A group of residents, staff members and volunteers visited the Wentworth Centre in Hexham for a game of ten pin bowling this month. Everyone spent time choosing their perfect bowling ball ready for the games to start and had a lot of fun competing against one another and laughing at each other’s attempts. Claire said “yabba dabba doo!” as she pushed the ball down the ramp. Margaret G told us that she thought it was a fabulous experience and Margaret S was chuffed that she won her game. Birgit would like to go bowling again and Valerie told us “I wasn’t expecting that much exercise, but I’ve really enjoyed myself”. After the bowling session we visited the Adapt Community Cafe for a coffee and a slice of cake. Thank you to all our volunteers and staff members who came along – it was an exhilarating and very fun morning!
Our lovely friends Roley and Richard came to sing and play guitar for us again recently. They sang a mixture of old and new songs and included plenty of folk music from Northumberland and Tyneside. It was a very peaceful afternoon with residents singing along to the music and remembering and enjoying the songs from their childhood. Thank you to Roley and Richard for a great music session – they’re always very popular with our residents.
Our residents have had a lot of fun painting and decorating memory boxes to hold special photos and items as a reminiscing and crafting activity.
Everyone was given a wooden box to paint plus a variety of materials to work with, including beach stones, paper and silk flowers, ribbon, stickers and pretty card. The residents collected all the items they wanted to put in the box, including old letters, family photos, newspaper and magazine clippings, postcards and their favourite crafts.
Day care resident Isobel showed us some beautiful crochet squares that she’d made along with her family photos. She said, “those are my photos and crafts that I want to put in – I’ve painted the box blue”. Muriel made a design using some tiny beach stones and pink flower petals and said, “there’s quite a bit of glue but it looks lovely. I’m just waiting for it to dry.” Volunteer Jen joined in with the session and helped Margaret paint her memory box bright yellow with lots of glittery stars and stickers.
The boxes will take a few sessions to finish but the activity has been great fun so far and has inspired a lot of interesting chat on the people and experiences in our residents’ lives.
Our staff training programme is going from strength to strength.
Every staff member is undertaking training on the Values and Vision of our organisation, as well as courses on every other aspect of care home life.
We are also working towards the “Gold Standard Framework in End-of-Life Care”, which is a practical, systematic, evidence-based approach and will ensure our staff can provide a ‘gold standard’ of care for everyone, with any condition, at any time in a person’s last years of life.
Our Registered Manager Pam Crawley said “We believe that regular, quality training will help our staff provide the best possible care to our residents and we’re also committed to providing our staff with the support they need to succeed in their own careers. The Gold Framework course is a rigorous and highly respected programme and I’m delighted we are now taking part.”
Pam, our Registered Manager, brought in an interesting item to show everybody at a coffee morning last week. She was given an example of a 24-hour ration pack for a British soldier, and thought it was a great opportunity for our residents to look through contents of the pack. Sally, the Marketing Manager and Laura, a Domestic Assistant, helped share the contents so that everyone could see.
Our residents were fascinated by how everything was carefully packed including matches, energy drinks, meals and snacks. Sally explained how one pack was designed to sustain a solider out on a 24 hour exercise, and the meals were nutritious and easy to eat but definitely lack something in the presentation department!
Claire tasted the oat biscuits and said “they’re quite nice – dry but still tasty”. Muriel sampled the cheese spread, and said it was “smooth and a bit plasticky”, whilst Colin happily ate the peanuts and chatted about how rations had changed since the 2nd World War. Our day care resident Arthur talked about how soldiers heated up their meals in the trenches in World War 1 which led onto a group discussion about how soldiers boil water for tea or coffee whilst out in the field.
Thank you to Pam for bringing in the rations – they gave our residents a glimpse into military life, as well as being a great way to spark conversation and learn more about their experiences.
Corbridge Apple Pressing Weekend 2023
One of the sparkling highlights of the year returns on Saturday October 7th and Sunday October 8th with the Corbridge Apple Pressing Weekend.
This project is run by registered charity the Corbridge Community Partnership will produce both the acclaimed Corbridge Lightly Sparkling Apple Juice and, for the first time, Corbridge Cider.
With all profits in aid of four local good causes this year: The Charlotte Straker Project, Corbridge Youth Initiative, Corbridge Cricket Club and Corbridge Community Partnership.
The Apple Pressing Weekend between 9am and 4pm on each day at Corbridge Cricket Club is a real community event and everyone is very welcome to come down to help.
Stocks of local apples will be washed, pulped and pressed with the juice transported to Stu Brew – a microbrewery based at the University of Newcastle – to be turned into apple juice and cider.
With the cans then sold both at the cricket club and at various outlets across Corbridge. As before, orders can also be made via email. All details to follow at a later date.
How Corbridge residents can help…
Do you have any spare apples?
Either cooking or eating are fine. We are happy to pick and / or collect them (see contact details below). Or you can bring them down to the cricket club and leave them on the veranda of the older pavilion.
Can you help at the Apple Pressing?
Any help on either day for however long would be much appreciated. Refreshments will be provided for all volunteers. All welcome – please just turn up. No previous experience necessary. For any queries contact John Maude or Maurice Hodgson as below.
With thanks in advance for your help. It looks like 2023 is a bumper year for apples so we hope to produce lots of apple juice and cider – all in aid of this year’s four local good causes.
Contacts:
John Maude: 07791 590814 / johnmaude100@gmail.com
or
Maurice Hodgson: 07940 709636 / maurice.hodgson@btinternet.com
Our new head chef Helen is baking up a storm! She is always coming up with new and delicious recipes to tempt our residents’ taste buds. Her latest creation was a batch of mouth-watering breakfast muffins, which were packed with fresh ingredients, full of flavour and very popular with our residents. The muffins are also a great source of protein and fibre making them the perfect way to start the day.
In addition to muffins, Helen also makes a variety of other cakes and pastries, all of which are equally scrumptious. Pauline, a member of our office team, is shown with one of our residents’ favourite desserts – a tray of chocolate and vanilla mini cakes with fresh cream and strawberries. We can confirm that they were absolutely delicious!
Our Registered Manager, Pam Crawley, brought her two dogs into work at Charlotte Straker House last week. The pups are called Sam and Lady, are brother and sister, and were rescued as puppies from Romania. They met all our residents and enjoyed giving cuddles and kisses to everyone. Birgit said, “they’re so pretty with lovely eyes”. Colin added “you can tell they’re brother and sister!” Sam and Lady visited residents in their rooms – with one lady asking to “bring the dogs back to me” after the first visit, and when Lady and Sam visited for a second time she asked “can they just stay with me?” Pam said, “I’m planning to bring Sam and Lady in next week, and regularly after that, as they’ve been so good with our residents, and they definitely brighten everyone’s day.”
We’re delighted to announce that our supporters Josephine and Michael Riley are planning to run the Scarborough 10k on 15th October 2023, to raise funds for our charity.
They are fundraising on behalf of Charlotte Straker House, as a family friend was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and has recently moved into in our care home.
They say “Wendy, a dear friend of ours, has had a recent diagnosis of MND which has been a complete and devastating shock to her and her friends and family. She is currently being supported by this amazing charity who are providing care and support for her while she comes to terms with her diagnosis and all that comes with it.”
If you would like to support the Riley family in their fundraising efforts, you can donate here:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/josephine-dargan-riley-1693935269896
Thank you so much to the Riley family for their support – and good luck with their training!
#mnd #fundraising #scarborough10k #motorneuronedisease #running
We took aromatherapy to the next level with care assistant Jodie, who taught a group of residents to make their own relaxing pillow mists using essential oils.
Helped by nurse Jackie Kellett, we mixed essential oils such as lavender, chamomile, vanilla and frankincense with a distilled water base, and poured them into a dinky spray bottle, which we then decorated with a pretty label. Jodie told us that the oils are great at improving sleep or helping relaxation and can be used in meditation or to mindfulness practices.
Muriel said, “I’m going to spray this on my pillow an hour before I go to sleep, and I’ll be relaxed all night.” Birgit decided she preferred the lavender to all the other oils and said, “it’s a very nice smell, and I must remember to keep the bottle in my room.” John chatted about his work as a chemist and as he was mixing the essential oils, told us how he used to combine different chemicals in a centrifuge in his laboratory. He told us jokingly “I’m going to give this to my wife, to make sure she smells nice!”
It was a fun and relaxing activity, especially as we all took the time to smell the different oils and to discuss how they might help day to day life. Everyone was very proud of their finished pillow mist and the kitchen team reported that the dining room smelled of lavender and chamomile for the rest of the afternoon.
The Charlotte Straker Project
Charlotte Straker, Cookson Close
Corbridge, NE45 5HB
01434 633999
office@charlottestraker.org.uk
