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us to keep up to date
To celebrate the milestone anniversary, the Home, alongside the Association of
Friends, organised a special ceremony to unveil a 50th anniversary plaque and tree. This was followed by an outdoors tea party with live music for residents, care staff and other special guests
including Provincial Grand Masters from Yorkshire West Riding, Yorkshire North and East and the Assistant Provincial Grand Masters from Lincolnshire.
In addition, a number of cheque donations totalling £11,000 were presented to the Chairman of the Association of Friends of Connaught Court,
Mark Payne, and funds were pledged by the three provinces where it will aid the Association of Friends of Connaught Court to help to improve the lives of those living at Connaught Court over the next
five years.
Among the guests, eight centenarians living at the Home also attended including Constance Ireland, who recently celebrated her 100th
birthday.
Constance said: “I love living at Connaught Court, the staff are very kind, and we are like a big family. I enjoy taking part in the music
and singing activities and having the odd sherry at times.”
Home Manager, Victoria Wilson, who has worked at the Home for 19 years, said: “We wanted to say a big thank you to our residents, staff and all the people who have supported our Home over the years. Not forgetting our
lovely Association of Friends, both past and present, for their ongoing support.”
January 2021 Activity
Report
Since the AGM in November we have enjoyed a quiet Christmas at Connaught Court with our residents. It was a far cry from our now familiar 8 concerts and lots of other
providers, visitors and families coming in to the home. We managed a couple of concerts with Nigel Rae and Rewind Matt that had made downloaded concert for us, all be it from their bedrooms. We
attempted a live streamed concert with Jessa with all areas of the home by zoom which turned out to be the day the internet/wireless completed failed us here. She did record the concert so other
areas of the home had something to look forward to. Technology is great when it’s working!!!
On Christmas Day Santa visited the home, distributing presents to all our residents around the home and a big thank you to the friends for providing monies for this
and their continued support throughout this difficult year.
We continue to have our volunteer Kate coming in to help us out with music mornings and any resident IPad or technology queries for which we are grateful. John from the
shop has been kind enough to replenish the shop for us a couple of times which is fantastic.
Our January programme is very low key with poetry mornings, films and classic music sessions sourced from our new friend You Tube. Fran continues to support the areas
with marmalade making, bird feeders and music sessions which are wonderful on our dementia areas.
We are planning a day around Burn’s Night with a special lunch and various Scottish themed activities, and the residents are looking forward to our cocktail afternoon
later this month.
With the latest lockdown and the visitor pods being closed for the present we have understandably had an increase in the number of families wishing zoom calls with
their loved ones.
On the plus side we’ve all been pfizered!!!
Stephanie & Fran
Manager's Report for 30th April 2020
Hello from everyone at Connaught Court! We are now into our 5th full week of closure due to
coronavirus, and what a journey it has been for us all. The home is a very different place with all our residents confined to their rooms and the areas they live in.The dining room is closed and the
main lounge only available for very small numbers from the same area to see a film, socially distancing of course! Meals are all taken in their rooms, and exercise is taken in our grounds only for
short periods of time. Thank goodness for the lovely weather we have been experiencing, which has helped with this enormously.
Amongst all their other tasks the care team have been trying to help the residents keep in touch with
their families via any means possible and those on the ground floor have had the occasional wave through closed windows. An equally difficult time for families who are unable to give them a hug or
visit in person.
All our staff are masked for the duration of their shift strict infection control measures in place and
for those residents showing symptoms of covid19 full barrier nursing is in place with complete isolation.
It is with great sadness that we currently have 11 residents throughout the home with symptoms and 7
were tested yesterday. We have one positive resident who is doing well in hospital and one other who is in the home and stable at the time of writing this. Unfortunately we have lost two residents
who were covid positive, a very distressing time for the families and for our staff who feel helpless to prevent this horrendous virus, despite all their hard work.
Staffing the home is now our greatest challenge as currently I have a total of 34 staff off with
symptoms isolating, at last we are now able to have testing which has been a long time coming. We have had great support from our district nurses, GP practice and local authority, and most important
from our senior team at the RMBI who have worked tirelessly to get us the information which has changed hourly at first and secure PPE for us with weekly deliveries. Thank goodness for the support of
the freemasons and trustees with very deep pockets who have taken extreme measures to purchase this valuable stock of PPE.
On a happier note we managed to have a lovely meal for Easter and Nestle sent many Easter eggs, which
as you can imagine went down a treat with staff and residents. We have received lots of lovely letters from children accompanied with drawings, and the wine and sherry along with chocolate and
excellent local food suppliers the Connaught Court standards have been maintained!
This is just a short insight into Connaught Today at what is our lowest time in this journey; we look
forward to happier times and welcoming you all back into the home.
Please stay safe and well.
Victoria Wilson
Home Manager
AFoCC Secretary's addendum
As all outdoor and indoor visits have been cancelled the
Association of Friends has purchased six iPads to enable the residents to stay in touch with their family and friends. These were bought with the kind donations from all the Lodges in the three
Provinces linked to us.
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