Pearl anniversary for Stanford-in-the-Vale care home - and managers!

A local care home and its husband and wife managers are celebrating 30 years since they opened the doors and their first resident walked in singing Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘Please release me, let me go’, whilst shaking her tambourine in the air!

The Grange Care Centre in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Faringdon, was opened by Wendy and Ian Mead in December 1984. They still run it and will be leading the 30th anniversary party at the village hall on Saturday 13 December, joined by residents, relatives and staff including one employee who has been with them since day one, Phyllis Dolby, key carer/moving and handling Instructor /medicine auditor.

Now part of the Forest Health Care family of care homes, The Grange is one of the area’s longest established care homes with an enviable reputation for excellence throughout Faringdon and beyond. Wendy Mead recalls how it all started: “Ian and I have been fortunate enough to have been at The Grange since the beginning. The early days were hard work but great fun. We had some great characters in the home including our first admission, a wonderful lady called Katie who had a wicked sense of humour, and one lady who could never get my name right - I was either Mrs Moon or sadly Mrs Mean! We were totally unprepared for how many referrals we received and had to stagger admissions to make sure we were able to cope with the numbers in line with staffing.”

The Grange started off as an investment project for a couple of Ian’s friends. Ian and Wendy’s first task was to convert the former 12th century vicarage into a home for 18 residents and register it under, what was then, the brand new 1984 Care Home Act. Then came the task of organising and training the staff, which was, according to Wendy a huge job as “I think initially many of the applicants were just curious people from the village wondering what was going on in their old vicarage! Many staff had no experience in care and needed to be trained from scratch so Ian and I worked alongside them day and night to make sure they achieved the standard we needed. For the initial few months we stayed in the home moving from room to room as residents were admitted. Eventually we ran out of rooms as the home became full at 18 residents.”

During the last three decades The Grange has undergone a programme of development which has seen it extend from an 18 bedroom home into a 44 bedroom home, and become an integral part of Wendy and Ian’s lives and their two children’s too, as Wendy explains: “I asked them the other day what their favourite memory of The Grange was and they both said that it was helping Santa to deliver presents and then spending time helping the residents to unwrap them on Christmas Day. Ian and I have many special memories of The Grange but one of our most precious would be our wedding reception which we shared not only with our family but also the residents and staff at The Grange. Our lives would not be the same without The Grange and I hope the reverse can also be said - that the Grange would not be the same without us! I make no apologies for sounding cliché because the residents and staff at The Grange are part of our family and we wouldn't want it any other way.”

“We have a very loyal team here at The Grange and most staff seem to enjoy working here and tend to stay with us for many years. As well as Phyllis Dolby, our key carer/moving and handling Instructor /medicine auditor, who started on day one, we have a cook who started in 1987, a key carer who started in 1988 and many others from the 1990s onwards. I am extremely proud of the staff working here at The Grange and I know they feel the same way about The Grange.”

The Grange is a residential nursing home offering 24-hour care to elderly residents and younger people in need of round the clock support, whether as respite, post-operative or long-term care. It is part of the Forest Healthcare family of homes, which includes 12 individual homes throughout the South East of England. For more information on The Grange, please visit www.foresthc.com or call 08444 725 182. Those interested in a place at The Grange are welcome to visit at any time, with no appointment necessary.

ENDS

For further media information or photographs, please contact:

Jay Commins/Sam Orange

Pyper York Limited

Tel:         01904 500698

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