Keymer Hall Named Dementia Care Award Finalist
Keymer Hall by Boutique Care Homes, situated in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, has been named a finalist in the Dementia Care and Engagement category at the 2027 National Activity Awards, run by the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA). The award recognises services that go above and beyond to improve the lives of people living with dementia through activity, art and engagement woven into everyday care.
It is a significant achievement for a home that welcomed its first residents less than a year ago, on 8 December 2025. In that time, Keymer Hall has built a programme of dementia engagement that reaches into every part of daily life, rather than sitting inside a single scheduled session.
At the heart of that programme is Boutique Care Homes’ Nostalgia Care approach: understanding each resident’s life story, interests, relationships and preferences, so that familiarity, trust and belonging are built around the individual rather than the diagnosis. It is delivered through the group’s Life Enrichment Programme, structured around six principles: Contribute, Grow, Reflect, Feel, Move and Connect.
One of the clearest examples is Keymer Hall’s Sporting Legends Café, held monthly in partnership with Burgess Hill Town FC. Football programmes, photographs and team colours prompt memories that remain vivid even when recent recall becomes harder. Residents take on the role of storyteller and expert, rather than being asked to remember on demand.
Admissions Manager Lisa Rose has seen the effect it has on residents first-hand. “Sport has this wonderful ability to take you straight back. Mention a particular match or a famous moment and someone’s face just lights up.”
That same approach to connection reaches beyond the home’s walls. Within months of opening, Keymer Hall began leading Burgess Hill’s developing dementia awareness partnership, bringing local organisations and businesses together to strengthen understanding and support across the town, work that Burgess Hill Town Council has recognised. Founder and Managing Director Ameet Kotecha sees this as central to what the home is building. “Keymer Hall was always meant to be part of Burgess Hill, not separate from it. Dementia engagement works best when a whole community understands it, not just the people delivering care.”
Intergenerational connection has become part of everyday life too. Residents spend time with children from Dicker House Pre-School, local Brownies and four-year-old youth ambassador Freddie, including a joint RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, where residents and children identified birds and prepared food together as part of a national citizen science project. NAPA Highly Commended Keymer Hall for this work in its 2026 Global Intergenerational Week Competition.
The home’s allotment has provided a further route into engagement through its first growing season, with residents planting, watering and harvesting together. The first tomato became a shared celebration, and runner beans have since been nurtured towards garden teas, offering sensory connection and purpose without asking anything of memory.
Home Manager Christine Bunce says the culture behind all of it is what makes the difference. “Our team gets to know people, not conditions. That’s what lets someone feel like themselves here, whatever the day brings.”
Families describe the results in their own words. AC, whose mother lives at Keymer Hall with dementia, said the range of activities “has really brought a new lease of life to my mother and she is so happy at Keymer Hall,” adding that her mother is free to join in “whenever she likes.” JB said her relative had “embraced the many different activities and camaraderie of the other lovely residents” despite early reservations about the move.
NAPA Chief Executive Hilary Woodhead said the shortlisting reflects the strength of the entry among a national field. “Being selected as a National Activity Awards finalist is an outstanding achievement. Your nomination demonstrates the passion, creativity and commitment that make activity provision so important. This is your moment, and we hope you will join us for a very special celebration.”
Winners will be announced at NAPA’s black-tie awards ceremony on Friday 22 January 2027, at Hunton Park Hotel in Hertfordshire.
At Boutique Care Homes, dementia care is never treated as something separate from daily life. It is daily life, built around the person rather than the diagnosis. That is why the families who live it describe it best.
