Update from Chair of Trustees and our Latest Newsletter

It is hard to believe how quickly the months are flying by, we are already into September and starting to think already about Christmas plans!!

We are trying as much as possible to return Charlotte Straker House to its former place that is known to be a warm, happy and welcoming environment. However, this comes with difficulties as we all know Covid-19 has not gone away and therefore we need to continue to work within the guidance and ensure the safety of all of our residents and staff.

August has been a busy month, both with new residents entering our home, and many bookings for our respite care bed service. The weather has been very mixed, but our residents have taken every opportunity to sit outside in the warm sunshine and enjoy a visit from the icecream van – it was a lovely hot day so the cool ices were very welcome! We are looking to involve our volunteers once again, in supporting an activities programme, to reflect the needs and wishes of our residents, and we are really looking forward to welcoming them back into the team at Charlotte Straker. I am sure many of you have followed our updates with the wonderful photos showing the residents starting to mix again.

Due to the number of new admissions (which is really positive), Charlotte Straker House now has limited room vacancies available and our respite care bed is now booked up until December – however please call our office on 01434 633 999 if you are interested in our available rooms or would like to check on respite care availability. Occasionally our respite care bed will become vacant due to booking cancellations and these dates will be advertised on our website, on email and social media.

I’m delighted to announce that Sam Willis has been appointed as our new Deputy Manager at Charlotte Straker House. I’m so pleased that Sam has decided to join us as she will be a great addition to the team, on behalf of myself and the board I’d like to welcome her into the Charlotte Straker family and hope she will enjoy working with us for many years to come.

As everyone is aware charities have been hit hard over the pandemic and fundraising is a real struggle. We are still busy raising funds for our Respite Care Bed and have applied to over fifteen different grants to ask for donations to our service. We are also asking families across the community to think of our project when setting out legacies. We received a generous grant from The Joicey Trust this month and we are waiting to hear back from other North Eastern grant foundations. Our individual fundraisers are also doing a wonderful job – Sue Stevenson has raised over £900 and our team at the Corbridge Car Boot sales have raised £300 over the summer. Unfortunately our Summer Fete will not be going ahead this year. We have carefully considered the risks and issues and decided that cancelling the Fete is the only responsible decision at the present time. We will hopefully return in 2022 and once again be able to hold the fete in Charlotte Straker House grounds.

As ever, please don’t hesitate to contact the office on 01434 633 999 or email if you would like to discuss anything in our latest newsletter, linked above.