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£1000 raised on our Spooktacular Sponsored Walk

🎃👻 Well done to ALL our staff, our volunteers and family and friends (and pooches!) that took part in our Sponsored Halloween Walk at the weekend. Organised by RGN Angela Chisholm, our intrepid spooktacular staff walked six miles along the Wylam riverbank whilst wearing full Halloween costume.

Our Chair of the Trustees Berenice Groves joined in and presented a prize to Joe for the best Child costume and to Zoe for the best Adult costume.

Berenice said, “thank you SO MUCH to all the staff for giving up their precious time off to do this fabulous walk to fundraise for our residents, and of course to Angela for organising the event. We all had a great time, and although the weather was rainy it didn’t put us off. I’ve just heard that the fundraising total is around £1000 so I am absolutely over the moon that it’s been such a success. Thank you again to everyone who was involved and has donated so far.”

There’s still time to donate – please visit the JustGiving page below to add your donation

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/csphalloweenwalk

#HalloweenWalk #Fundraiser #CommunitySupport

We have been chosen to be part of the Coop Local Community Fund!

We are delighted to announce that The Charlotte Straker Project has been chosen to be part of the Coop Local Community Fund.

This means that Coop Members (no matter where they live) can select the Charlotte Straker Project as their chosen charity and then with every purchase of Coop branded goods and services, we will receive 1p for every £1 spent. And once you’ve selected your charity it doesn’t matter which Coop store you visit – we will still receive your donation!

The Coop Local Community Fund will last for 12 months until October 24th and we will be promoting it throughout the year, to maximise the amount of donations we receive.

We are raising money for activities and resources connected to our new day care service – so please read the attached poster and help by signing up to be a Coop member and selecting the Charlotte Straker Project as your chosen charity.

Cuddles with Sam and Lady

Our Registered Manager Pam Crawley brought her two pups to work again last week, and they were as popular with our residents as ever! Sam and Lady are siblings and were rescued as puppies from Romania. The photo shows them meeting our lovely resident Mary, who enjoyed giving them cuddles – it was wonderful to see her smile when she stroked Sam and Lady’s fur. We have regular visits by therapy dogs and those owned by staff members. We know meeting a new pet makes a huge difference to our residents, especially those that have impaired communication or cognitive abilities as stroking the warm, soft fur can help calm agitation and help lift a person’s mood.

A Trip down Memory Lane at Beamish Museum

We had a fantastic time on our recent visit to Beamish open air Museum.

The staff were so helpful and made sure that our group saw everything they were hoping to see, from the new 1950s “Clover Cottages” exhibition, the colliery, farm, the historic streets and old-fashioned shops and trams and the steam train at Rowley Station.

We had fish and chips in the tearooms and a stop at the 1900s Sun Inn for a drink. We also celebrated Ernie’s birthday with cake and singing happy birthday!

Some of the comments from our residents on their day out:

“I thoroughly enjoyed the day, bought some old-fashioned sweets in the 1900s town and loved the pub!”, Eileen

“I really enjoyed seeing the steam engines and the train and all the machines”, John

“The weather was lovely! I walked 6000 steps today. I liked seeing the spearmint sweets being made and some parts of the old town reminded me of being evacuated in the war”. Valerie

“I really enjoyed the steam engines. And my birthday lunch”, Ernie

“It was just a marvellous, marvellous day – a real highlight” Colin

A big thank you to our amazing staff, volunteers and families of residents for making this trip possible. Days out like these make a great difference . #CommunityOuting #MakingMemories #CareHomeLife

Christmas Big Night Out – Tickets Now Available!

We are excited to announce our annual Christmas “Big Night Out”, which is being held on the evening of 2nd December 2023 at the Corbridge Parish Hall

This festive evening is a fantastic way to celebrate the season with friends while also supporting two local charities, as all proceeds from the event will be split between us and the Corbridge Youth Initiative.

The evening will include a delicious three-course meal, a licensed bar, live music from the Chequers band, and plenty of dancing! There will also be a raffle with some wonderful prizes.

Tickets for the event are £40 per person and tables of 4, 6 or 8 can be reserved. To book your tickets, please contact our trustee Angela Jones at angela.jones@charlottestraker.org.uk or call our office on 01434 633 999 (option 1)

We hope you can join us in celebrating Christmas as well as making a difference in our Corbridge community!

Thank you to Josephine and Michael on their Scarborough 10k!

THANK YOU to Josephine and Michael Riley who ran the Scarborough 10k on Sunday in their target time.

They are fundraising on behalf of Charlotte Straker House, as Wendy, a dear family friend, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and has recently moved into our care home.

They have already raised an amazing £855 and are leaving their fundraising page open until 22nd October for any further donations.

The money they have raised will go directly to Wendy’s care with the purchase of specialised wireless communication device that she can use without any staff support.

Berenice Groves, our Chair of the Trustees said “Thank you so much to Josephine and Michael for raising such an amazing total – we have been following their training and final run, which was in a very good time. The trustees and I whole heartedly support the purchase of this specialised device, to allow our resident Wendy to retain her independence and support her communication.”

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

#mnd #fundraising #scarborough10k #motorneuronedisease #running

New Exercise Class at Charlotte Straker House

We are launching a new exercise class at our care home in Corbridge! For those with Parkinson’s Disease or conditions affecting mobility, our instructor-led seated class will focus on improving strength and coordination and increasing attendees’ physical and mental wellbeing.
The first class will be £7 per person and held on Tuesday 21st November at 2pm at Charlotte Straker House, and refreshments will be served afterwards.
For more information and to book your place please call our office team on 01434 633 999 (option 1)

Coffee and Our Favourite Things

Our care home residents had a fantastic time at our Coffee Morning gathering led by Jen last week.

Our volunteer Jen is organising a session each week to talk about our residents’ “favourite things” and on Monday it was all about holiday memories – we shared stories that brought smiles to everyone’s faces. John told us that one of the best places he’d visited was Botswana and Joan told us that she loved Venice as it was “such a beautiful place”. Birgit said that she had lived in lots of different countries, but Norway was her favourite. Muriel said that she had been abroad in many different places but “Scotland is my favourite, especially around the Borders. The scenery is stunning”

We then chatted about where everyone had gone on their honeymoons – Muriel, Colin and Joan mentioned the Lake District, Cornwall and Scotland. John amazed us by saying he remembered taking his own car on his honeymoon to Spain by driving it through the nose of an aeroplane – apparently this was a very common thing to do!

Thank you to Jen for organising these sessions – they’re great fun and very lively!

Corbridge Apple Pressing

We’d like to say a hearty THANK YOU to all those who came and helped at the Corbridge Apple Pressing over the weekend.

The organisers (the Corbridge Community Hub) and other volunteers (including members of staff and volunteers from Charlotte Straker) were hard at work over Saturday and Sunday washing, sorting and pressing the apples. Many litres of apple juice were produced, which will now be turned into cider and canned apple juice at the Newcastle University brewery, and sold to benefit Corbridge charities.

There was a slight concern on Sunday that they were going to run out of apples, but after a last-minute Facebook plea, people turned up with bags and bags of extra fruit!

It was an amazing village event, and great to see the community working together.

The organisers will let us know when the apple juice and cider is ready and when and where it’s being sold so please watch this space!