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Craft Festival at St Andrew’s Church raises over £2000 for local charities.

The two-day Textile and Art Exhibition (Craft Fest 1) held in St Andrew’s Church in Corbridge welcomed well over a thousand visitors through its doors last Thursday and Friday. Organised jointly by the Corbridge Sewing Bee and St Andrew’s Church the exhibition raised just over £2000 in donations which will be divided equally between The Charlotte Straker Project and the Church fund.

Exhibitors included local artists, lace makers, embroiderers, photographers, quilters, basket makers, crafters, sewers and knitters as well as local organisations such as the Youth Initiative, the Brownies and local schools. Visitors commented particularly on the high standard and sheer variety of work on offer and exhibitors were able to network and share ideas and inspiration for future work.

Our Chair of Trustees Berenice Groves opened the exhibition jointly with Dr David Kennedy, vicar of St Andrew’s at the well-attended preview. Berenice commented “we’re delighted that we were invited to be involved in this exhibition as it has beautifully showcased the talents of our crafty residents. We’re also extremely grateful for such a generous donation to our charity. Thank you also to Jayne, our Activities Coordinator, and the volunteers for taking so many of our residents to see the exhibition”

The Charlotte Straker residents visiting the exhibition thoroughly enjoyed the display of items including the contribution of work from Charlotte Straker House.

John B commented “the crafts absolutely filled the church. There are some very talented people in the village. It was very interesting seeing all the different bits and pieces”.

Muriel had a fantastic time and said “I loved it, and I loved seeing all the embroidery and tapestry and chatting to everyone. Some of the embroidery pieces were beautiful”.

Thank you to all exhibitors who submitted the pieces and the hard working volunteers who helped before, during and after the exhibition.

Two Volunteers attend a Special Garden Party

Our volunteers Debbie Thick and Avril McVittie were delighted to receive an invitation from the Duchess of Northumberland to a special garden party at The Alnwick Garden this month. Around 250 volunteers and carers from across the county were invited to attend with their partners or a guest, to be thanked for their hard work, dedication and commitment.

Pam Crawley, our Registered Manager commented “We were asked to nominate two of our volunteers to attend this special celebration, and we immediately decided on Avril and Debbie. They both work so hard for us and our residents, and attend every week to do the shop trolley, chat to our residents and accompany them to activities and outings. We’re very grateful for their dedication and we’re so pleased that they could be honoured in this way.”

Greggs provided a fantastic afternoon tea and guests were entertained by Robson’s Choice Northumbrian Pipers and The Vieux Carré Jazzmen.

Her Grace, The Duchess of Northumberland said: “There are so many extremely generous and extraordinary individuals in Northumberland who give up their time, selflessly, to help others in need.

“I hear so many moving stories of the things people do, for the benefit of others less fortunate, some working for charities, many just doing their own thing, frequently unnoticed, giving help where it is needed most. This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to them for the really valuable work they do.

Debbie commented, “The Duchess made some welcome speeches and thanked everyone for coming and all the fabulous work that people had done. There was a delicious afternoon tea and then local deputies visited each of the tables to ask us about our volunteering – I was proud that they all knew about the Charlotte Straker Project, and they offered thanks and support. Following tea we were able to see the beautiful gardens and fountains and were presented with a little goodie thank you bag!”

Avril added “It was such a gorgeous day – helped by the sunny weather of course, and it felt marvellous to be able to experience such an event. A huge thank you to Pam who had nominated myself and Debbie. It was a truly memorable occasion.”

Berenice Groves, Chair of the Trustees commented “on behalf of our Board of Trustees, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all our volunteers for everything they do – they are at the heart of our organisation and we couldn’t manage any of our activities without them. Volunteering is so rewarding, and if you would like to join our small family to help with any aspect at Charlotte Straker House please contact us on the details below.”

Please email us at office@charlottestraker.org.uk or call 01434 633 999 (option 1).

 

 

Our residents display their crafting skills

A raffle and competition is being held as part of the Craft and Textile Exhibition at St Andrew’s Church on
Thursday 23rd June 2022 9.30am to 8.30pm and Friday 24th June, 9.30am to 4.00pm. Each exhibitor has given a prize for the raffle, and the Crafty Women have donated a beautiful handmade quilt. Raffle tickets are only £1 each and can be bought at the event. There is also a competition to win a gorgeous sage green quilted cushion – guess the correct number of stitches to win!

Our residents have been asked if they would like to display any of their own crafts to the Exhibition and we’ve had some wonderful entries. The photo shows Colin working to finish a very intricate model of a fishing boat which he is submitting. Other submissions include a decoupage bowl, an oil painting, crewel tapestry and very delicate lace and tatting work – all from previous or current residents of our care home. Our residents will also be visiting the Exhibition – we look forward to seeing you there.

Our Summer Fete at Charlotte Straker House – 2nd July 2pm to 4pm

Our Summer Fete is being held on Saturday 2nd July in the Charlotte Straker gardens, from 2pm to 4pm.
It will be packed full of stalls including second hand books, cakes, handmade items from the Crafty Women, toys and gifts. There will be stalls from other charities plus a children’s corner with games and a raffle and tombola. Refreshments will include ice cream, teas and coffees and our charity beer.
All are welcome – and proceeds will go towards the refurbishment of our garden and outside areas. Please keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

Our residents are benefiting from a new exercise programme

Ann Robinson, Health and Wellbeing Manager from Age UK Northumberland visited Charlotte Straker House to launch a brand new exercise programme for our residents. It’s called HowFit, has been created by doctors, physiotherapists and personal trainers, and encourages users to start a plan of very simple exercises, just for a few minutes every day. Ann carried out an initial assessment of our residents to measure their mobility and then led us all in a series of very simple exercises. We marched and stretched arms and legs and did some knee lifts and neck bends and pretended we were walking to Corbridge, all whilst sat in our chairs and wheelchairs. The idea is to improve our resident’s flexibility, strength and balance. Everyone agreed that they felt tired after the exercises but would practice them every day. “As long as we have a cup of coffee afterwards!” commented Muriel. After the exercises we had a cup of tea and a good chat and reminisced about the sports that everyone used to play: Margaret Y, Jessie and Margaret S played hockey and netball; John liked cricket and rugby and Colin and Muriel were both keen cyclists. Ann told us that she would do another assessment after a few weeks and the results would be sent to the NHS North Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG, as part of a project to measure how simple, regular exercises can improve care home residents’ health and stability.

Fundraising Quiz at the Angel of Corbridge

The recent Quiz at the Angel of Corbridge, on behalf of the Charlotte Straker Project was very well attended with the bar packed out with teams, including a couple of tables made up of our staff and trustees. The quiz was Friends themed and we managed to answer some of the questions, but didn’t quite manage to win any prizes! The Angel provided a delicious fish and chip supper after the quiz and it was an evening of fun, laughter and good natured competition. Thank you to Kevin and his team, not only for arranging the quiz to raise money on our behalf, but also for organising such a fun and convivial evening.

Fundraising at the County Show

The Crafty Women of Corbridge manned a stall at the Northumberland County Show last Friday, fundraising on behalf of the Charlotte Straker Project by selling beautiful handmade clothes, decorations and soft furnishings. It was a great opportunity to fundraise (we raised £187 for our charity), but also to spread the word about the aims and objectives of the Charlotte Straker Project and our respite care bed. Volunteers Ann Wagstaff, Angela Jones and Rosie Cunningham helped set up and manage the stall, assisted by our Chair, Berenice Groves. They told us there was a great deal of interest in our organisation and it was a very busy day with lots of visitors. Well done and thank you to Angela, Rosie, Ann and Berenice and also to the organisers of the County Show, who allowed us to be part of their Indoor Shopping Marquee.

Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

We had a glorious few days of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last week.

The entertainment included music from the Sunshine Panners Steel band, a visit from Tyne Valley Ice Creams, an afternoon tea (generously donated by the Angel of Corbridge), live singing from Ruth Boyd and Kev Beadle and a delicious themed lunch.

Pam, our Registered Manager said ” The decorations looked amazing, especially the life size cut out of Her Majesty the Queen! Our residents absolutely loved the activities over the whole holiday and spent time chatting about their memories of the Coronation and the Silver Jubilee and how much they admired the Royal Family. I was delighted to see every resident joining in the festivities and enjoying the music and special Jubilee themed food”.

Muriel said “I think the Queen is absolutely wonderful – it’s her sense of duty that impresses me the most.”

Margaret commented “I loved the singing and enjoyed the music from the steel band. It made it such a special day – I’m glad I was able to watch all the processions on TV as well”.

Everyone admired the smart outfits worn by the Royal Family at the Jubilee Thanksgiving service and also the good behaviour of the royal children during the Jubilee Parade!  It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying the day – thank you to all those staff, volunteers and trustees who helped and organised and made it such a success.