Exhibition celebrates lives and achievements of care home residents

Sambrook House Residential Care Home, just north of Newport, set out to shine a light on the lives and achievement of those residents in their 28 bed unit.

It was all about changing the perception of care home residents as a "collection of older people living their lives in, hopefully, a tranquil and caring community."

Gill Gannon, the registered manager, said: "We discovered we had a ballet dancer, two talented pianists, an award-winning gardener, a number of excellent needlewomen and a war-time fire warden who is the subject of a chapter in a book.

"One gentleman allowed us to display his Malaya campaign medal and another resident let us display her Imperial Service Medal, which she received from the Queen for her 30 years of service at the Central Ordinance Depot."

The exhibition was opened with afternoon tea and prosecco and family and friends were invited to visit and view the exhibition over the bank holiday weekend.

Louise Henshaw said: "How lovely to be reminded that people we now see were vibrant and energetic people who have an amazing history and story to tell. I love it."

Neil Robson, Managing Director, said: "We have had so many staff and visitors spending a lot of time reading the stories and looking at the achievements of the talented people that we look after.

"Showcasing their achievements like this has sparked many memories and conversations between our residents as well as providing great topics of conversation for relatives and visitors and given people a real reminder that our residents have all lived real and fulfilling lives which deserve to be remembered and celebrated."

Sambrook House is situated in in a small village that is very supportive of the care home and their neighbours.

Jenny Petts and Pam Kaminski from Sambrook WI helped stage the exhibition, and many neighbours came to see the presentation.

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