Here at The Shrubbery Nursing Home, situated in ¾ acre of beautiful landscaped gardens in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, we have a weekly programme of activities second to none. Our Residents enjoy and partake in a wealth of interactive activities adapted and formulated for our residents to enjoy and benefit from.

Sensory therapies are also a very important part of our programme, with aromatherapy massages being offered each month, and craft work using textiles with all manner of textures incorporating and encouraging dexterity of both hands and mind.

One of our main interests is to reminisce, and we have many ways to do this. Our residents enjoy a chat and a lively conversation can be evoked by simply asking, “Do you remember your first summer holiday?” School days can be recalled by mentioning popular playground games such as skipping and hopscotch, setting residents off on a happy journey through their childhood. Memories are also brought to life with visitors to The Shrubbery bringing in memorabilia; clothing of the 40’s, cooking implements and tools, toys and games. These artefacts always create happy faces and much lively conversation.

Exercise is also an important stimulation for our residents particularly for those who find movement of any description quite difficult. Armchair exercise is offered regularly within our comprehensive programme of activities. During our exercise games we use beach balls, sensory textured balls, large exercise balls, and silk scarves making exercise fun and colourful. These games are played in conjunction with competitive games such as target practice, skittles, darts and hoopla, but all of our games are constantly being upgraded and reinvented to add variety of fun to everything that we do.

Visiting The Shrubbery throughout the months is a plethora of entertainers and visitors offering music in the form of sing-alongs, easy listening and choirs. Music is always a very welcome component to our programmes and looked forward to by all of our residents. Included amongst our regular visitors are local clergy offering Holy Communion services twice each month to residents of all denominations. Local school children play a large part in offering intergenerational communication for our residents. We are fortunate to have St. George’s School, St. Ambrose School and Holy Trinity School all within walking distance of The Shrubbery, and we enjoy regular visits with children entertaining us with seasonal songs each term of the year. This interaction and association with our local schools has been expanded whereby small groups of children will visit our residents just to have a chat, and to play board games with our residents.

It is always a pleasure and delight for all parties concerned when we open our doors to the community in this way. We also have a very healthy rapport with local schools and colleges offering students placements of work experience when studying Health and Social Care courses. This again is a very busy two-way street where all participants benefit from this interaction, and we have had quite a few success stories where students have gone on to fulfil a career in this very important field within the care sector.

We have been successful in organising wonderful community events At The Shrubbery such as our now well-known Garden party, which takes place on the first Saturday in July each year. This event is visited, supported and looked forward to by many local residents and charitable groups, offering a wonderful afternoon out to our residents as well. This is one of several events that we hold throughout the year including an Easter Bonnet Parade, Halloween Hog Nights and recently we held a Car Boot and Rummage Sale that we shall be repeating in Spring.

There is quite honestly never a dull moment here at The Shrubbery Nursing Home.