You are here: / / / March

New Signage for Charlotte Straker House

2022 is the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Charlotte Straker Project. To celebrate our achievements over the past 30 years, our trustees and management are planning to refresh the branding of our much loved organisation. We want it to reflect the professionalism of our charity as well as the wonderful welcome that our residents experience in our home.

As a first step we have installed a brand new sign at the end of our drive. The previous sign was looking a little tired, so we worked with RW Sign and Design to produce 10 different designs and asked our residents which one they preferred. Once they chose their favourite, we asked the Northumbrian branch of the Dry-Stone Walling Association to build us a natural curved wall as a base and RW Sign and Design created and installed the new sign.

A local business owner (Sally French from French Beauty Lounge) remarked that she had spotted the change of sign immediately, was very impressed with it, as it is very in keeping with the community feel of both Corbridge and Charlotte Straker, and is a real improvement. We absolutely agree and think it looks very smart! The funding of this project was covered by a donation from Stephen Groves, husband of our Chair Berenice.

Chinese New Year at Charlotte Straker House

Last month our staff team did a great job celebrating Chinese New Year. We decorated the dining room with fans and lanterns and residents tucked into a meal of honey ginger soy chicken, egg fried rice, spring rolls and prawn crackers. We had special decorations for the residents to enjoy with Chinese drums and atmospheric table settings to really bring the whole experience to life.

To make the event complete, an amazing “dragon” danced for our residents and performed a Chinese Lantern Dance to bring good luck to everyone who saw him. The dragon visited all the residents, including those who stayed in their rooms and there was lots of laughter and clapping as it danced around the corridors. Resident Muriel said: “The dragon made me laugh and I love it that we get to try all these different things.”

The “Tiny Tablet” – an exciting new activity for our residents

A very generous donation from a local family has recently allowed a local care home to buy a new and exciting piece of technology. The “Tiny Tablet” is a giant touch screen activity tablet, which is built into a solid wood surround and mounted on wheels. It can be rolled into different rooms and is fully connected to the internet so that different apps are easily downloaded to be used by our residents.

Pam Crawley, our Registered Manager commented “The Tiny Tablet is an amazing piece of equipment. Some of our residents have poor sight, and they are now able to videocall and easily see their families and friends, as well as playing jigsaws, games, word searches and connect to the internet to use apps such as Google Earth, or YouTube. For those who are less mobile or who are isolating, it can be wheeled into their room so that they can keep connected and busy.  Simple things, like using Google Earth and being able to drop yourself into street view is such a wonderful experience as it really brings back memories for the residents and they are able to talk about where they lived previously.”

During lockdown or if a resident is isolation, the Tiny Tablet is constantly in use, allowing residents to see families, stimulate their minds through different apps and eradicate boredom. The tablets are also ideal in today’s climate, with the importance of infection control. They are fully wipeable and therefore potential risks are easily managed with our robust infection control measures.

Berenice Groves, Chair of the Trustees added, “The smiles from our residents when the Tablet is wheeled into their rooms will stay with me for a while. It’s such a versatile piece of tech, and so far, we’ve used it for relaxation and meditation, storytelling, art, creativity and music, memory games, video calling and quizzes. We’ve downloaded apps to allow residents to play sports that they’ve not played for a long time. It’s a wonderful piece of kit for improving coordination, memory, and mood. We are very grateful and would like to thank those who donated the cost of the tablet, and for the additional comfort and joy it has brought to the home.”