Chater Lodge Whisperer

Inside This Issue… Activities Upcoming Events Awards Resident Birthdays Welcome New Employees National Picnic Week

Hello and Welcome! Having originally joined the team at Chater Lodge as a Carer in 2006, I have since worked my way up via Senior Carer, Team Leader and Deputy Manager to acting General Manager in August 2012. I really enjoyed this challenge and with the encouragement from my team I decided to go for the role of Registered Manager. After 3 gruelling interviews I was offered the position in October 2012 and have enjoyed the challenges ever since. I work with an amazing and dedicated team who are always 100% behind me. In my spare time I love to swim, walk and listen to live music.

Chater Lodge Care Home

High Street, Ketton, Stamford, PE9 3TJ

Tel: 01780 720376 •

www.barchester.com

Dates for the Diary…

Coffee Morning – 4th July at 10:30 Leslie Ann – 6th July at 2pm Bugsy Malone Performance at Malcolm Sargent – 18th July at 10am Jeremy Hillyard – 20th July at 2pm Fundraiser – Wear Red Day – 24th July Evergreen Leaves – 15th August at 2pm Cheese and Wine Evening – 16th August at 7pm

Dates to be confirmed for; Gangsters Day 60/70s Themed Day Pyjama Day Cowboy Day

These will be displayed in due course on the notice board in reception..

Keep your eyes peeled!

Wendy Kaya General Manager

News In and Around… Chater Lodge

Easter at Chater! To celebrate Easter here at Chater Lodge, residents helped to create Easter Bonnets which were displayed around the home. Easter Sunday was a fun day with residents and visitors coming along for an Easter Hunt with the Easter Bunny also coming in! It was a fun filled day and finished by lovely choccies to indulge in. The raffle money that was raised was used to help buy a communal tablet for the residents. The residents are looking forward to using the tablet and learning how to use the new technology!

Celebrating Mother’s Day Mother’s day was celebrated with chocolates and flowers to all the women here at Chater Lodge. Lovely balloons were hung up and residents enjoyed visits from family throughout the day.

Queens Official Birthday… To celebrate we had a Royal Afternoon Tea; enjoying tea and cake on royal cups and saucers. In the afternoon we continued the celebrations with Royal Music followed by a Royal Quiz. The day was a hit with everyone dressing up for the occasion with Patriotic Hats and waving British Flags. We even had a pop up cut at of the Queen placed rightly in the lounge, residents were tickled pink with the visitor!

We would like to welcome some new members of staff to Chater;

Phil Adams – Head Chef

Marie McIntyre and Ian Watts – Activities Coordinators

Jolanta Siwik – Care Assistant

Michelle Smith – Care Assistant

Beth Ruding – Care Assistant

Kimberley Davies – Care Assistant

Michael Corby – Nights Senior Carer

New Faces…

News In and Around… Chater Lodge

St Patricks Day! Red Nose Day… Residents enjoyed making and decorating

cakes for Comic Relief throughout the

morning. In the afternoon we were entertained

by folk singer Brian with his guitar. It was a

lovely day with plenty of laughs. Brian was

brilliant with all the residents and lots of jokes

and anecdotes were exchanged! Here is Senior

Carer Julia and Care Assistant Annette with

the homemade cakes!

Residents & staff enjoyed dressing up for St.

Patrick’s Day at Chater Lodge. We enjoyed an

afternoon sing along to traditional songs and

answering questions to an Irish-themed quiz.

Pupils Visit Chater…

Pupils from Stamford Welland Academy popped along to sample what life is like at a care home here at Chater Lodge. Residents were thrilled to see the pupils and spent the afternoon reminiscing about school days. The pupils were shown round the home and visited residents in their rooms. Residents enjoyed the afternoon and we even had a few of the pupils take an interest in volunteering here. We hope to see their faces again soon!

News In and Around… Chater Lodge

Brian Kirby Brian Kirby is on route to Switzerland for his sponsored cycle ride. We are getting weekly updates of Brian’s trip. At the moment he is in France for 1 night at Nuef-Brisach. It is a village within a citadel (fort) which has a large central square and all the streets are at right angles. He will head north again tomorrow towards Strasbourg. Weather very hot 35+ but there might be some rain over night. To avoid the heat I start cycling at 7.30am. You may have heard him on Radio Leicester on 20th May to hear how he is doing. Any donations are welcome. His sponsor form can be found on the noticeboard in reception or you can donate and follow Brian on www.justgiving.com/bkirby

Sunny Days…

We made the most of the sunshine weather recently, with residents enjoying the fresh air and sunshine in our gardens, listening to the birds and enjoying an ice lolly. A few of our residents also enjoyed a trip to Rutland Water. We met some lovely visitors at the park, reminiscing about the village underneath Rutland Water, Bette even bumped into a cuddly friend. Bette has also taken it upon herself to be our homes florist; arranging the flowers to put round the home once a week. She has also planted some sunflower seeds outside which are germinating and we look forward to see the blooms in the summer. We are hoping to plant some veggies and fruit in our lounge with the residents, we can’t wait to watch them grow! We have also recently bought new garden furniture and parasols for our patio garden, ready for the sunshine, the residents are eager to make the most of the good weather!

News In and Around… Chater Lodge

Care Home Open Day We recently celebrated our annual Care Home Open Day on Wednesday 7th June. Our doors are always open but today was extra special! This year was a seaside themed day, with staff and residents dressing up for the occasion. The Phoenix Children’s Foundation popped by with the Shetland ponies visiting the residents. We also had Gavin Burke entertaining us in the afternoon! The day was packed full of fun! We tucked into a lovely BBQ with the Oakham Mayor who also joined us for the day, along with different stalls to peruse around.

News In and Around… Chater Lodge

Stamford Carnival It’s our fifth year at the Stamford Carnival, and we are pleased to say that we won ‘Best Commercial Float’ the second time running! It was a Circus Theme this year with staff and residents dressing up for the occasion! It was a lovely day and the award really topped it off!

National Fundraising Week National Fundraising Week – The week is set to be confirmed, but just a few events we have planned are; a coffee morning; homemade cakes will be served with tea and coffee and hopefully the weather will hold up so we can make use of our new garden furniture! Administrator, Donna Pryor will be doing a sponsored silence and we will be having a visit from Brian Maunders who will be showcasing some of his art. All money raised will be given to Barchester’s Charitable Foundation. They are a registered charity dedicated to making a difference to older and disabled people in the communities with the aim to help people lead a more fulfilled life and reach their potential. For more details on the Foundation you can visit www.bhcfoundation.org.uk We have a few other events to be confirmed but these details will follow.

Upcoming Event…

News In and Around… Few Words From Barchester

Care Awards 2017

Proud to be A ‘Top 20’ Provider

Barchester has officially joined Facebook and our brand new page can be seen here: www.facebook.com/BarchesterHealthcare ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ us to keep up-to-date with Barchester news and see photos and stories from Barchester homes and hospitals across the UK.

Find us on Facebook

Barchester Healthcare has been named one of the top 20 large care groups in the carehome.co.uk Care Home Group Awards 2017. The awards highlight the most recommended care home groups in the UK based on reviews received from residents, their family and friends by carehome.co.uk as of 31st March 2017. Carehome.co.uk is an online care home directory which collects reviews of care homes across the UK and rates them in order to assist people looking for good quality care services in their search for the ideal care home. If you would like to review a Barchester home for the benefit of others looking into care options, you can do so by visiting www.carehome.co.uk or ask the home’s reception team for a review card.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a member of staff for Barchester’s Care Awards 2017. This year there were 1,300 nominations in total, all of which were for truly deserving teams and individuals, so the judges had a tough job on their hands. The Divisional Winners are announced in June and the National Finals will be held in October. Best of luck, everyone!

News In and Around… Barchester’s Charitable Foundation

The Foundation recently gave a grant to Richard from Banbury so that he could purchase a trike extension for his wheelchair. Richard said: “I’d said the trike would change my life, and it has in so many ways... I can now be on the playground chatting with the other parents at 3pm to pick up our daughter from the village school. The pupils especially like to ask about my trike. Instead of holding everyone back on days out, I can be like no other Daddy and give rides around our village or the grounds at Blenheim Palace to our three-year-old son.”

Father of Two Says New Trike is a Life-Changer

Thank You for Your Support

Thank you so much to everyone who has fundraised for the Foundation or made a donation. It is thanks to you that we can continue to provide one-off grants to help older people and other adults living with a disability. Without your help we would not have been able to buy a new electric hoist for accessible sailing group Peterborough Sailability or help fund a wheelchair trike for a man in Banbury who is now able to pick his daughter up from school. Grants like these and many more are given every month. And don’t forget that everything raised by Barchester staff is matched pound for pound by Barchester!

Care home Chef Raises £8,000 for Charity We are delighted to announce that Chacombe Park Care Home’s Head Chef Mark Roberts completed the London Marathon in 4 hours 10 minutes and 33 seconds! It was his first ever marathon and he ran to raise money for Barchester’s Charitable Foundation. Mark worked so hard, not only to train for the longest run he had ever faced but also to meet (and surpass) his ambitious fundraising target. When it came to race day, Mark was clearly well-prepared and kept up a great pace throughout. He said afterwards that his legs gave way at mile 22 but you wouldn’t know it from his fantastic finishing time!