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Mary Maskell – this is your life!
On June 27 1925, in a small home on Queens Road, Maidstone, a remarkable journey began – the story of Mary Maskell’s life. This summer, Mary, a much-beloved resident here at Barty House, celebrated...
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Barty House residents visit the Royal Engineers Museum
As part of Barty House’s Breath of Fresh Air initiative, quality care lead Cheryl Griffiths has been collaborating with the activities team to organise outings for the residents.
The initiative is ...
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Amanda’s pioneering tech journey
Amanda Rae, our Head of Quality and Compliance, has continued to pioneer the use of technology to provide the best possible person-centred care.
Earlier this year, she was honoured with the Digita...
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The celebrated Holt family visits Barty
Our residents were treated to an unforgettable afternoon of musical entertainment, thanks to award-winning composer Natalie Holt, her mother Pat and ten-year-old daughter Annie who came to perform ...
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Caron chairs new East of England SCNAC
Our operations manager Caron Sanders-Crook has been appointed as chair of the East of England Social Care Nurse Advisory Council (SCNAC).
Caron was previously chair of the Mid and South Essex (MSE...
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Dave’s Heart of Kent Hospice charity run
Our very own Barty House home manager David Willis participated in the Kent Downs 50 Ultra Challenge at the weekend.
Dave and his wife Charlotte ran 25km, finishing in very respectable 18th ...
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Tony Wallis-Yeo is our new regional trainer
As our new regional trainer, Tony works alongside colleagues Sandra Rogers and Roy Langstaffe in the team headed up by Sarita Baxter, Learning & Development Manager.
Tony grew up in Romford, Es...
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Getting to know…. Leon Burns, our head chef
We’re delighted to introduce Leon Burns, our head chef here at Barty. Leon has many years’ experience of creating attractive and tasty meals for pubs, bars, restaurants and now care and nursing hom...
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Meet Rebecca Histed-Lince – Quality Support Manager
Quality support manager Rebecca Histed-Lince is the newest addition to Canford Healthcare’s quality team.
Led by Amanda Rae, head of quality & compliance, the quality team is responsible for e...
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Introducing Charles Wrightson
Charles Wrightson has become Canford Healthcare’s new financial controller. He manages the finance team, which is based in the company’s Bournemouth office, supported by finance manager Amparo Folg...
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Sarita becomes Learning & Development Manager
Sarita joined Canford Healthcare in 2022 as a regional trainer and has recently been promoted to head up the training team.
She brings huge experience to the organisation, having been a support wo...
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Introducing Emma Seamons – our new Head of HR
Emma Seamons has become Canford Healthcare’s new Head of Human Resources (HR).
Emma knows the organisation (and our homes well), having joined our HR team in 2017 as HR business partner. In this bu...
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Amanda Rae – digital innovation winner!
Amanda Rae, our Head of Quality and Compliance, has won Person Centred Software’s Digital Innovation Award at the company’s annual Champions of Care Awards 2024.
The awards celebrate the achievemen...
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Caron appointed as a Social Care Nursing Advisory Council chair
Caron Sanders-Crook, our operations manager, has recently been appointed as chair of one of the newly established Social Care Nursing Advisory Councils (SCNACs)…
Canford staff win prestigious awards
Canford Healthcare’s very own Amanda Rae and Donna Barks have won awards and high commendations at the Women Achieving Greatness in Social Care (WAGS) recently.
Donna Barks, manager of Tunbridge...
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Laura triumphs at Great British Care Awards
Laura Taylor, head of activities here at Barty House, has won the Care Home Activities Organiser Award at the South-East Regional final of the Great British Care Awards.
Laura and her team orga...
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Diane celebrates 20 years
Diane Hollands has celebrated 20 years of working here at Barty House Nursing Home. Domestic assistant Diane joined the home in 2002 and has seen many, many changes over the years!
To mark this ...
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MyCanford – enhanced staff reward & wellbeing
We’re delighted to announce the launch of MyCanford, a revamped and enhanced reward and wellbeing programme for our employees. This offers a wide range of discounts, offers and cashback from over ...
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Considering care as a career?
There are so many good reasons for anyone to think seriously about a career in care.
For one, it’s incredibly fulfilling and enjoyable, with a high level of job satisfaction and the chance to wo...
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Meet Roy, our new regional trainer
Roy Langstaffe has joined our regional training team to deliver face-to-face and virtual group training as well as 1:1 coaching to staff across our 11 homes.
Before coming to Canford Healthcare, Ro...
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Operations Manager Debbie Inkersole wins industry award
Debbie Inkersole, our Operations Manager, has triumphed over many other entrants to win the Care Operations/Area Manager Award at the 2021 National Care Awards recently.
Organised by Caring Time...
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Elf-day fun and donation to Alzheimer’s Society
Staff at Barty unleashed their inner elf while handing over a donation of £2,330 to Alzheimer’s Society.
As part of the charity’s annual Elf Day on Friday December 3, our boldest residents and s...
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Chief nursing gold award for Caron!
We are delighted to announce that our operations manager, Caron Sanders-Crook, has been awarded the Chief Nursing Officer for Adult Social Care Gold Award in recognition of her outstanding service...
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Laura presents at Kent Care Summit
Laura Tierney, our head of activities, gave fellow delegates plenty of food for thought during a presentation at the Kent Care Summit recently. Having described her motivation for entering the car...
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Barty House welcomes Helen Whately, our local MP!
Residents and staff were delighted to welcome Helen Whately, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, for a visit to celebrate Care Home Open Week recently.
Previou...
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Our tribute to a great lady
We are very sorry to hear of the death of Marianna, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley, who died at her home on 5 July 2022 at the age of 93.
Lady Monckton was due to visit the home that very aft...
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Raft Race Competition
Congratulations to the emissaries of Barty who recently took part in a raft race in a bid to win one of three trophies at stake, and more importantly, to raise money for Heart of Kent Hospic...
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Our pandemic journey
As the government officially ends the requirement for routine testing of residents and staff in care homes, effectively signalling that the pandemic is over (for now at least), we’d like to rememb...
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Farewell to our dear resident, Val
Here at Barty House we have been devastated by the loss of our much-loved resident Val Blinkhorn who has passed away, aged 89, after 33 years at the home.
Val grew up and lived in the Maidstone ...
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Amanda Rae becomes a Queen’s Nurse
We are delighted to announce that Amanda Rae, our quality & compliance manager, has been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).
The QNI is the U...
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Meet our new regional trainers – Sarita and Sandra
We’re delighted to welcome Sarita Baxter and Sandra Rogers to our Learning & Development team. Their appointment comes as part of a strengthening and streamlining of the training and developme...
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Initiatives to help people coming into our care home
Tablet for all new long-term residents
Making the decision to move into care is never easy at the best of times. Whether this is for you or on behalf of a loved one, you may have concerns about ...
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Canford Healthcare appoints green energy supplier Ecotricity
As part of our drive to conserve resources and reduce our carbon footprint, we have appointed renewable energy expert Ecotricity as the electricity supplier across our 11 homes.
Ecotricity’s com...
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It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas…
Christmas has come early to Barty House Nursing Home thanks to the generosity of the local business community and the determination and ingenuity of three Kent-based firms.
Our staff were surpri...
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Anyone for gingerbread?
Our staff and residents have had a lot of fun creating a gingerbread house recently, for another competition against our other 10 sister Canford Healthcare homes.
Here at Barty House we didn’t j...
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Introducing our Relatives’ Gateway
Just imagine the scene: it’s the middle of the afternoon, you are sitting in your lounge or at the office and you wonder what sort of a day your loved one is having here at Barty House.
You grab...
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Meet our new home manager
We’re delighted to introduce our new home manager David Willis. He has recently rejoined Canford Healthcare after spending a year managing a nursing home in Gillingham.
After spending 20 y...
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Relatives’ survey – thank you!
We’d like to say a huge thank you to all our relatives who completed our recent relatives’ survey. We are so grateful to you for taking the time to give us your views and provide feedback, which i...
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Meet our new head of activities – Laura Tierney
Laura is a familiar face to many, having been on the reception desk here at Barty for a year before stepping into the role of activities team leader.
One of Laura’s favourite elements of the job...
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Meet our lovely resident, Irene
At 102 years old, Irene has seen it all. She worked as a teacher in a special needs unit, had two children and, eventually, two grandchildren. She and her husband wanted to provide a happy childho...
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What a great team fundraising effort!
For six weeks this summer, between May and the end of June, here at Barty House we have been holding a raffle to raise money for the Heart of Kent Hospice (HOKH). It has been a real success, and w...
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Overwhelming response to Ivy’s birthday card appeal
Following our appeal to the community to send 100th birthday cards to our resident Ivy Watson, we’re delighted to say that she has been absolutely inundated with cards, balloons, birthday cakes an...
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Decoupage Hearts
February the month of Love
Barty residents fashion beautiful decoupage hearts in honour of Valentine Day this month. A celebration open to us all when we embrace who we have loved, and who we st...
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March Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile. Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to d...
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Cartoonist is back at Barty!
The very talented Mark Thatcher Cartoonist visited Barty once again to capture the likenesses of our residents in caricatures. The afternoon was as ever very enthralling, Mark always manages to s...
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April Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile. Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to d...
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Our Brexit preparations
The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) by or on Thursday 31 October 2019.
Canford Healthcare is working with suppliers and co-operating fully with Government contingency planning to min...
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Meet Debbie, Team Barty’s new administrator
Debbie
Parker and her team of four look after Barty House’s reception, home and
financial administration. They’re also proud to show prospective residents and
their families around the home, helpi...
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Introducing Becky Lyons, our Head of Activities
Becky is the latest recruit to Team Barty, joining as Head of Activities. It’s her job, working alongside her team, to give Barty House residents a good quality of life that’s filled w...
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Barty Home Manager Crochets for Gambian Children
Christmas has come early for the Gambia’s Wullinkamma Aribaja Clinic, thanks to a shipment of donated clothes, toys and medical equipment organised by our own Home Manager Gabriele Jerome. She i...
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Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice and guidance
In the light of the Prime Minister’s address yesterday evening and the government’s much tighter restrictions on people leaving their homes, we regret that we must now close our doors to all visit...
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Barty bird box to help our wildlife
At Barty House we are asking for donations for our garden birds and are thrilled that Helen from our Domestic Team very kindly decorated our Barty Bird Box located in our reception. We’re as...
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Meet our resident Muriel
Muriel has been at Barty House for nearly a year. The
100-year-old, who was born on New Year’s Day 1920, is one of our oldest
residents. During her long life, she’s lived through some momentous ti...
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What a kind donation!
We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to Hannah Cass, her talented 14-year-old daughter and the Maidstone Sewing Group for NHS and Keyworkers who have very kindly made and donated some colourful head ...
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Behind the Smiles: Caron’s moving account of PTSD
Caron Sanders-Crook, our operations manager, is the author of the newly published Behind The Smiles, a no-holds barred exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its devastating impa...
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Manager of our sister care home gives evidence before Joint Select Committee
Theresa Steed, manager of our sister care home, has given evidence at the Coronavirus: Lessons Learnt Inquiry organised jointly by the Science and Technology and the Health and Social Care Committe...
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Trainer Kim shortlisted for care award
Kim Watson, Barty House’s very own quality & training co-ordinator, has been shortlisted for The Care Home Worker Award at this year’s Great British Care Awards.
She now faces a tough interv...
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Meet our lovely resident Dora
We’re delighted to introduce our resident Dora, who has been at Barty House since August 2020.
Dora is a much-travelled lady who has led an interesting and full life. After her parents met at wo...
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A great bonfire night – thanks to HomePlus!
With its echoes of gunpowder, treason and plot from long ago, bonfire night is always one of the annual highlights here at Barty House.
This year we were overwhelmed by the gift of enough firewo...
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Diddy Bartlet’s Pre School Visit
Diddy Bartlet’s Pre School Children having fun with the residents!
In Willow Lounge the sound of children’s laughter and singing filled the air, as the Diddy Bartlet Pre School Group came in for th...
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Cosy Cat Cafe’
The Purrfect Trip Out
It’s fair to say that you need to like more than a warm toasted tea cake and a lovely cuppa to visit the Cosy Cat Cafe in Herne Bay. Our carefully chosen residents Barbara, Ed...
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Barty’s Winter Wonderland!
Once again Barty House we will be hosting a magical Christmas party for residents, relatives, friends & family with everything from donkeys, face painting, an impressive winter wonderland, and ...
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Barty celebrates long service!
Having loyal and long-serving team members are the life blood of our business and as such we ensure we recognise those special milestones when they are achieved.
So to celebrate our staff members ...
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Diddy Bartlet’s return!
The children from the local childminder’s arrived at Barty for their annual Christmas Party dressed for the occasion in their festive clothes. As ever they were impeccably behaved for such little p...
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Invicta Grammar School
Five of our residents set off for Invicta Grammar School having received an invitation from the school to a community event organised by the students. Others were also invited such as Age Concern a...
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Grove Green Hudson Beavers sing Carols at Barty
The Beavers from Grove Green filed into Barty House looking very festive in their Christmas hats and jumpers. The children were very well behaved and mindful of their surroundings, walking quietly ...
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Barty’s Winter Wonderland
The ordinarily stunning grounds of Barty House were transformed magically this Christmas into a sparkling frosty Winter Wonderland. All the trees leading down to Santa’s Grotto twinkled with over t...
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January Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile.
Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to do...
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Barty Panto!
“It was a brilliant afternoon … Oh no it wasn’t …. Oh yes it was!”
Valerie said “That was better than the film!” Praise indeed for the cast of Tickled Pink Productions who performed their own uniq...
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Barty Bowlers
Barty residents with good nature and goodwill battled against one another again today for the Bowling Trophy at Hollywood Bowl in Maidstone.
Olive Oil kicked off with an immediate strike! Sweet Che...
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Meet Chris, our Facilities Technician
Chris has been at Barty House for 3 years, and he says “It really doesn’t feel like I am coming to work, it’s like my second home. The home and grounds are my baby!”
“We hav...
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Meet Care Assistant Pauline
Pauline has been at Barty House for nearly 2 years now. She previously worked as a carer in the Community as well as several other jobs, but really wanted to get back into care – her husband ...
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Meet Registered Nurse Kelly
Kelly has been at Barty for nearly 4 and a half years, and started working as a Care Assistant before her pin number came through and then continued working as a Registered Nurse at Barty.
Previou...
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Barty Burns Night Celebrations
Burns Night celebrations started in the early afternoon for our residents!
Shirley read the ‘Selkirk Grace,’ as the haggis paraded around the room to the sound of bagpipes. A wee dram of whiskey a...
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February Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile.
Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to do...
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Barty’s Inter-generational Chinese New Year!
We had our routine monthly visit from the Diddy Bartlet’s our pre-school children. As time passes the children have become more confident and sociable with the residents, asking to sit up on ...
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Barty Baking!
When asked what they would like, Barty residents responded by asking to have their very own kitchen to cook in. The Activities Team often have cookery sessions with the residents, as the residents ...
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ZooLab Visit
What better way to kick off your day by cuddling up to a cockroach?
Tyler from ZooLab arrived at Barty with crates full of creepy crawlies for the residents and staff to meet, including millipedes...
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Meet Resident Peter
Peter Neal was born in London, on the 25th of April 1927. The year after Peter was born, in 1928, he remembers people saying that the sun didn’t shine for ninety days straight due to the smog!
His ...
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October Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile.
Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to do...
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A Cake Extravaganza Afternoon at Barty
For the whole month of September Barty residents and staff were cake indulgent; baking, decorating, selling and raffling tasty cakes. All in aid of us supporting people affected by cancer, and rais...
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Bringing back Memories of the Hops at Kent Life
The recent trip out for Barty residents to Kent life stirred up lots of fond memories of the hops from days gone by. The hop huts are a true representation of how life was for the hop pickers, and ...
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Barty House Remembrance Service
Celebrating the lives of loved ones.
On Sunday 7th October we held a Remembrance Service in our Monckton Lounge for all those lost to us over the past year. Families and friends came back to Barty ...
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Barty Hollywood Bowling Champs!
John, Jeremy, Olive and Paul set off for Hollywood Bowling Alley on the Oomph Bus and once there they became; J Baby, Jez, Olive Oil and Bloomsbury on the leaderboard. With their new aliases in pla...
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Ted’s paper round
Ted takes on another paper round at nearly 90 years old!
As a young lad living in Bearsted Ted remembers vaguely having been a “paper boy” and by fourteen he was working in the Village Grocery Stor...
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Olive on a girls day out shopping!
Olive set off on a day out to Hempsted Valley Shopping Centre armed with a purse full of money and a list of things she wanted to shop for. Accompanied on the day by Barty staff members Nichola, Ch...
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Apple Craft Fabric Printing
Our October programme has had an Apple theme given that Sunday the 21st was ‘Apple Day’ whoever invented that?
We have made chutney, painted with apples, eaten apples and will be this week will be...
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The Old Time Musical Hall!
“My Old Man said Follow the Van” – Residents of Barty didn’t Dilly Dally on their way to The Old Time Musical Hall!
A huge Thank You to Bearsted Parish Council for donating tickets to the “Ol...
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Pinboard creations!
Barty residents explored their creative side whilst putting together some beautiful pinboards.
They used wadding to cover canvases and then covered them in some pretty fabric squares and ribbon. A...
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Apple Chutney Workshop
Barty Residents preparing for Chutney Mass Production
October has been an apple extravaganza at Barty House, we have eaten them, printed with them, quizzed over them and most recently made deliciou...
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Rochester Cathedral Trip
Daphne, Alan, Valerie and Dennis set off for Rochester Cathedral on the Oomph bus last Friday full of anticipation of a great morning out. They were not disappointed in the least!
Alex a worker at...
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November Activities Programme
An active life is a healthier life, and can help to keep you more alert and mobile.
Our activities co-ordinators are dedicated to making sure that your days are filled with interesting things to do...
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All Treats and no Tricks for Halloween at Barty!
The Barty staff’s children and grandchildren along with the resident’s families children dressed for the occasion looking very sweet and not at all scary at Barty this Halloween.
To the resi...
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Remembrance Sunday
Remembrance Sunday is always a poignant time for the residents at Barty, this year marks 100 years and made the day even more notable. To be marked with dignity and quiet reflection.
Leading up to ...
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St Johns School Choir
Barty House was engulfed in the sounds of happy enthusiastic and well behaved children, this week. The arrival of St Johns School choir was eagerly anticipated and did not disappoint. Some resident...
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Gemini Fashion
We’ve been showing off the fantastic range of clothes from Gemini Fashion with our very own catwalk!
The lounge at Barty was transformed into a pop-up shop, displaying their new Spring and Su...
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Matisse inspired art!
We’ve been flexing our artistic muscles and tried a new art challenge; embracing the artistic style of Matisse!
We’ve been learning about his work, studying examples of his art and then...
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Gardening at Barty
So far this year, residents have sown sunflower seeds and planted out the hanging baskets for the Court Yard Garden, which will be awash with glorious colour and hopefully bees and butterflies very...
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