You are here: / / 2023

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.

Raising Money at the Corbridge Midsummer Evening

Thank you to Helen Coombes, from our kitchen team, who organised a bottle tombola at the recent Corbridge Midsummer Evening.
Helen collected all sorts of different bottles and bottle bags and helped by Jayne Purvis, our Activities Coordinator, supporter Marina Elliot and volunteer Avril McVittie organised a table to raise over £100 for our residents’ outings and activity budget. The bottles included two diffuser sets kindly donated by our care assistant Jodie MacDonald.
Berenice Groves, our Chair of the Trustees commented “Helen is a brilliant member of staff and is so eager to help in any way she can. We’d like to thank her, and all the other helpers, for organising a bottle tombola and for raising money for our charity – I heard she was sold out after an hour and a half! It shows how committed she is to The Charlotte Straker Project. Thank you again for all your hard work.”
We’d also like to thank the Crafty Women who raised over £50 for our resident activities at the same event.

Competitive Scrabble!

Our new resident Birgit is a huge Scrabble and Bridge fan and loves to play these games as often as she can. Our marketing manager Sally Urwin challenged her to a game of Scrabble and discovered that Birgit is not only very good, but she’s also very competitive! Birgit is a member of the Stocksfield Bridge Club and has always loved card and board games. Unfortunately, rain stopped play, but Sally vowed to finish the game the next time she’s at work. Every member of staff, whether part of the care team or not, loves building a relationship with residents and finding out about their hobbies and interests prior to coming to Charlotte Straker House.

Thank you to Georgina, the student nurse

Georgina is a student nurse from Northumbria University, who is coming to the end of her placement at Charlotte Straker House. She is currently in her second year of her nursing degree and has been mentored by our Home Manager and RGN Cheryl Kennedy. Cheryl commented, “Georgina has been a great student: quick to learn; and cheerful and proactive. She’s wonderful with the residents and I’m sure has a great career ahead of her. We’re glad that she chose us for her placement, and I’m delighted as she has applied to become a bank care assistant at Charlotte Straker House.” For her last day Georgina brought in a wonderful cake (see photo!) to thank the staff for their support. Charlotte Straker has become a regular placement for Northumbria nursing students as we’re able to help teach new students’ best practice in elderly nursing care.

A trip to Heighley Gate Garden Centre

A group of residents visited Dobbies’ Garden Centre at Heighley Gate in Morpeth last week. The group of residents and volunteers browsed the shop and admired the summer plants, and over a delicious lunch reminisced about their own gardens and favourite plants. After lunch everyone browsed through the store and our volunteers and staff helped support them to do a little shopping in the clothes and homeware sections. Colin said “I loved the trip out, even though it was pouring with rain. The soup I had for lunch was very tasty, and it was great to have a good look round.” John told us how the rain was very heavy and “we just missed getting soaked!” when getting in and out of the bus, whilst Keith ate a slice of cream cake and said “it was delicious”. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff members who came with us on the day, and we hope they’ve finally dried out after the torrential rain!