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Pampering Bliss: a Relaxing Foot Spa Experience

Our residents regularly enjoy complementary therapies with Jodie MacDonald, our qualified therapist, and Jodie recently gave our residents a special foot spa treatment. The foot spa was set up in their rooms and they were able to relax and enjoy the soothing bubbles and massage, which included essential oils and rose petals.

“This was a wonderful treat for our residents,” said Cheryl Kennedy, our Home Manager. “Many of our residents have mobility issues, so this was a great way for them to relax and feel pampered. The treatment has many benefits for the residents, as it helped to improve circulation, relieve pain, and reduce stress.”

“I really enjoyed the foot spa,” said Margaret, “It felt so good to have my feet massaged, and it helped me to relax.”

Spreading Smiles and Creating Memories – a visit from Corbridge First School

A group of pupils from Year 4 at Corbridge First School had a very successful visit recently when they came to meet our residents. We organised a selection of board games and everyone absolutely loved chatting to each other as they played Jenga, dominoes, snakes and ladders and Connect 4.

All the children were very helpful and polite, and our residents loved explaining the rules of the games, as well as chatting to the children about their day to day lives at school and at home.

Birgit said “the children were so well mannered and polite! I love playing board games so I really enjoyed the games of dominoes”. Muriel added “It was lovely to see the children in our home and get the chance to have a good chat to them. They were all so polite.” Margaret said “The children were so chatty and made me laugh. I had a great time teaching and playing the games with them.”

Thank you to Corbridge First School for their visit – it was a wonderful chance for the pupils to meet us and learn about our home and it was also a chance for our residents to have some fun and make new friends.

Employee of the Month – Cook Helen Coombes

We are excited to announce that Helen Coombes has been named Employee of the Month for July!

Helen works in our kitchen and is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that our residents are happy and satisfied, as well as accommodating special requests and creating new and creative dishes to keep our residents’ taste buds entertained.

In addition to their culinary skills, Helen is also a wonderful team player, always has a positive attitude and is always willing to help everyone out.

Cheryl Kennedy, Home Manager, said “We would like to congratulate Helen on being named Employee of the Month! Helen is an asset to our team, and we are so lucky to have her – we are so grateful for her hard work and contribution to The Charlotte Straker Project.

Mocktail Afternoon Delight!

We had a very refreshing day last week at Charlotte Straker House as we organised a Mocktail Afternoon, filled with laughter, tapas and delicious non-alcoholic drinks.

Our residents watched Jayne, our Activities Coordinator, and volunteer Jen create three special mocktails – a Mojito with crushed mint, a Strawberry and Apple Punch and a Ginger ale Bellini. To accompany the mocktails Jayne and Jen made a selection of different tapas, including olives and cheeses and bread sticks.

The residents said it was a lovely afternoon, and their favourite mocktail was the strawberry and apple punch. Birgit said, “I’ve really enjoyed myself. I like the mojito, but I prefer it without the chopped mint.” John told us that the drinks were “very tasty”, and Clare said, “I don’t really like the tapas, but I love coming to chat with everyone.” Margaret G and Margaret S told us “the cocktails were lovely, and the food was nice but when you’ve just had lunch it’s a bit too much and you eat for eating’s sake.”

The afternoon was a great success, and almost all the mocktails were drunk – we’ll definitely organise another mocktail session, but fingers crossed next time we’ll be able to sit outside in some sunny weather!

Becoming fit and strong with chair exercises (and coffee)

Our activities coordinator Jayne holds sessions of HowFit chair exercises twice a week. This exercise programme was launched by Age UK in Northumberland in 2021 and Jayne has continued the seated exercises, not only because they are great fun but because they also help with residents’ mobility and strength. Clare said “I think the seated to standing exercise the most difficult, but it’s important to try to do it, to make sure muscles stay strong”. Margaret said that “my favourite was the exercise where we reach up to the ceiling as if we’re grabbing stars”. Exercise offers numerous benefits for our residents: as well as improving strength and flexibility it also improves everyone’s mood – after each class the room is full of smiling faces, especially as we like to recover with coffee and home baked biscuits 😊

Angel of Corbridge Charity Quiz of the Year

Calling all trivia gurus and pub enthusiasts! It’s time to put your brain cells to work for a good cause at The Angel of Corbridge’s Quiz of the Year!

📅 Date: Wednesday 9th August 2023

⏰ Time: 7 pm to 10 pm

📍 Venue: The Angel of Corbridge

Think you know it all? Well, here’s your chance to prove it and win a £250 voucher to spend at The Angel, while supporting a great cause.

Best of all, every penny raised at the event will go directly to our charity to help us continue our fantastic work in the community. So, grab your thinking caps, gather your friends, and let’s quiz it up for a good cause!

Family Fun Day Returns!

Save the Date! The very popular Corbridge Family Fun Day is returning on Sunday 27th August from 1 pm onwards. As well as the keenly fought cricket match for the Corbridge Charity Shield, you can expect live music, a BBQ, plenty of stalls, bouncy castle, quoits match, children’s games, afternoon tea, a cake stall and a full bar. Free of charge entry and plenty of parking round off the day and all proceeds are split between three local charities – please don’t miss one of the most popular events in the village calendar!

Thanking our Community and Volunteers

We organised a special afternoon at Charlotte Straker House recently with speeches and presentations to thank our dedicated volunteers and local supporters. Our Registered Manager Pam Crawley and Home Manager Cheryl Kennedy gave an update on the latest news from Charlotte Straker House whilst Berenice Groves, our Chair of the Trustees presented each volunteer with a certificate and commemorative badge to thank them for their hard work and dedication. We also welcomed members from the Tynedale Rotary, plus other local supporters, as well as residents, staff and trustees and it was a brilliant afternoon – the dining room was full to the brim with residents and visitors and their chatter and laughter.

Our resident Colin said, “it’s really important to thank the volunteers as they do so much for us here.” Clare added “I wanted Heather to join in the afternoon as I really enjoy her visits so much.” Muriel said, “all the volunteers are lovely, and I’m glad we organised this so I can say thank you to them all.”

Berenice said “Thank you so much to Luda, Margaret, Jen, Heather, Jean and Sue (plus Avril and Debbie who sadly couldn’t make it today) for all your help and support. Our volunteers are literally the lifeblood of our care home. They bring joy, companionship, and a sense of purpose to our residents, truly making this a place they can call home. We are delighted that we can thank them in this way, as well as all our other local supporters. Thank you also to all those who helped on the day, including Helen Coombes who made such a delicious buffet. We hope this afternoon will be the first of many.”

Introducing Sky TV to our residents

We’ve recently installed Sky TV into our communal lounges so we now have a huge range of sport, cinema and entertainment channels available. The 2023 Ashes has just started, and our residents Colin, John and Peter are big cricket fans and enjoy meeting in the downstairs lounge to watch the matches. John told us that he has loved watching cricket since he was a child and seeing the Ashes on TV was a treat as it was the first live match that he had watched for many years. Colin is also a Tour de France fan and is looking forward to seeing the highlights after each day, whilst many of our other residents are excited about Wimbledon, especially because we like to watch the final matches with traditional Pimms and strawberries!

Happy Birthday to Head Cook Debbie!

Happy Birthday to our Head Cook Debbie! She has worked for the Charlotte Straker Project for an amazing 20 years and last week had her 60th birthday so we organised a celebratory afternoon with all our residents and staff members. Pam Crawley, our Registered Manager made a short speech and Helen Coombes, our cook organised a delicious spread, which included grazing boards and instead of a traditional cake, Debbie’s favourite mini biscoff cheesecakes. Debbie opened her presents which included Chanel perfume, handbag, vouchers and a huge bouquet of flowers. Happy Birthday Debbie from us all – including the management, trustees, staff and volunteers.