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Nominate us to win £1000 with Movement for Good

Since 2019 The Benefact Trust have donated over £5.75 million to more than 2,500 charities through their Movement for Good Awards.
We are now in line to win £1000 – but we need you to nominate us as your charity!
The more nominations a charity receives, the higher its chance of selection.
Anyone can nominate us as their charity and it is really easy to do – please click below

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Haggis and Ceilidh Dancing on Burns Night

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for an traditional night of fun, laughter, and dancing at our Charity Burns Night and Ceilidh on Saturday night. We raised over £1000 to be split between ourselves and the Chrysalis Club and we couldn’t be more grateful for everyone’s support!
Piper Chris Urwin led in the Haggis and we had the traditional Robbie Burns address, plus a delicious pie and peas supper made by Helen Coombes, (Head Chef of Charlotte Straker House) and her excellent volunteer team.
Tables were then cleared away to make way for dancing with music from our old friends The Northern Lights Ceilidh Band, whilst volunteers manned the bar, the bottle tombola and organised a whisky shuffle.
Thank you to all the volunteers, plus of course everyone who attended, donated and danced to make it such a atmospheric and energetic evening!

Celebrating Burns Day Lunch at Charlotte Straker House with a touch of tradition!

Last week, our residents enjoyed a Burns Day lunch with the traditional “haggis, neeps and tatties” meal with a magnificent Scottish bagpipe accompaniment from the very talented Chris Urwin. Our Home Manager (and true Scot) Cheryl Kennedy gave a rendition of the Robbie Burn’s poem, “The Address to the Haggis” whilst Colin dramatically stabbed the haggis at the appropriate stanza. All our residents clapped along to and wonderful bagpipe reels. Thank you to Piper Chris Urwin for his visit, and of course to the kitchen team who made the delicious lunch with all the proper accompaniments.

Trivia Triumph at The Angel: A Charitable Night of Fun and Giving

Thank you so much to Kevin and his team at The Angel of Corbridge for hosting last week’s Charity Quiz Night! There was a great turnout, with teams of all ages and abilities competing for the top prize, including lots of our own volunteers and staff members. Quizmaster Kevin kept everyone entertained with different question categories including a fiendish picture round. It was a really fun evening, involving over 10 rounds and a delicious meal half way through – we all had an amazing night. Thanks to Kevin and the Angel team, the evening raised over £450 for Charlotte Straker House.

Board Games Bonanza

Thank you to pupils from Mowden Hall School who visited our residents for a lively session of board games: it was such a fun afternoon!
Krishna, Hazell, Lettie, Archie, Ben and Lyle from Year 5 played lots of different games including dominoes, Frustration, Connect Four and some very competitive rounds of Jenga and Pontoon.
Ben and Krishna taught our resident Margaret G how to play Jenga and she loved it, especially when the tower of blocks kept falling down! She said, “they are so full of beans, I just loved chatting to them. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in years.” Resident Arthur loves dominoes and played a few rounds with Archie and Lyle who were whizzes at the game. He said “the children were really something. So bright and full of energy.”
Another table was set up with pontoon and the children were taught how to play which was a great test of their maths skills. It became very competitive and full of noise and laughter, with children asking the residents for help adding up their cards and debating whether to “stick or twist.”
Ben said “I’ll come back and do this again!” Hazell said “can I stay here and play some more instead of going back to school for lessons?!”
Our resident Margaret S said “this was one of the best afternoons I’ve had – it was just so lovely to see them all having fun. They’re all so polite and very smart in their uniforms. Lettie and Hazell taught me how to play Frustration, so I learnt something too.”
We hope everyone had great fun – thank you so much to Mowden Hall for coming along. We can’t wait to see you again soon!

Sip and Savour – Wine and Cheese Tasting

Our Activities Coordinator, Jayne Purvis, organised our very first tasting session of 2024 with a wonderful selection of cheeses and wines. Our residents sampled everything: from sharp cheddar to creamy brie and enjoyed pairing it with different white and red wines. The red Pinot Noir was popular, and the Sauvignon Blanc was the favourite out of the white wines. Not everyone liked the blue cheeses, but the Wensleydale with cranberries was a firm favourite. Colin summed up the afternoon by saying, “Jayne has pulled out the stops again with this session. We’ve all had a wonderful, chatty afternoon.”

Popular Quiz and Coffee Mornings!

We have a very busy activities schedule, but a one of our residents’ favourite sessions are the coffee mornings when Jayne, our Activities Coordinator, holds a general knowledge quiz. This week we had questions on geography, history, music, books and films and even the latest celebrities (we weren’t so good on those questions!). The quiz led to questions about TikTok and what it was, and why it’s so popular, and Colin wanted it uploaded onto his ipad so he could take a look at CraftTok!

Message from Berenice Groves – Merry Christmas from us all

Dear all

As Christmas approaches, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your unwavering support of The Charlotte Straker Project. This year we have provided care and support to more than 60 wonderful members of the community, and their families, in need of nursing and/or residential care. We have also provided support through our day care service to those who need short term daily assistance. We continue to work very closely with the local community, and I have been privileged enough to meet many families and individuals who have been cared for at Charlotte Straker House.

Your donations have enabled us to provide exceptional care for our residents, ensuring that they have the resources and support they need to live comfortably and with dignity.

Our volunteers have brought joy and companionship to our residents, enriching their lives in countless ways.

Your kindness and generosity have made a profound impact on the lives of our residents, and we are incredibly grateful for your continued commitment.
On behalf of our residents, staff, and Board of Trustees, I’d like to wish you a joyous and peaceful Christmas.

With best wishes
Berenice Groves
Chair of the Trustees

What have our residents been up to in 2023?

Happy New Year from The Charlotte Straker Project!
Click below to see exactly what our lovely residents have been up to in 2023 🤩
We wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you in 2024.

Gingerbread Bakeoff with Corbridge Pupils

We held our own version of a Christmas Bakeoff at Charlotte Straker House, with our residents competing for the title of Best Decorated Gingerbread House. We were helped by Corbridge Middle School pupils: Ava Greer (aged 10); Lucas Penny (aged 13); Lochie McVeigh (aged 10); and Beatrice Cleeve (aged 11) and Head Teacher Mrs Brown. They spent a happy afternoon up to their elbows in icing sugar, helping and chatting with our residents, whilst decorating the most amazing houses with lots of different sweets!

Our residents were delighted to see them, Arthur said “My helper Lucas was a very charming young gentleman. He was a very good house designer. He might be an architect when he’s older!” Nancy said “I enjoyed that very much. Ava and I were a good team.” Muriel said “Lochie is teaching me, I’m just watching and following along. He’s very good.” Margaret added “It’s lovely to see the children. My helper Beatrice was very precise and so polite.”

Mrs Brown, Head Teacher of Corbridge Middle School said “Lochie, Ava, Lucas and Beatrice were chosen to visit Charlotte Straker House as they’ve consistently upheld the values of our school through 2023. They thoroughly enjoyed their visit and I was so proud of their behaviour. Thank you to everyone at Charlotte Straker House for hosting us, the residents for being so welcoming and for the sweets and gingerbread house kits! We can’t wait to visit you again in 2023”.

Berenice Groves, our Chair of the Trustees judged the houses, and said “After a lot of deliberation I chose Lochie and Muriel’s design as the winner. I loved the delicate piping and careful placement of the sweets. Thank you so much to the children for visiting. Our residents love meeting children from local schools and I know everyone had an enormous amount of fun.”