Ashfield Court

Ashfield Court Care Home is situated in the Forest Hall area of Newcastle.  It is within easy walking distance of local shops and amenities, and is well served by public transport.

Many people who visit Ashfield Court comment on the warm and homely feel they get the minute they walk in and are greeted by friendly, smiling staff.

We have a very people-centred approach.  We like to get to know our residents properly, not just on the surface.  We ask new residents to fill in a ‘This is your life’ book, so we can learn about their personal history – where they went to school, their career, their hobbies, likes and dislikes, and so on.  If they’re not able to do this, we ask their families.  With this information we can interact with residents in a much more meaningful way.  It also helps that the majority of our staff and residents are from this area of Newcastle.

We have a wide range of activities for residents, but a fairly recent development has been our attachment to the Hen Power project, which gives us access to many arts and crafts activities.  Ashfield was chosen because artwork by our residents was on exhibition in Newcastle.

A local church has tea and coffee mornings here, and recently decided to start a lunch club.  We offered Ashfield as a venue, so now people can sit and have meals and chat with residents and also find out a bit more about us.  We’ve set up a Friends of Ashfield group, run by the residents, and we’re applying for Lottery funding through Hen Power.

Our residents regularly go out into the community, and the community comes to us.  Once a month there’s a trip out for a pub lunch for residents and their families.  Local schools often come in for sing-alongs.  George Stephenson’s cottage is just down the road, and next year there are celebrations linked to his Rocket, and we’ll be linking up with schools on that.  As part of our Halloween party, schoolchildren will be knocking on residents’ doors to do trick or treat!

We have a secure garden, which is used regularly by the residents, sometimes for arts and crafts activities, weather permitting.