Marnel Lodge Care Home - Barchester Healthcare

21/10/2025

Community, connection, and colour at Marnel Lodge ✨
This week’s catch-up brought gentle conversation and plenty of laughter, followed by our milestone sing-along—voices in harmony and hearts full. A little shopping trip added independence and choice, and we rounded things off with beautiful flower arrangements that brightened our home (and our day).
Grateful to our dedicated team and families who champion meaningful moments, every week. 🌼🎶🛍️

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18/10/2025

🌈 A Magical Evening with the Brookvale Rainbow Children! 🌈

This evening, Marnel Lodge was filled with laughter, music, and the cheerful voices of our little visitors from the Brookvale Rainbow group💕

The children spent a wonderful time with our residents — singing songs, sharing crafts, and spreading pure joy all around. It was heart-warming to see our residents’ faces light up as the children interacted with them so naturally and lovingly. ✨

A huge thank-you to the Brookvale Rainbow team for bringing such warmth and colour into our evening. We’re already looking forward to welcoming you back soon! 🌼

15/10/2025

🎻 An Evening with Liz the Violinist at Marnel Lodge 🎶

It’s always a pleasure to welcome back Liz, our wonderful violinist who visits Marnel Lodge every month. Her music fills the home with warmth and happiness, and our residents truly look forward to her performances.

As one of our residents beautifully said, “The best thing about Liz coming is how her music fills the room and makes everything feel alive.”

Thank you, Liz, for sharing your incredible talent and creating such special moments for everyone at Marnel Lodge. 💛

10/10/2025

🎉 Awel-Y-Mor Celebrates Excellent Ratings 🎉

Awel-Y-Mor Care Home in , Swansea passed a recent Care Inspectorate Wales inspection with ‘Excellent’ ratings - the best possible ratings – across the board, after being praised for operating a safe, well-maintained, caring and well-led service.

The CIW report stated that there was a strong sense of belonging and teamwork in the home, nurtured by a very well-respected management team that encourages a positive culture.

Highlighted in the report was that the care staff knew residents well and were dedicated and driven to offering them the best possible care, going above and beyond to do so.

A relative commented: “I can’t speak highly enough about the place, they are so good at the little things, all the residents come first here. My loved one has a good life here.”

Our CEO, Dr Pete Calveley, visited Awel-Y-Mor to congratulate Rachael, General Manager, and her team on the home’s Excellent ratings and award every member of staff a £500 voucher to celebrate their achievement.

Huge congratulations to everyone at Awel-Y-Mor – what a fantastic achievement! 👏

Here are some of the highlights from the day.

09/10/2025

🎭✨ A truly magical afternoon at Marnel Lodge!

Residents were treated to an incredible performance by Britain’s Got Talent 2013 finalist, Steve Hewlett, the talented ventriloquist who filled our lounge with laughter and joy.

His wife Nina opened the afternoon with a beautiful singing session, performing timeless favourites that had everyone smiling, clapping, and singing along. Steve then took to the stage with his puppets, delighting our residents with his quick wit, humour, and heart-warming act.

It was an unforgettable afternoon of music, laughter, and memories — thank you Steve and Nina Hewlett for bringing so much happiness to Marnel Lodge! 💫🎶❤️

09/10/2025

🐿️ A Heart-warming Visit from the Squirrels 🎨✨

Marnel Lodge was delighted to welcome the Squirrels for a wonderful afternoon of arts and crafts with our residents. The young visitors brought along their creativity, curiosity, and infectious smiles — filling the home with warmth, laughter, and colour. 🌸

It was a truly special intergenerational experience, as stories were shared, friendships were formed, and beautiful artwork was created together. Moments like these remind us of the joy that comes from connecting generations and celebrating community spirit. 💕

08/10/2025

⭐ We’re Finalists for the National Care Awards ⭐

We’re delighted to share that Barchester Healthcare has been shortlisted in the Large Care Home Group category for this year’s National Care Awards.

The National Care Awards are the largest awards recognising excellence in the UK care sector, celebrating the very best people and companies across the sector.

A huge congratulations to Aila Evangelista from Atfield House Care Home in , London, a finalist in the Care Registered Nurse of the Year category, and to the entire team at Atfield House Care Home - Barchester Healthcare, also shortlisted for Dignity and Respect Care Home of the Year. 👏

We’re so proud of all our teams who work tirelessly to provide the very best care for residents, patients and their families every single day.

The winners will be announced on 7th November at Park Plaza London – good luck to all the finalists!

07/10/2025

🖌️ Pinetree Residents Get Creative with Mosaic-Making 🎨

As part of their first home anniversary celebrations, and together with volunteers from partner company CBRE UK, colleagues and residents at Pinetree Care Home in set to work on a joint project to commemorate the occasion.

Residents were asked what they would like to do to celebrate and decided to create a beautiful mosaic sign for the home.

The project was a wonderful collaboration that everyone at the home could join in with. The end result is a fitting tribute to the home, which now hangs in reception for all the staff, residents and visitors to enjoy.

A resident commented: “It is so wonderful to try new hobbies, I had never made a mosaic before but I absolutely loved it and have been bitten by the bug! I can’t wait to have another go and see what else we can make. I really enjoyed sitting down with everyone else and working on something together, it gave us all a fantastic sense of achievement.”

What a beautiful mosaic! Well done to all involved. 👏

03/10/2025

♥️ The Power of Music: a heart-warming moment at Ochil Care Home ♥️

Colleagues and residents at Ochil Care Home in were over the moon to uncover a beautiful piece of history when they heard an original recording by one of their much-loved residents, Wilma, who used to be a professional singer years ago.

Wilma’s husband, Donald, had lovingly kept the original master copy of Wilma’s debut album which was recorded in 1996. Staff at the home helped Donald transfer the precious recording onto a CD to preserve it.

Everyone at the home watched the heart-warming moment when Wilma, who is living with dementia, realised the recording being played was her voice from almost thirty years ago. Her reaction was absolutely magical as her memory of that time in her life came flooding back.

What’s more, the video of that extraordinary moment showing the power of music to connect, has now been viewed over 65,000 times.

Such a beautiful moment! ✨

Ochil Care Home - Barchester Healthcare

01/10/2025

🥨🍻 Oktoberfest Celebrations 🥨🍻

Oktoberfest was a huge hit with residents, patients, families and visitors this year.

Our care homes and hospitals joined in the celebrations with themed decorations, live entertainment, community events and plenty of fun.

Our talented chefs and hospitality colleagues prepared a selection of pretzels and Bavarian dishes, all complemented by some refreshing cold beers.

It was a day to remember - here are some of our favourite moments.

30/09/2025

☕💚 World’s Biggest Coffee Morning ☕💚

Colleagues, residents, patients, families and friends across the country came together to enjoy charity coffee mornings and bake sales, raising funds and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Our care homes and hospitals hosted a variety of community events, inviting everyone to catch up over a cuppa and a slice of something delicious, all for a great cause.

Residents and patients enjoyed spending time with friends and relatives, and members of the local community. Our talented chefs baked plenty of cakes, biscuits and pastries for everyone to sample.

The events were a great success – thank you to everyone who took part and helped support this important cause.

Here are some of our favourite moments. ✨

25/09/2025

🌟 Honouring 10 Years of Dedication 🌟

Today we proudly honoured three of our amazing colleagues for reaching an incredible milestone – 10 years of service at Marnel Lodge.

💐 Daniella – Team Leader
💐 Julie – Senior Carer
💐 Helen – Senior Kitchen Assistant

Over the past decade, each of them has shown outstanding commitment, care, and dedication, making a lasting difference to our residents, families, and colleagues.

We are truly grateful for everything they do and for the passion they bring to their roles every single day. ❤️

24/09/2025

🖌️ Virtual V&A Make-along 🎨

In celebration of National Day of Arts in Care Homes, residents and patients across the country enjoyed a wonderful V&A Virtual Make-along experience with Holly from the V&A Learning team and designer-artist Rafin Jannat.

Taking inspiration from the South Asia Gallery at the museum, everyone had the chance to experiment with paints and pigments made from everyday ingredients, creating their own unique artworks.

It was a calming, creative experience that everyone truly enjoyed. A big thank you to the Victoria and Albert Museum team for leading such an inspiring session!

Here are some of our favourite highlights. ✨

National Activity Providers Association

22/09/2025

⭐ We’re Finalists in the UK Customer Experience Awards ⭐

It’s awards season and we’re thrilled to share that our talented Customer Experience Team has been shortlisted in not one, but two categories in the prestigious UK Customer Experience Awards:

💡 Best Use of Customer Insight
💻 Best Use of Technology

We’re proud that Barchester Healthcare is the only company from the health sector to be recognised in either of these categories. The winners will be announced at Wembley in October – wish us luck!

Our nomination for Best Use of Customer Insight comes from our Tell Barchester survey, which gathers invaluable feedback each year from more than 13,500 residents, patients and their families. Every single piece of feedback helps us shape and improve the care and services we provide.

In the Best Use of Technology category, our new Connex CRM system, powered by Salesforce, has been recognised for transforming how we manage every customer interaction – making the care journey seamless.

We’re so proud of our team and grateful to everyone who shared their feedback with us.

21/09/2025

World Alzheimer’s Day 2025 – Why It Matters More Than Ever 💜

World Alzheimer’s Day, observed annually on 21st September, is a global event dedicated to raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

With nearly 1 million people in the UK living with dementia, understanding, support and research have never been more important.

Alzheimer’s Day serves as a powerful reminder of the challenges faced by individuals and families living with Alzheimer’s, and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention.

At Barchester, our commitment to dementia care goes beyond World Alzheimer’s Day. We strive to make a difference every day, providing compassionate support, innovative programmes, and expert care for residents, patients and families.

To find out more, please see our latest blog here: https://www.barchester.com/help-and-advice/world-alzheimers-day-2025-why-it-matters-more-ever-barchester

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19/09/2025

✨ This week we are celebrating Housekeeping Week – a time to recognise and appreciate the # # # work our housekeeping team do every single day. Their dedication ensures our home remains clean, welcoming and comfortable for everyone. 🌸

At Marnel Lodge, Tika, Munna, Hari ,Sarah and Sarmila are truly the heart of our home. 💖 Their hard work, care and attention to detail keep our residents safe and happy, and we couldn’t be more grateful. 🙏

One of our residents, Vera, beautifully expressed her thanks when she had the honour of presenting the bouquet to our team – a small token of our big appreciation. 💐

16/09/2025

⭐ Happy National Housekeeping Week ⭐

This week we’re celebrating the fantastic housekeeping teams across our care homes and hospitals.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to recognise their dedication to keeping everything spotless and creating a welcoming environment for residents, patients, families and visitors.

Thank you to all our colleagues for their continuous hard work and support – you truly make a difference every day.

12/09/2025

🎥 Film club this week is a classic. 🎥
There's just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes. With a little benevolent interference from their local priest, a group of close friends get their ticket of a lifetime.

Feedback from the Residents was that this was a great film and that they enjoyed it so we are rating it with a ❤️ recommended

To find out more about life in our home, please give us a call ☎️on 01256 471250 where one of our friendly team will be delighted to help, or go to 🌎 https://www.barchester.com/home/marnel-lodge-care-home

12/09/2025

🎉 Lotus Manor is Now Open 🎉

We’re excited to share that Lotus Manor Care Home in has opened its doors in style, with a Grand Opening performed by the Deputy Mayor of Guildford, Councillor Jane Tyson, in front of invited guests from the local community.

Our CEO, Dr Pete Calveley, and General Manager, Candy Guo, hosted the event and invited guests to view the stunning new 64-bed care home.

Designed with residents’ comfort in mind, Lotus Manor Care Home will offer residential support, respite stays and specialist dementia care, all delivered by a dedicated and passionate team of trained professionals.

Take a look at some of our favourite moments from the event. ✨

11/09/2025

It was a cosy relaxed feel in the coffee shop this morning at Marnel Lodge Care Home - Barchester Healthcare . Residents shared time together, chatting, reading news papers and playing dominoes, with tea and coffees of course

To find out more about life in our home, please give us a call ☎️on 01256 471250 where one of our friendly team will be delighted to help, or go to 🌎 https://www.barchester.com/home/marnel-lodge-care-home

11/09/2025

🚑 Celebrating Emergency Services Day 🚒👏

Residents, patients, colleagues and visitors marked this year’s Emergency Services Day in style, recognising the contribution of local emergency services, volunteers and heroes.

Our homes and hospitals hosted a variety of community events, from coffee mornings to afternoon garden parties, inviting emergency services personnel to join for hot drinks and delicious home-made cakes.

Everyone had a wonderful time, visiting local emergency services sites, engaging in conversations and sharing inspirational stories of emergency services heroes, both past and present.

09/09/2025

🎾⚽ The simple joy of ball games at Marnel Lodge ⚽🎾

Our residents love joining in with ball games – they’re fun, active and a wonderful way to spend time together. 💛

Not only do they help with movement and coordination, but they also bring plenty of laughter, boost confidence, and encourage friendships to grow.

It’s amazing how something so simple can create so much happiness and connection ✨