Grab your teddy bear for garden party fun as Pinehurst Care Centre celebrates national Care Home Open Day 2015

Saturday 13 June, 2pm-4pm

Teddy bears of every shape, size and colour – including one or two human-sized! - will be adding to the fun at Pinehurst Care Centre in Crowthorne, Berkshire, on Saturday 13 June when the care home hosts a garden party as part of National Care Home Open Day 2015.

The doors will open at 2.00pm for an entertaining afternoon complete with barbecue, live music, tombola, raffle, a home-baked cake stall and an assortment of teddies! Visitors are welcome to come along and soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the food and entertainment, chat with residents and members of staff, hear their stories and find out what Pinehurst is all about.

“Most people don’t bother about care homes until they have to so the National Care Home Open Day is a perfect opportunity for people to see for themselves the kind of excellent care services available in their area. Unfortunately, there are lots of misconceptions about residential care but the truth is that care homes can be very homely and welcoming, and full of friendly, caring, interesting people. If you’re ever faced with having to find a care home for yourself or a loved one that’s important to know,” says comments centre manager, Lynne Cotterell.

One of the aims of the UK-wide initiative Care Home Open Day is to build relationships between care home residents, staff and local people, something that Lynne supports and hopes may encourage members of the public to think about volunteering or befriending a resident.

“What you don’t want is to be in a panic trying to find a suitable local care home because you don’t know anything about them. Recently, we had a lady who had visited seven care homes trying to find somewhere for a friend of hers before she came across Pinehurst – she liked us so much that she’s now one of our volunteers!” says Lynne.

Eight of Pinehurst’s current volunteers have, or had, loved ones who were residents at Pinehurst, Lynne calls them ‘our befores and afters’. “It was only after they got to know us that they thought about volunteering. They get a lot out of it and it makes a real difference to our residents and our team to have their support and friendship, they are invaluable.”

Pinehurst Care Centre’s doors are open to the local community all year round. For more information please visit www.foresthc.com or call 01344 774233.

Located on Duke’s Ride in Crowthorne, it has 47 bedrooms and offers a friendly, family environment for people over 65, including specialist dementia care. Pinehurst is part of the Forest Healthcare group of homes, which includes 13 individual homes throughout the South East of England.

ENDS

For further media information or photographs, please contact:

Sam Orange or Jay Commins

Pyper York Limited

Tel:        01904 500698

Email:   sam@pyperyork.co.uk or jay@pyperyork.co.uk