Events

Our Centenary Dinner was held last Thursday evening, to commemorate the culmination of 100 years since Joseph Straker bequeathed Prior House to the community as the Charlotte Straker cottage hospital.

Held at the Corbridge Cricket Club House, the evening included a four course dinner, plus a speech from our Chair of Trustees Berenice Groves, and a very interesting talk from speaker Hugh Dixon, on the history of hospitals from the Middle Ages up to the founding of Charlotte Straker House.

The dinner was organised to thank all those who have help or assisted our charity and we are delighted that so many were able to participate and share in the celebrations

Thank you also to all the Trustees who worked so hard to organise such an enjoyable evening, plus Papaya Bespoke Catering for a delicious dinner, the Corbridge Cricket Club for allowing us to use their venue, JDC Laundry for the table linen and violinists Julia and Jill.

Thank you to our Trustees Bill Cunningham and Richard Dixon for following photos!

Alex Brown (son of our Chair of Trustees Berenice Groves) will be walking the full Hadrian’s Wall Route, in only 2 days, to raise money for our charity.

On Sunday the 19th August he will be aiming to walk and run the entire length of 84 miles, without any stops on the way.

We are always delighted when anyone fund raises on our behalf, and we want to say a huge “GOOD LUCK!” to Alex on his 2 day journey.

To donate to Alex’s charity walk please visit the following link. Thank you in advance!

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/alexbrown91…

This is THE event of the Summer!

The Corbridge Family Fun Day will be held on Sunday 26th August 2018 at the Corbridge Cricket Club.

It’s a FREE OF CHARGE event, and is held to benefit ourselves, our good friends Corbridge Youth-Initiative and the Corbridge Cricket Club 

Live music is provided by the very talented Callum Harbottle, plus local band Undershield and the Hexham based Rock Choir.

The organisers are asking for donations of cakes and bakes for their cake stall (please drop off in the morning of 26th August at the Cricket Club) plus tombola items (please drop off at Charlotte Straker House). Thank you!

The Centenary celebrations continued on Sunday, with our Centenary Garden Party held in the gardens of Charlotte Straker House.

Ada Lyons and Lily Smith are residents at Charlotte Straker House and are both 100 years’ old this year. They helped to plant a special Centenary rose called “Charlotte” with help from our Manager Marilyn Hunter, and Deputy Iwona Proszowska.

Thanks to Gayle Foster from Vintage at the Tower, our supporters and Trustees were able to dress in period costumes and accessories to celebrate the day.

We were entertained by Helene Dolder, plus the talented Jive Alive dancers (who meet at the Hexham Torch Centre on Wednesdays at 8pm – all welcome), a chamber orchestra and a wonderful afternoon tea, prepared by Papaya.

Apart from one short downpour, the day was bright and sunny, and it was wonderful to such a great community of volunteers, staff and supporters.

Berenice Groves, our Chair of Trustees made a speech to thank all our supporters – we have included this below:

“On behalf of the Trustees and the Charlotte Straker team we are delighted that you are here to participate and share in the celebrations for our Centenary Year.

We are commemorating and celebrating that 100 years ago Joseph Straker bequeathed Prior House to the community as a cottage hospital in memory of his wife Charlotte Straker.

I am convinced that if Joseph was here today he would be astonished and delighted to see how far the Charlotte Straker Project has grown since its humble beginnings in 1918.Over the past few decades our charity has weathered many obstacles NHS closure of the cottage hospital, losing our wonderful palliative care service in the GP beds.

But it is a testament to the grit, determination and dedication of our staff and the supporters that Charlotte Straker House has emerged as a unique and much-loved facility, firmly embedded within the local community.

Prior House and the cottage hospital was created to make a difference in the Corbridge community. It has done this and certainly continues to make a difference today. We are committed to evolving to ensure that we always remain relevant to the needs of our residents and the needs of the local community.

There are many years ahead of us, new and exciting projects.

Since 1918 we’ve been able to provide care and nursing to hundreds of residents and patients, from all areas of Northumberland and beyond. This is a HUGE achievement.

In 1992 a board of Trustees set up the wonderful Charlotte Straker project in order to continue to deliver care to our community – you can see the dedication as some of the original trustees are still with us today such as Ann Wagstaff and Bill Cunningham.

We continue to develop an example of this was the introduction of the Community Respite Bed which was has both surpassed all expectation both with how quickly the money to operate it was raised and the use.

Since 2017, our Community Respite Care has provided care for the loved ones of 27 separate families. And it is obvious from family and patient testimonials how essential this bed is to hard pressed carers in the community.Now, our facility can go onto a critically needed new phase as we explore options for new physical space in which we can help even more residents and patients.

We have recently converted the last vacant flat to provide more bedrooms to a great standard – again thanks to the funds raised by many here today.

The Charlotte Straker Project has touched so many lives since 1918 and has helped so many local families.We should all congratulate ourselves, that our charity is so essential, so well supported and so much loved.

So today we celebrate turning 100 years old, and I’m here to say thank you: to our committed staff, to those who volunteer selflessly week in week out, to the Corbridge businesses and traders who help us so much, to our dedicated Trustees, to our Friends and Crafty Women and all those who help us in any way. These groups and individuals are the reason we are here today, and we are so grateful.On behalf of the Charlotte Straker Project, thank you. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for a century of remarkable commitment and care.”

Ada Lyons (seated left) and Lily Smith (seated right) are both 100 years’ old this year. They planted a Centenary Charlotte rose with help from Marilyn Hunter, our Manager and Iwona Proszowska, our Deputy Manager.

Bill Cunningham, Trustee and Berenice Groves, Chair of the Trustees is their wonderful period costumes!

Our Centenary Fete was held on Saturday and raised approximately £1,200 for the Charlotte Straker Project.

Joan McFadzean, one of our ex-Trustees, kindly opened the fete, and the sun blazed down and we had a great turnout of visitors to our stalls and games.

The icecream, cakes and cream teas went down a storm, and our Crafty Women stall, plant stall, book stall and tombola were very popular.

Thank you to everyone who made it such a success and to our friends at the following charities who brought their own stalls and games, and supported us on the day: Riding for the Disabled Association, Lifespan, CarersNorthumberland Johnstone Anne-Marie, Tynedale Hospice at Home, Tynedale Lions Club, our very own Crafty Women, Corbridge Youth-Initiative, 1st Tynedale Cubs and Scouts and Chrysalis at Tynedale.

(All images courtesy of Ian Wylie from Visit Corbridge)

Joan Fadzean and Bill Cunningham. Joan kindly opened our Summer Fete.

Berenice Groves, Chair of Trustees, Joan McFadzean and Bill Cunningham, Trustee.

Bill Cunningham, Trustee and Guy Opperman, MP, who came and supported us on the day.