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Family Fun and Cricket Day – 29th August 2022

The Family Fun Day is returning this year at the Corbridge Cricket Club on Monday 29th August from 12.30 pm onwards.

Three charity teams will be battling it out for the Corbridge Cricket trophy and there will be stalls, afternoon tea, live singing, a full bar, a BBQ and plenty of games and a bouncy castle to keep the little ones occupied.

All monies will be split between the three local charities – ourselves, the Corbridge Youth Initiative and the Corbridge Cricket Club.

If you have any books, tombola or raffle prizes we would be very grateful if they could be left in the summer house in Charlotte Straker grounds.

Also, we would be very grateful for any savoury or sweet bakes and cakes and these can be left on Sunday 28th August between 1pm & 3pm in the Charlotte Straker summer house. (All ingredients need to be listed on the baked goods – thank you).

A visit to Dobbie’s Garden Centre

A group of our residents visited Dobbies Garden Centre in Ponteland last week accompanied by our volunteers, carers and a nurse.

Dobbie’s is always extremely kind and welcoming to our group visits and this time was no exception. We had a delicious lunch in the quieter part of the cafe, and then had a great time looking at the plants, flowers, fish and home wares.

Margaret said “I really enjoyed browsing through the clothes and accessories. I love looking at the new fashion and styles.” John and Colin spent time looking through the different plants and flowers for sale and Muriel said “I’m not buying anything in particular, it’s just lovely being out and about!”

Thank you to all our volunteers and members of staff who accompanied our residents plus the wonderful members of team at Dobbie’s – we’ll definitely be back later on in the year to see their famous Christmas displays.

Thank you to Tracy for her care and commitment

Our Registered Manager Pam Crawley presented Tracy Richardson, a Care Assistant at Charlotte Straker House, with a bouquet of flowers yesterday to thank her for going above and beyond in her day to day role.
Pam said “We want to thank Tracy for the outstanding care and commitment she gives to her role as a Care Assistant at Charlotte Straker. Tracy is dedicated to her role and is often heard encouraging residents and staff with kind words in her day to day duties. Tracy also consistently goes above and beyond, giving her own time up to go shopping for residents, should they wish or need anything from clothes, to toiletries or that special bar of chocolate they prefer. Nothing is too much trouble for Tracy, as she loves helping and supporting our residents.”
Thank you to Tracy from our senior management team as well as our Board of Trustees!

A Caribbean Mocktail Afternoon

Our residents had a great time visiting the Caribbean as part of “Mocktail Afternoon” last week.
Our kitchen team used lots of different fresh fruit and made some yummy mocktails for the residents and team. We all enjoyed getting involved and being in the Caribbean mood, with a lovely home-made afternoon tea and a great atmosphere.
As you can see we all like dressing up! Our Activities Coordinator and volunteers acted as mixologists and our residents tried lots of different fruit based drinks.
Margaret said “I liked the raspberry and pineapple flavours the best.” As well as being lots of fun, drinking lots of different mocktails helps residents keep hydrated and encourages to try lots of healthy fruit. Jean summed up the afternoon by saying “it’s been a lovely afternoon with everyone chatting and relaxing.”

Support Sam in the Great North Run

Sam Willis, our Deputy Manager is running in this year’s Great North Run, on behalf of our charity.

She says, “I’ve run the Great North Run previously for another charity, and I promised myself that I would do it again one day. Once I joined the Charlotte Straker Project I decided that now was the time and I could challenge myself to raise money for a charity that is so important to the local community. I have two young children to look after, so I tend to do my training late at night. I keep motivated by the thought of constantly challenging myself and it’s sometimes difficult to find the energy to follow my training plan, especially with long days and nights at work, but running helps to clear my head and I enjoy it once I get going! I would love to do the marathon in around 4 hours and not walk, but I’ve just had a back operation so I just want to finish the race and take in the scenery and the crowds along the way.”

We wish Sam the best of luck in her training, and we’ll be supporting her all the way – check back for more updates and photos on how she’s getting along.

To support Sam please visit her JustGiving page below – or you can email sally.urwin@charlottestraker.org.uk to organise a cash or postal donation.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sam-willis4

Phil swims Lake Windermere to raise money for Charlotte Straker

Phil Jameson is the son of Kim Clarke (who is a member of our housekeeping team). On the 3rd September he is swimming the full length of Windemere in the Lake District on behalf of our charity. Windermere is the longest lake in England – a huge 11 miles in length.

Phil says “I used to do triathlon events in my early 20’s but after a few years of little exercise due having a young family and Covid lockdowns I bit the bullet and entered an event which is a massive challenge for me. About 5 years ago I supported a swimmer who did the event by kayaking the 11 miles next to him and I was really inspired as there were all shapes and sizes doing the event and I thought I would love to try it. The swim distance is like running an ultra-marathon for 60 miles so it really will be a physical and mental challenge. Training has been going well and I have been able to train with my dad for some of it. We are triathlon coaches for our family business and we have helped support people in their own personal aims and now it’s my turn to follow a programme so that hopefully I turn up to the event in the best position for me. I am raising money for Charlotte Straker and Elswick Community Pool as they were hit by COVID and they are vital for their community and support some well deserving people.”

If you would like to support Phil in his long (and chilly!) challenge – please visit his JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/phil-jameson

– or you can email sally.urwin@charlottestraker.org.uk to organise a cash or postal donation.

We’re very grateful to Phil for deciding to fundraise for our charity – and we’ll be posting more information and updates on his training programme.

Our Summer Newsletter 2022 is out now!

Our Summer 2022 Newsletter is out now!  Click here to read – https://mailchi.mp/charlottest…/our-2022-summer-newsletter
Packed with the latest photos, news and updates including an introduction from our Chair of the Trustees.
If you would like us to send you a copy by post, or by email please contact our marketing coordinator on sally.urwin@charlottestraker.org.uk

Keeping our cool in a heatwave

Despite the soaring temperatures, our residents and staff are keeping cool, helped by a visit from Tyne Valley Ices! We also made sure our regular “hydration station” was fully stocked with fresh fruit, juice, drinks, and iced water to ensure everyone kept their fluids topped up during the rocketing temperatures. We’re all looking forward to the cooler days, but rest assured we’re keeping a very close eye on everyone to make sure that all our residents keep healthy and safe during the heatwave.”

Our new garden project – it looks beautiful in the sunshine!

Our gardens look beautiful in the sunshine! Thanks to fundraising events and donations we have been able to refurbish our summerhouse, the decking, planters and create beautiful new planting and flowerbed schemes. The hanging baskets and window planters are a riot of colour, and we have a new rose garden, garden seat, gorgeous plant pots and shady parasols to ensure our residents are kept cool in the hottest of weather. Colin, John, Gladys, Margaret, Alan and Eric enjoyed their coffee outside last week and told us that they loved the new colour of the summerhouse, the beautiful flowers around the seating area and they thought the hanging baskets were “really gorgeous”. It makes such a difference to the appearance of Charlotte Straker House and we’ve found that it’s encouraged more of our residents to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Thank you to our gardeners and volunteers who work hard to keep our gardens beautiful.

Nursing students mentored by our experienced RGNs

We have had two nursing students working with us as part of their second year nursing studies at the University of Northumbria.

Cassandra and Shukria were mentored by our registered nurses Angela Chisholm and Jackie Kellett and were given practical experience in caring for the elderly. Shukria alsochatted with residents as part of a reminiscent project to learn how about how their previous lives before our care home helps inform their current care.

Paul Storey, Practice Education Facilitator at Northumbria University commented, “I’m delighted that our second year nursing students are able to gain placements at Charlotte Straker Project. The students are able to learn from their very experienced nurses, and gain a true picture of what community care involves.”

Pam Crawley, our Registered Manager, added “we’re always keen to have nursing students join our team, as it’s a great way for our very knowledgeable nurses to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. It was great to see them interacting with our residents and leading the reminiscence sessions.”

Muriel told us that “I enjoyed chatting with Shukri and Cassandra. They’re so young! It’s nice to see different people”.