Joe West

"Joe West Young Man."
Joe was winner of the Local Adult Stairway to the Stars at the age of 16 and has been working for us, providing his tallents for Therapeutic Activities over the last year.
Taught Flute and Claranet by my wife (Hayley Darby) since the age of Seven, Joe has proved a fantastic all round entertainer, now having a great virtuoso on many instruments including, Keyboard, Guitar, Ukulele, Flute, Clarinet and Sax to name a few. On top of that Joe has the most magnificent Singing voice and mimics some of the greats including, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Sachmo to name a few. Along with his ukulele, Joe renditions "Leaning on a lamppost" and others from the great George Formby.
At the moment Joe spends his time in College at Farnborough, Hampshire, however he is available to work for us when he gets time off from study.

Anyone wishing to book Joe with us should get in touch as soon as possible as his booking Schedule gets full extremly quickly.

Residential Care Homes Torquay, Torbay Devon : Activity Provisions

We provide many activities for Residential, Care and Nursing homes in the Devon area.

When looking at activities in Residential Care homes, our staff initialy provide a mix of games, quizzes, physical activities, music and sensory activities.

Getting to know residents is a very important part of our job and we gain as much information as we can from the residents as we do from the carer's.
We understand that the buisness of providing care goes well beyound just sitting and chatting and in many homes there is little time for carers to obtain individual notes.

As our staff get to know your residents, they enter something about them on the activity sheet. It may be something they did that day or it maybe something gained from their past whilst providing reminiscing.
This then builds a portfolio of information that the staff can use and you as a home can build on.

Selected Extracts from 'North West Dementia Care'

Providing Activities for residents in care homes
Activity is important to us all Everyone has an inbuilt need to participate in activity and what we do makes us who we are. Engaging in a balance of self-care, work and play activities is essential to our physical and mental well-being and thereby, our quality of life. People with dementia are no exception - but dementia inevitably affects the ability to 'do'.

How to select appropriate activities
The main considerations when selecting and presenting activities are knowing the person and analysing the activity. It is vital to 'match' the person's level of ability and interest with a meaningful activity of the correct degree of challenge. Confronting a resident with an activity that they no longer have the ability to complete, or have no interest in, is doomed to fail and can leave both staff and resident feeling defeated and frustrated. Conversely offering an activity that is too easy can be seen as boring, or even patronising.