s take a moment to reflect on our own journeys and the victories we’ve achieved, both big and small.
In celebration of the Olympic spirit, we have a line up of fun activities planned throughout the month, inspired by the Games themselves. From friendly competitions to Olympic-themed crafts and trivia, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
Let’s embrace the spirit of camaraderie that the Games inspire!
Alison Robertson
June 2024
Abbeyside
We have been enjoying getting stuck into kitchen activities, baking our own snacks, mixing our own cocktails, and even making our own pizzas!
The residents added their own sauce and toppings to their pizzas and sent the off to the kitchen to be cooked and they tasted amazing!
Although the sun has not made much appearance, we have enjoyed getting out and about when we can! Our weekly bus trips are always great fun, heading to the beach for some ice cream, or to a café for spot of lunch!
We have taken every opportunity to enjoy our garden areas, eating some meals on the patio and having a good laugh with some friends!
Claire England
Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
As we kick off this month, let’s not forget the excitement that comes with the beginning of the Olympics!
As we gather to cheer on the athletes, let’s take a moment to reflect on our own journeys and the victories we’ve achieved, both big and small.
In celebration of the Olympic spirit, we have a lineup of fun activities planned throughout the month, inspired by the Games themselves. From friendly competitions to Olympic-themed crafts and trivia, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
Let’s embrace the spirit of camaraderie that the Games inspire!
Although we are sad to see Scotland out of the Euro’s we enjoyed watching and playing along with some beers and crisps!
We have been having lots of fun recently, enjoying our musical entertainment and lots of different activities, including cuddling our much loved pets.
Alison Robertson
May 2024
Abbeyside
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We have had a great month filled with lots of fun activities again and have been very much enjoying our weekly bus trips! We have been down to the beach for some ice cream, and around the countryside for picnics!
We look forward to spending more time in our gardens as the warmer weather comes in, spending time in the fresh air and looking at the wildlife we have.
We are always keeping moving with walking, dancing, and chair exercises! Its great to keep the blood flowing and work on our balance and general health too! The live music always helps keep us moving too!
I hope to see you all soon!
Best wishes,
Claire England
Abbeyvale
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We have had another lovely month getting back outside when we can to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine! We are sure May will bring more opportunities and of course BBQ’s for all to enjoy!
We had a lovely BBQ this month to which as always, all residents, staff and their families, and visitors joined. It is always lovely to see everyone come together to enjoy some good food!
Thank you to Dave for organising and cooking our delicious food!
Best wishes,
Rhian Evans
April 2024
Abbeyside
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
I hope you have enjoyed Easter and have a nice break planned over the holidays! We have been having a good time with lots of easter themed activities, and of course lots of baking as you know we well love! We are a home of sweet tooths and we love to get messy baking or take it easy and enjoy some pic n mix!
We are feeling much fresher with the better weather are more daylight and are looking forward to get full use out of our recently refurbished garden areas. We have some lovely space on the patio and in the gardens where we welcome and encourage you to use and spend time in the fresh air with your loved ones!
Our weekly bus trips have been lots of fun recently, getting out for a change of scenery and some fresh aid! We always enjoy a good cup of coffee down at the beach!
We love to keep moving with sporty activities like bowling, and keeping our fingers nimble with puzzles and board games!
We hope to see you all soon for some of our activities and we wish you all a happy Easter!
Claire England
Abbeyvale
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We are all thoroughly enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings, making for some lovely walks and plenty of time to get in the garden!
We will be focusing on our gardening club in the coming weeks, trying to grow some of our own fruits and vegetables, and of course some lovely aesthetic plants for us to look after and enjoy! If anyone would like to donate any plants or cuttings, they would be more than welcome to help brighten up our patio area!
We had a quiet but successful coffee and cake afternoon to raise money for red nose day, raising a total of £65.15! Thank you to those who managed to come it was lovely catching up and of course eating some delicious home bakes!
Eleni has been coming in every week to do chair exercises with us on a Tuesday morning. She is great at getting us moving, working on our balance and mobility getting us ready for the week! Turning exercise into games is a great way to keep us moving and enjoying it! We love a good game of bowling and balloon tennis at the moment!
Our bus trips have been bringing us lots of joy recently, with trips to the beach, local coffee shops, and for a good old fashioned picnic! Good company always makes our day, whether that be playing a game with a friend, having a chat with a love done, or even our visits from the local nursery!
Rhian Evans
The Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
Happy April! Another new month greets us, and this one is full of more sunshine, flowers, and blue skies. There is so much to celebrate, and I hope you’ll join us for our activities this month.
We have plenty of planter space if you would like to use them with your loved one you are more than welcome to make them your own! We always welcome anyone with a green thumb to come and help us look after our plants and give them some extra TLC! There is something so relaxing about plants and we love to get stuck in, be that indoor or outdoors and we can’t wait to spend more time in the gardens as it gets warmer!
We look forward to the warmer and lighter months rolling in now, and especially look forward to spending more time out on our patio, looking after our plants, enjoying meals, and cups of tea!
We have been enjoying our weekly bus trips again, with some interesting day trips, seeing the views and enjoying some ice cream and picnics!
We got a little funny looking while enjoying a pamper session with face masks and hand massages!
David and Ken continue to come every month and get us all singing and dancing every time!
I hope you have a good month ahead!
Alison Robertson
March 2024
Abbeyside
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
As always we have been doing lots of baking this month making various cupcakes and chocolate treats! We always have lots of fun working as a team to make delicious snacks, and of course enjoy them with a good chat and a cup of tea!
We love to keep our home looking and
smelling fresh and what better way than arranging some beautiful flowers! Our residents loved to spend time looking after them and showing their artistic skills in arranging lovely displays along with a cheeky prosecco!
We always enjoy a good game of bingo
but we really love all board games! From puzzles to checkers we love to grab a friend and get a little competitive!
We enjoyed celebrating a lovely
valentines day with our loved ones
with balloons and roses for everyone,
and a delicious love themed meal!
Our bus outings have kept us busy getting out for some fresh air, picnics, and course some hot chocolate too! We look forward to the warmer weather for our trips.
Claire England
Abbeyvale
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We have had a busy month and have an exciting month ahead planned with plenty of activities and events, and of course we welcome you to join us!
As we know keeping moving is very important and we have been doing many activities centred around this!
We have been having the lovely Eleni coming in for exercise classes on a Tuesday, and of course having regular dancing sport sessions too!
We have also been loving playing some hook a duck too! Working on some fine motor skills while having a good time and even getting a little competition going!
As with most people, some good food and drink are the best way to get us going! We have enjoyed many food related activities in the last month with a demonstration on pancake day, wine and cheese afternoon, and biscuit decorating!
Of course, sometimes you can’t beat a bit of quiet time with a good friend and a game! Whether its puzzles or board games it’s always a great time
Rhian Evans
The Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
What a busy month February has been. We had a lovely time celebrating valentines day making cards and hanging decorations. Everyone got a rose from George and a delicious valentines meal from the kitchen!
We always love to get together for some food, drink, and a chat! We have continued to enjoy some coffee mornings and had a lovely time tucking into pancakes for pancake day!
We’ll take any excuse for a celebration and a good dance. We have enjoyed celebrating a few birthday’s over the last weeks, and of course we have loved having in musical entertainment! The residents love to get up and have a sing and dance along with the staff.
We always enjoy getting our hand dirty and fingers green! The resident shaving been prepping for spring getting their plants and tomatoes ready!
Alison Robertson
February 2024
Abbeyside
Abbeyvale
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We’ve had a busy month last month, we had a lovely day celebrating Burns! Dave did a fantastic job of addressing the Haggis and we enjoyed tucking
into our neeps and tatties too! We had a fantastic Piper in to play for all of our residents and they were over the moon!
Our team leader Michelle brought in her gorgeous new sprocker puppy Arlo to meet the residents! They loved getting a good cuddle and a kiss, and he cheered everyone up, he is just irresistible.
We are looking forward to this month with valentine’s celebrations and of course pancake day! We will be thankful for those around us, surrounded by red and pink decorations, tales of Cupid, and boxes of chocolate lining the shopping aisles!
As always, we would love any feedback you may have, and we have placed feedback forms at the sign in book! Please feel free to fill one in, it can be named or anonymous, and pop it in the red post box in the entrance area.
We would also love to see some family members on our activity committee. If this is something that interests you, please let us know!
Rhian Evans
The Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
We have had another great month full of fun activities! We always love to get our hands dirty with some baking! We made some flapjacks and decorated them beautifully and enjoyed eating them with a good cup of tea!
We have been spending lots of time on different arts and crafts which have been a great way to keep busy and have a good chat! We have been painting, card making, and knitting and we have loved it all!
We have managed to get a couple of garden visits in but we look forward to more of these as the weather warms up! The brighter evenings are certainly a breath of fresh air!
We are looking forward to our valentines’ celebrations and we have a special meal planned from our kitchen too! Of course pancake day is also coming which is always great fun and a big hit with the residents!
We are continuing to have our church services every second Wednesday and the residents are so grateful for this. Family and friends are always welcome to join our services.
Visitors are welcome to use our Wi-Fi and we also have facilities to skype call our residents so let us know if you would like to do this!
Alison Robertson
January 2024
Abbeyside, Abbeyvale & The Grove
Hello Residents, Families and Friends!
Happy New Year! We have had a fantastic holiday period, celebrating Christmas and new year with several activities on! It has been lovely to see so many families and friends coming in for visits and to join in with our events. Our residents Christmas party was much anticipated and met all our expectations! We are glad it went so well, and the residents really had the most fantastic afternoon!
Thank you so much to all of our visitors and residents who donated to our staff raffle! We had enough prizes for everyone to win at least one item! The staff are over the moon with their prizes and very grateful!
Of course our staff have been well treated over the season, firstly getting their Christmas hampers from the company, filled to the brim with goodies and party food! We then had our usual raffle and our extra special Christmas raffle with lots of lucky winners and they are all thrilled! Christmas day and boxing day meant for a good fun shift with bacon buns and sandwiches for everyone!
We would like to thank our staff for all of their hard work as always, we couldn’t be here without them, they amaze us with their dedication and love for the residents every day!
We would like to wish you and your families a very happy new year and we hope to see you soon!
The Yeats Family
Abbeyside
Along with the garden refurbishment, we have added some new signs which are looking great.
We very much enjoyed the great weather we had and hope there is more to come! We made the most of it by using our new garden for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as snacks, ice lollies, and activities! We also got down to the beach for ice creams and picnics too.
I hope you all managed to get out and enjoy the sun too!
Claire England
Abbeyvale
As you may already be aware, we are unfortunately losing our wonderful assistant manager Fiona in July. Fiona has decided to take a step back from the front line of care and we wish her all the best wherever life takes her next. Ellah, who has been on management training with us once a week over the past year, will be coming to join our team permanently over the coming weeks and she is excited to get to know everyone!
I hope you have been enjoying the sun recently as we certainly have! We are very lucky to have our patio area that catches the sun perfectly and provides a great space for meals and of course some ice creams! We hope we have more sunshine to come.
Rhian Evans
The Grove
You may well have heard of some changes commencing within our care group over the past and coming weeks. Of course with our new patio area, we have developed another office in the activity lounge. With Alison’s role as director of care, our Training Manager Lesley who has been with the company for many years has moved her office here so that they can work together on policies and training.
We are sad to say that the Abbeyvale assistant manager has stepped back from her role. With this, Ellah will be taking on the role of assistant manager at Abbeyvale. We are sad to lose Ellah, but she will be working closely with the new administrator for some time before fully moving on.
Our residents are at the heart of everything we do, and we wish to make all transitions as smooth as possible for everyone involved.
Alison Robertson
June 2023
Abbeyside
We were very kindly donated a beautiful bird table in memory of a late resident. We will keep it well topped up with food for the birds and look forward to seeing them all come to rest.
Claire England
Abbeyvale
We have had a lovely month packed with activities and lots of fun trips out. The residents have loved going out for an ice cream and trips to the coast! We are always open to outing ideas so please let us know of anywhere that you think our residents would enjoy!
Our garden is looking lovely with lots of flowers and plants in full bloom. Please feel free to use our outdoor areas during your visits, but please don’t forget hats and suncream as it gets warmer and sunnier! We will soon
be opening the new tearoom by the lounge for visitors. You will be welcome to
use our facilities to make refreshments or yourselves and your loved ones. We
will also have some biscuits. We are very happy to be getting this facility, we
just ask that you clean up after yourselves when you are done.
Rhian Evans
The Grove
The refurbished garden area is very near complete, and the area is looking lovely and bright, especially thanks to all the beautiful donations from you! A lovely group of volunteers have planted three fruit trees in the centre, and the residents have also planted some tomatoes that are getting lots of sun at the moment, so we will hopefully have some home-grown fresh fruit soon!
Alison Robertson