Fun care home video wins accolade in national contest

Woodcot Lodge Care Home in Rowner Road finished runner-up in the annual Care Home Idol contest in which care homes from all over the country compete to be the UK’s Care Home Idol.

This is the third year of the competition which is designed to showcase the talent and vibrancy that exists in care homes and challenge people’s preconceptions of residential care.

Contestants comprise residents and staff from the UK’s 20,000 care homes with the winners chosen by the public who vote online for their favourite act.

Woodcot Lodge Care Home entered its video of a Halloween party featuring staff dancing to classic songs by Elvis, Cliff Richard and Tom Jones.

Care home manager, Vickie Wylde, said: ‘We decided to take part in Care Home Idol to showcase the dedication of our activities team, and bring the community together to support us.

‘We are delighted that we have gained second place, as the competition was very strong. Our relatives and community have been really supportive with this competition and we are so grateful for all the votes we received.’

Rhondda Bennett and Karen Naylor, who run the activities team, added: ‘Our Halloween party was a massive success, everyone was welcome. Not only was it magical to hear and see our residents enjoy themselves, families also recorded special memories of their loved ones.

‘As an activities team we feel privileged to be able to share these happy moments and memories, not just for our residents but for their families and all our staff.’

To view Woodcot Lodge Care Home’s video go to carehome.co.uk/idol/idol.cfm/id/226.

Davina Ludlow, director of carehome.co.uk, said: ‘We would like to congratulate Woodcot Lodge Care Home for coming runner-up in Care Home Idol 2015 with their lovely performance.

‘It looks like they had a lot of fun making the video.’