Thank you to Kevin and his team at The Angel of Corbridge for hosting our residents’ outing for Christmas. Volunteers and residents popped along to enjoy three-course meals with all the Christmas trimmings. Colin said “I ate every little bit. It was lovely. The food was very tasty.” Margaret S added, “it felt like a proper Christmas treat.” Pam Crawley, Registered Manager, said “Kevin and his team always look after us and this time there was no exception! Thank you to him and his team for a delicious meals plus all the volunteers and staff who helped our residents at The Angel.”

Save the date! The Angel of Corbridge’s QUIZ OF THE YEAR is back on Thursday 25th January from 7 pm with two ways to play and some amazing prizes.
Beat the Winter blues, raise money for The Charlotte Straker Project and win either a £200 voucher to spend at the Angel or a weekend at the Angel Apartment.
You can either play online (which costs £10 per team) or at The Angel of Corbridge (£10 per person to include a burger and chips supper [vegetarian options available])
To book your place at the Angel call 01434 632119 and to book your spot online email sally.urwin@charlottestraker.org.uk – please hurry as places book up fast!

Thank you so much to Mowden Hall School’s Senior Choir who visited us last week to sing a selection of Christmas carols to our residents.

Accompanied on the piano by music teacher Mr Smith, the children sang some lovely traditional carols including “Away in a Manger”, a beautiful version of “Oh Holy Night” plus “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem”.

Our residents adored the carols, many of them singing along or beating time on their knees.

Colin said, “The choir must have been practising a long time, as they were beautiful singers. I thought the uniform they were wearing was very smart”. Muriel added “The Mowden children were very polite. The carols were lovely and I enjoyed singing along”. Nancy said, “I loved the Holy Night carol, and Hark the Herald Angels sing”. Claire added, “I could hear it all and it was beautiful”.

Pam Crawley, Registered Manager said “our residents thoroughly enjoyed the visit by the Mowden Hall School choir. They not only loved the singing but really enjoyed meeting the children and teachers and chatting about music and the carols. Thank you very much to Mr Smith and his choir, and we hope they will return in 2024.”

Our new Sensory Garden has been created by our handyman/gardener Paul. Some of our residents have sight impairments and he wanted to create something that meant that they could enjoy the garden by using different plant textures and fragrance. The waist-high flower bed was built so that residents in wheelchairs could reach the different plants themselves. Paul planted herbs such as rosemary, thyme and lavender, alongside different heather and flowering bulbs and covered the soil with different size and colours of quartz pebbles. He also included a small water feature lined with bright white stones – which makes it much easier to see for those with poor vision.

Our resident Claire was the first to experience the garden and she crushed some of the leaves between her fingers so she could smell which plant she’d touched. “I recognise this one” she said when she found the rosemary “The smell reminds me of sitting in the garden in the summer.” Claire could also see the bright white of the pebbles and the sharp pinks and purples of the heather.

Berenice Groves, Chair of the Trustees said “I am so impressed with the initiative Paul has shown developing the new garden – it’s a super idea and will be a great benefit to many of our residents.”

Kate, Claire’s daughter added “A big thankyou to Paul for his sensory garden. I know how much thought and time he put into it with mum in mind. We often take mum around the garden and talk about the plants with her so it will definitely bring some joy especially as the seasons change. It was very observant and caring of Paul to have noticed us in the garden and then to have acted on it was incredibly thoughtful.”

Thank you to everyone who braved the cold weather to join us at our the Corbridge Big Night Out on Saturday night at the Parish Hall.
Your presence and support made it a hugely successful event which went with a swing!

Together, we enjoyed a three-course meal courtesy of Papaya Catering, danced to the Chequers Band, the raffle and whisky shuffle added interest and extra entertainment whilst raising funds for ourselves and the Corbridge Youth-Initiative. Thank you to all those who worked behind the scenes and volunteered their time and energy to ensure the night went so smoothly. Washing up and the clearing up was made much easier by the many volunteers who stayed after the event finished to help.

We’d also like to thank the following businesses for helping to support our event. Your contributions are deeply appreciated and will go a long way in making a difference to our two local charities:
Corbridge Parish Council
The Chequers band
Papaya Catering
Majestic Wine
Saunders & Pughe
Coffuffle at Corbridge
JD Laundry
Finale Shoes and Accessories
Shorts of Corbridge
Danielle’s Bistro, Hexham
EGGER Group
Richard Hart-Jackson
Sycamore Corbridge