We were all delighted to help one of our residents celebrate their 100th birthday this month. Our resident received a birthday card from King Charles III and the Queen Consort as well as a special 100th balloon and over 40 cards from staff, relatives and well-wishers. Just before Christmas, pupils from Corbridge First School visited our home to present a hand made 100th birthday card and sung a lovely rendition of “Happy Birthday” outside her room. Thank you to everyone who helped our resident celebrate their special day!
We are devastated to announce that we must close our free of charge respite care bed service at the end of March 2023. The cost-of-living crisis means that, like many charities, we have experienced a severe reduction in the amount of funding and donations that previously supported this facility. This has been exacerbated by the rise in the cost of actual care, Covid precautions and a sharp increase in recruitment costs. The respite care bed costs £57,000 per year alone and raising that income is unfortunately unattainable in the current economic climate.
We are hoping that this is a temporary closure and depending on future support, we are committed to opening our respite care facility at a future date.
At the moment, we will continue to concentrate on our core mission – of helping the elderly and frail with residential and nursing care.
As a not-for-profit care home, any surplus income is reinvested for the benefit of our residents. So, instead of a free respite care room, we will continue to concentrate on helping residents stay in Charlotte Straker House by funding local authority fee shortfalls. Many of our residents have lived and worked in the area all their lives and want to live near their family but are unable to afford care home fees without charitable support.
We have been embedded into the Corbridge community since 1916 and supporting older people is at the heart of everything we do. Our charity provides the very best in residential and nursing care to the elderly. Respite care will also be available but will no longer be free of charge and the cost will be £890 per week. We hope that everyone understands the difficult decision that we’ve had to make and will continue to support us in our vital work.
Thank you
Berenice Groves
Chair of the Trustees
Ruth Boyd visited recently to spend an afternoon with us, and sang all our favourite Christmas songs to get us all into the holiday mood. It was lovely to watch everyone sing and clap along and cheer when she finished each song. Ruth also bought our residents a Christmas gift – some warm blankets for our residents to use when they go on outside trips. Thank you very much to Ruth for helping us celebrate the festive season and for her generous presents.
We had a lovely Christmas Day at Charlotte Straker House. We asked each resident how they preferred to celebrate Christmas and helped them meet visitors and keep in touch with family and friends. Our hard working kitchen team pulled out the stops with a traditional roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy butter. The atmosphere in Charlotte Straker House is always lovely, especially at Christmas time!
All the staff worked really hard to make it special for the residents this year, with decorations, glitter and lights and there were Christmas carols on in the background, which we all loved to sing along to. On Christmas Day, the residents were all given a carefully chosen individual Christmas present. Seeing their faces light up is what it’s all about. Our residents have shown us that you’re never too old to get excited for Christmas.
The Charlotte Straker Project
Charlotte Straker, Cookson Close
Corbridge, NE45 5HB
01434 633999
office@charlottestraker.org.uk
