Care South Take 5 May 2023

Welcome to Take5

Spring is finally here, the sun is out, we hope you had a great Easter and are looking forward to what will hopefully be a long hot summer! And throughout this I know that you have and will continue to go that ‘extra mile’ in keeping all our homes and our Care at Home clients warm and safe, with Food, Fun and Friendship in abundance and at the heart of everything you do. Thank you!

The Trustee/Directors have visited Castle Dene and Fern Brook Lodge since the last Take5 and will be visiting Kenwith Castle and Fremington Manor in May. It is so nice for them to be able to meet with you all once again and to witness first hand the amazing care, activities and events that you continue to provide around the group. Thank you for making them so welcome.

Our Chairman, Jane Stichbury, stood down as Chairman recently and has been replaced by our former Vice-Chairman, Chris Kean – so we remain in very safe and experienced hands! I know that many of you who know Jane were very sad to hear of Jane’s standing down as Chairman, but she remains a Trustee and we are very grateful for her continued involvement with Care South. Jane has guided Care South carefully and resiliently through the toughest of times since July 2020, and I know that so many of you join me in thanking her so much for all her support.

Phil Smith joined Care South as our new Director of Residential Care at the end of March 2023. I know many of you will have already met him and I am delighted to welcome him and look forward to working closely with him to drive forward all our exciting initiatives and projects.

Before Christmas we received the wonderful news that the Government guidance on wearing facemasks in care settings had changed. More recently we have heard of the changes to the ‘testing’ regimes and guidance. We really are back to ‘business as usual’ now and it is so nice to read of all the family visits, outside entertainers’ visits, outings and activities throughout this edition of Take5

I can see from this edition of Take5 that you have all been very busy over Easter enjoying plenty of ‘Food, Fun and Friendship’ with each other, our residents and our Care at Home clients. We will shortly be celebrating all of your excellence at your annual Stars Awards. The nomination process is now live and we will be getting together online on 31 May 2023, with parties at all your homes and offices, to celebrate those nominations and announce the short-listed finalists who will be invited to a further event and prizegiving at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth on 13 July 2023. This year, and with so many of you going above and beyond we, are really looking to celebrate teamwork and its importance in

Trustees visit our new care home

We recently celebrated the start of construction work on Marjorie House, our purpose-built, Art Deco-inspired care home in Lilliput, Poole. To mark the occasion, the Trustees of Care South were on site to see the progress being made.

The new home, due to open in 2024, will provide a wide range of employment opportunities for carers, managers, maintenance, housekeeping staff and others.

your delivery of such good care. We have so many amazing teams throughout Care South.

You all continue to encourage residents and relatives to rate us on carehome.co.uk, and they are telling us that they are so pleased and grateful for everything that you all do. Their accolades have meant that we are yet again awarded a Top 20 Care Home Group amongst all providers in the UK for the third year in a row. You should be very proud of yourselves. Well done! Recruitment at Care South continues to be a real success. We continue to welcome many new starters to our homes and Care at Home offices. We do still see people leaving us, but often they return, which is good to see. We also have many of you who are keen to progress your careers within Care South. With that in mind we are re-engaging with our ‘Lead to Succeed’ programme (placed on hold during the pandemic) so that anyone who wants to can have a clear pathway to fulfil their ambitions with us, whether that be Carers to Care Team Leaders, Care Team Leaders to Deputies and Deputies to Home Managers, etc. As you can see from the Long Service Awards, we have many of you who have been with us for a long time – we want to keep you with Care South!

Don’t forget our ‘Refer a Friend’ scheme which could mean that you not only earn £500 but also get to work with a friend!

We continue to invest in all our services, old and new, and construction of our latest new care home, Marjorie House, is progressing well and remains on track for completion in early 2024. We have another exciting opportunity in the pipeline which I hope to be able to tell you more about in the next edition of Take5.

As ever, our HEART Values remain incredibly important to us all throughout the organisation, and I know those Values are everpresent in all your hard work in everything you do to keep our residents, Care at Home clients and each other safe.

Thank you to all of you for your commitment to Care South!

Simon Bird, Chief Executive

Care South rated as one of the top care home groups in the UK for third consecutive year

Residents and their families have again rated us as one of the ‘Top 20 Care Home Groups’ in the UK at the 2023 Care Home Awards. This is an award that we have been proud to hold for three years in a row, thanks to the high-quality of care consistently provided by you all.

Simon Bird said: “We are delighted to have received the Top 20 Award for the third year running. It goes without saying that we could not receive the award without the fantastic frontline staff in all our care homes, who always go above and beyond to provide the very best for those in our care. We really appreciate all our staff and the great lengths they go to, to make residents’ experiences in later life the best they can be.”

The average group review score for Care South is 9.6/10 (April 2023). It’s important we keep encouraging residents, friends and family members to give us reviews so we can retain this position again next year.

How to become a Top 20 individual care home

The carehome.co.uk annual Care Home Awards recognise 20 of the top-rated Care Homes in each of nine UK regions, based on reviews from residents and their family and friends. This is a separate category to the Top 20 Care Home Groups and can be awarded to individual homes.

The benefits of being awarded a Top 20 Individual Care Home include being listed on the carehome.co.uk website as a top care home as well as a visually enhanced profile with a Top 20 logo. It is a mark of excellence, serving as a testament to the hard work and dedication of each individual at the home.

Is your home eligible?

• Being listed means you are eligible

• The awards are based on the review score at the published cut-off date in February 2024

• You must have at least five reviews published between 1 March 2023 and the cut-off date in February 2024

A Moment with Maggie

I hope you managed to see your family and friends over Easter, and enjoy some sweet treats!

We held our latest Staff Association meeting on 5 April, which your local Staff Association Representatives attended, to share your feedback and to hear about business development. Your feedback continues to be invaluable to us, so thank you! Whilst we cannot always do everything we would like to, we do make every effort to address those key issues that will help you in your roles to deliver the best care to residents and clients. To find out more on what we have been doing, speak to your Staff Association Representatives to get the latest news and updates.

Our recruitment and attraction strategy continues and if you would like to ‘refer a friend’ you can receive a referral bonus of £500 (payable after your ‘friend’ has completed just six weeks service or 200 bank hours) – see the poster at your location for full details (T&Cs apply).

From a learning and development perspective, Conner, Ash, Lorna and Nicky continue to deliver our mandatory training, to ensure we are compliant. In addition, we have reinstated and commenced training on the following: catheter and stoma, skin integrity and pressure area care, contracture awareness and end of life care. Karen Hodges has moved into operations as Dementia Lead, and she will be launching our own dementia training shortly starting with the management teams.

Our Leadership programmes were temporarily put on hold due to Covid and subsequent resourcing pressures, but I can now confirm that we will be recommencing our roll-out of development programmes and career pathways for Carers, Care Team Leaders, Deputy Home Managers and Home Managers. Your personal and career development is important to us, so if you have any development or training needs, please do not hesitate to talk to your manager or to contact Jo McCarthy or Debbie Davies in the Learning and Development team on 01202 712400.

Maggie

Maggie Searle, Director of HR and Training

Anagram Corner

Can you untangle these tricky anagrams?

The first five correct entries out of the hat will each receive a £30 voucher.

POUTROTSINIPE TREMCUIRENT NERKWECER CEENTAMINNA BASHRORDET

Care South welcomes...

New Head of Recruitment

Emma Groves has joined the Head Office team as the new Head of Recruitment, responsible for leading the internal recruitment and onboarding team.

Emma joins Care South with over 10 years’ experience in recruitment across a broad range of sectors and is looking forward to working closely with Operations and the homes, to really understand our homes’ recruitment needs.

Meet Abbie and Tori from the CRM team

Abbie and Tori both previously worked for BCP Council in the brokerage department, sourcing care for hospital discharges before joining the CRM team at Care South.

Abbie and Tori are responsible for looking after our customers and their enquiries as well as helping them through their journey in joining one of your homes. Just a reminder, if you receive an enquiry then you only need to take a name and number and forward it to the customer relations team via email and they will handle the rest.

You can contact Abbie and Tori by emailing customer.relations@care-south.co.uk or call 01202 712410.

Gwen joins the Fremington Manor Admin team

Gwen Stanley has joined the admin team at Fremington Manor. Gwen is responsible for paperwork for staff and residents and assisting the team with managing shifts as well as helping with IT concerns.

Gwen commented: “I’ve really enjoyed meeting and getting to know everyone in the home, staff and residents alike, and I look forward to meeting and helping more and more people as time goes on.”

Tracey promoted at Fern Brook Lodge

Tracey Harbage joined Fern Brook Lodge last September as a Care Team leader and has now been promoted to Dementia Unit Lead.

Tracey’s new role will see her reponsibilities split to take the lead on dementia but also retain her Care Team Leader position, which will enable Tracey to keep in touch with residents and staff and have a great understanding of what’s happening in the home.

Tracey commented: “I am very excited to have this opportunity and the team at Fern Brook Lodge have been so supportive and welcoming.”

Meet our new Director of Residential Care

I am delighted to have joined Care South as Director of Residential Care. My welcome to the Care South team has been fantastic and it’s been a pleasure to meet many of you already. I am looking forward to meeting even more of you over the coming weeks.

I joined the care sector 18 years ago following an earlier career in the retail sector. This change was part driven by my own experience of seeing my grandmother in care, and in part seeking a career where I felt I could make a difference to people’s lives. It’s a decision I have never regretted!

I have in-depth experience working with three other large providers and I am hoping this is going to have real benefit to our homes and you, our hard-working teams. I always follow the principle that any decision I make, the residents and team must benefit from it. It’s a principle I have followed since I joined the sector, and it has not failed yet. I’m very keen to hear your ideas, so please feel free to stop me when I am in your home or speak to your Staff Representative who can pass anything on to me.

So, until we meet, thank you for all that you do for residents.

Phil Smith, Director of Residential Care

Key dates for your diary

There are lots of great events coming up, including:

• Monday 8 May – VE Day

• 15 - 21 May – Dementia Action Week

• 23 - 27 May – Chelsea Flower Show

• 6 - 12 June – National Carers Week

• Saturday 10 June – Trooping the Colour

• Monday 12 June – British Flowers Week

• Sunday 18 June – Father’s Day

• Wednesday 21 June – Summer Solstice

• 26 June - 2 July – National Care Home Open Week

• Saturday 1 July – International Joke Day

• Sunday 2 July – Glad to Care Awareness Week

• Monday 3 July – Wimbledon

• Sunday 30 July – International Friendship Day

If you have any great ideas for activities, crafts or competitions focused around these events, we’d love to hear about them!

Introducing our new ‘Dementia Care Coach’ initiative

As part of our wider dementia strategy, we are rolling out a dementia education programme to launch, train and upskill carers across the Group, to deliver best-in-class care to those living with dementia, as well as provide further reassurance for their families.

As you know, all employees undertake a dementia awareness course at the start of their journey with Care South, but the ‘Dementia Care Coach (DCC)’ initiative will take us to the next level. It will ensure all team members have a better understanding of dementia care so that we continue to be able to meet and exceed the needs of residents in our care.

We will be rolling this out as a phased approach from April 2023 until January 2024 and below is the current schedule for the programme:

Phase 1: April - June 2023: Talbot View , Buxton House , Maiden Castle House, Sussexdown , Fern Brook Lodge.

Phase 2: July - September 2023: Kenwith Castle , Fairlawn, Alexandra House, Wickmeads, St Ives House.

Phase 3: October 2023 – January 2024: Beauchamp House , Castle Dene , Dorset House , Elizabeth House , Fremington Manor.

The Dementia Care Coach (DCC) programme is founded on the FITS (Focussed Intervention Training and Support into Practice), an evidence-based research programme developed by The Association for Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester.

Karen Hodges, the Group Dementia Lead at Care South has successfully completed a master’s level academic module as part of her wider postgraduate certificate studies to accredit her as a ‘Dementia Practice Development Coach’. This enables Karen to deliver training and best practice to ensure all residents get the very best dementia support.

This will be part of a much wider educational and development offering, with bespoke personalised workshops tailored to the needs of all team members in our homes, including activities, catering, leadership and care.

An amazing 30 years with Care South for Penny

Penny Sargeant joined Care South as Assistant Secretary in 1993 when there were just six team members working as part of the Head Office team!

Penny was promoted to Company Secretary in 1995 and also looked after HR for a number of years. Penny now has the role of Board Secretary and is responsible for liaising with Trustee Directors and providing administrative support to the Board.

Penny said: “I am proud to have been part of the Senior Management Team which, like Care South itself, has grown and adapted to the changing world around us. There have been many highlights over the years, including the introduction of the Stars Awards where I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to present some of the winners with their much-deserved awards.”

Anniversary celebrations!

We have lots of fantastic milestone celebrations in this issue! A big thank you to everyone for your hard work and dedication.

30 years:

Penny Sargeant, Head Office.

25 years:

Julie Sells, Elizabeth House.

Dawn Budgen, Dorset House.

James Palmer, Fremington Manor.

Vez Joynson, Care at Home Bournemouth.

Natalie Mason, Talbot View.

20 years:

Jane Page, Alexandra House.

Maxine Preston, Talbot View.

Dawn Squibb, Maiden Castle House.

15 years:

Pauline Dando, Sussexdown.

Anne Mabey, Sussexdown.

Jemma Gowans, Maiden Castle House.

10 years:

Sally Sansom, Care at Home Crewkerne.

Jenny Smith, Beauchamp House.

Debbie Irving, Elizabeth House.

Dawn celebrated 25 years’ service

Dawn Budgen recently celebrated an impressive 25 years of continuous service at Dorset House.

Dawn started her career as a Packing Assistant and Cleaner before moving into the care industry as a Housekeeper at Dorset House care home where she is now celebrating her 25th year with Care South.

25 year celebrations for Julie

Julie Sells recently celebrated an amazing 25 years of continuous service with beautiful flowers and chocolates from the Care South Head Office team.

Julie Sells started her career in care at Castle Dene in 1998. On-the-job training provided by Care South helped Julie develop her career and she has now been at Elizabeth House for four years.

VIP experience for one lucky Care at Home client

Ian, a client of our Care at Home Bournemouth office, recently attended AFC Bournemouth’s player kit sponsor evening, accompanied by staff member, Jane Legg.

The evening, at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, was made possible thanks to Care South’s sponsorship of Illia Zabarnyi, a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a defender for AFC Bournemouth and the Ukrainian national team.

The event started with a welcome drink on arrival followed by a two-course meal and coffee. Prior to dining, there were photo opportunities and conversation with Illia Zabarnyi, Care South’s sponsored player. Jimmy Glass, a former professional footballer who played for England as a goalkeeper, was the event host for the evening and conducted a number of player interviews, as well as presenting a fun quiz for all.

Ian said: “It was a fabulous evening. I enjoyed meeting the players as I have seen their shirt numbers on the television, but it was great seeing their faces and putting their numbers to faces. It was a fun evening getting to see and meet a mixture of players, from Steve Fletcher to Illia.”

Update from Care South at Home

I hope that you are well and looking forward to the spring season.

For our Care at Home staff and office teams, moving away from the winter weather is always a relief. Our staff have shown such resilience and dedication throughout, delivering much valued care and support in their local communities. It is also important to note that they have continued to step up to support the NHS throughout the difficult winter pressures – much-valued by patients and our NHS colleagues alike.

Thanks to the Operations Team, Bex Symes and Rahul Gohulan and to the Registered Managers and teams for rolling out PASS, our new digital care planning system. You will all now be using PASS in your visits and feedback from staff has been so positive. The next phase of the roll out will see us truly modernised, moving to the PASS rostering system.

Since transferring Care South’s five Assisted Living services into Care South at Home, we have enhanced the offering to residents, and I’m pleased to announce that in the coming months we will be launching our first community shop and café at Kenwith Meadows. We are also about to start work preparing our first community allotment at Beauchamp Gardens. Exciting times!

A recent compliment about one of our team members sums up what we do and why we do it:

I hope that you all enjoyed your Easter treats – keep on doing a great job and stay safe.

Care at Home staff had an eggs-cellent Easter – they received lots of chocolate goodies as a thank you for all their hard work!

Martin Ross, Director of Care at Home

“ I don’t say this lightly; this world is everchanging, but she truly is an inspirational individual. I am filling up writing this note, as words truly don’t express how grateful my family and I are for all that she and her team have done for my grandfather’s welfare.”

Celebrating delicious, fresh seasonal food

Maiden Castle House takes gold in our Spring Food Festival

Thank you to everyone who took part in our Spring Food Festival and for all your creative, inspiring recipes and activities. Our Spring Food Festival was all about celebrating the delicious, fresh food prepared in our care homes – an integral part of our Food, Fun and Friendship ethos. It coincided with National Nutrition and Hydration Week and featured an inter-home seasonal soup competition, with residents and staff creating an array of delicious soups.

It was fantastic to see so many food and drink activities taking place and we were all very jealous of all those lovely soup recipes, mocktails and fruit smoothies.

There could however only be one winner and the team at Maiden Castle House struck gold on the day! After discussing what soup to create with residents, Chef, Maria went out in her free time to forage for wild garlic, an ingredient typically found by rivers.

Residents were delighted with the special ingredients and all set to work preparing vegetables for a delicious soup, which they are hoping to be part of the home’s seasonal menu. As a reward for their efforts the home received a whopping 5kg Easter egg to enjoy.

Fremington Manor was awarded second place with Activities Assistant, Tina and Head Chef, Mark ensuring everyone was able to take part in the soup preparation.

Alexandra House residents and family gathered for a virtual jazz and blues concert followed by a delicious afternoon tea with fruit kebabs!

SPRING FOOD FESTIVAL

St Ives House had a fun week taking part in mocktail Monday, thirsty Thursday, fruity Friday and smoothie Saturday.

Residents at Kenwith Castle enjoyed a delicious homemade minestrone soup made by Chef, Bala.

Fern Brook

devised its own recipe with residents and enjoyed crafts, quizzes and fun activities.

A beautiful afternoon tea was served at Elizabeth House, accompanied by live music.

Dorset House residents celebrated throughout the week, finishing off on Mother’s Day with friends and family.

delicious

Residents at Wickmeads came together to celebrate Food, Fun and Friendship with a tasty vegetable soup.

Lodge

Everyone at Buxton House enjoyed the

spring soup produced by the kitchen team.

A special visit from AFC Bournemouth Captain

for Castle Dene

Castle Dene residents were delighted with special guest appearances from AFC Bournemouth goalkeeper and Captain, Norberto Murara Neto, known as Neto, and retired Bournemouth player, Steve Fletcher, thanks to our partnership with the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust team.

Everyone was delighted to welcome back the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust team with their special guests. The day started with residents taking part in warm up exercises to prepare for some football fun. Neto and Steve joined in with the games and the Community Sports Trust team made sure everyone on the makeshift pitch was able to get involved using specially designed, seated football games. There was a welcome half-time break with tea, coffee and conversation between residents, Neto, Steve and the Community Sports Trust team. Prizes for the games that were played included official AFC Bournemouth merchandise such as clocks and scarfs, and were handed out by Neto and Steve to winning residents, Pam and Mitzy.

Lewis-Manning Hospice Care Muddy Dog Dash

Residents from Dorset House had a great day supporting Lewis-Manning Hospice Care at its Muddy Dog Dash event in Upton Country Park at the end of March.

The ‘paw-some’ day out consisted of a 2km and 4km obstacle course around the park for people, their dog(s) and loved ones to follow – with many of them having lots of fun in the mud!

Care South hosted residents in the ‘event village’ outside the tearoom within the park grounds, which was the perfect spot for residents to explore the event stalls on display nearby and watch all the runners and their dogs in action. Residents enjoyed a delicious lunch purchased from the tearooms whilst watching the Muddy Dog Dash event.

Sam Baker, Activities Lead at Dorset House, said: “We understand the joys and benefits that animals, not just dogs, can bring to us all. That’s why we work with local partners that bring in furry friends to visit. Many residents in our care used to own pets, and whilst they may no longer be able to care for

Neto said: “We had a great time and I really enjoyed myself at Castle Dene with Steve. It’s always nice to see a smile on people’s faces. My grandmother spent time in a care home, and I know how important they are. It’s great to be part of a football club which goes out into the community and helps people. It was good to see everybody was happy and enjoying themselves.”

Watch the video!

Scan the code with your smart phone to watch the video of the visit on the website!

their own, we make sure they are still able to enjoy seeing them by either coming to us or making a trip out to see them.”

Abby Davies, Marketing and Communications Manager at Lewis-Manning Hospice Care added: “We are thrilled that Care South and its residents were able to come along to support this event. Our partnership with the care homes and entire organisation is continuing to flourish, which is fantastic to be part of. Care South shares the same values as Lewis-Manning and long may this collaborative partnership continue.”

© Paul Collins

A Food, Fun and Friendshipfilled Care South Easter

Elizabeth House was delighted to welcome the Easter bunny to shower residents with treats!

At Wickmeads, residents enjoyed a coffee morning and a fabulous Easter raffle with many delicious prizes.

Former Great British Bake-Off contestant, Maggie joined Dorset House to make a traditional Simnel cake and some lovely Easter biscuits which she helped decorate with residents and their grandchildren.

Some Easter bunnies (aka Activities Lead Emma’s daughters) delivered eggs to staff and residents at Maiden Castle House. St Ives House had a wonderful afternoon taking part in the home’s annual Easter bonnet competition with lots of fantastic and creative bonnets!

It was eyes down at Kenwith Castle for some competitive games of Easter bingo with plenty of chocolate treats to win!

Take5 photography competition

As usual, we received some beautiful shots for our photo competition in this issue.

Congratulations to our overall winner, Jenna Whaley from Head Office, for this lovely sunset shot, illustrating that it isn’t just residents who enjoy the company of animals – our staff love them too! Jenna will be receiving a £50 voucher.

It’s Take5 quiz time!

Fancy winning a £30 voucher? Simply answer the ten questions below for our big spring quiz and send your answers to take5@mckennatownsend.com

1. Which season of the year comes after spring?

2. Which spring flower is regarded as a symbol of Wales and has been since the 19th century?

3. Which sea animal can be observed frequently during spring when they migrate from Australia back to Antarctica?

4. English spring buns are traditionally called?

5. What is the proper name for a baby rabbit?

6. What kind of trees do visitors travel hundreds of miles to see in Japan in springtime?

7. In what Disney film does the inquisitive rabbit Thumper feature?

8. Which of these is not a friend of Winnie the Pooh? Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Woody, Christopher Robin.

9. What is the largest part of a flower?

10. What would be your job title if you worked with flowers and plants in a retail shop?

Closing date is 23 June and all the winners, plus the correct answers, will be in the next issue.

Congratulations also go out to our two runners-up – you have both won a £30 voucher:

We look forward to seeing your entries for next Take 5 photography competition!

Please send us high-res images for your entry to be considered. If you are taking them on an iPhone, send your shot at one of the highest size settings.

Send your entries, along with your name, where you work and a title for your shot to take5@mckennatownsend.com

Good luck everyone!

2nd place – Sally Howard, Dorset House ‘Light at the End of the Rainbow’

Winner – Jenna Whaley, Head Office ‘Sunset Chasing with Mabel’

3rd place – Sandra Bartlett, Dorset House

Deb and Pumpkin walk 100km for Dementia UK

Deb Wiltshire, Home Manager at Fern Brook Lodge set herself the challenge of walking 100km with her dog, Pumpkin during March, to raise money and awareness for Dementia UK.

The charity provides specialist dementia nurses to those affected by all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, and ran a March Dog Walking Challenge to help families facing dementia.

Deb is currently supporting all staff at Fern Brook Lodge to become Dementia Friends and, as part of this, is opening The Brook Room at the home to the wider community to use for free dementia sessions. Deb will also visit local church groups, companies, Girl Guides and Scout groups in the Gillingham community to deliver Dementia Friends sessions to help educate people and raise awareness and understanding.

Commenting on the challenge, Deb said: “Dementia UK’s research is moving in such a positive way that the future looks brighter for people living with dementia and their loved ones. Working with people who are living with dementia and seeing how this affects families is the motivation to get on and do that 100km walk with my little dog! He certainly does not mind – I just have to tell him to ‘get your shoes on’ and he goes crazy for his walks.”

£1,000 for Weldmar Hospicecare

Weldmar Hospicecare is one of the latest beneficiaries of our Chairman’s 2020 Fund. The Weldmar team cared for Elaine Stockley, a Night Care Assistant at Maiden Castle House, who sadly passed away in June 2022 after battling cancer for a number of years.

Weldmar Hospicecare is a charity providing specialist care for adults in Dorset with life limiting illnesses. Elaine’s family and friends, as well as the team at Maiden Castle House, have all continued to raise funds for the charity since Elaine’s passing, raising £2,760 by holding a quiz night and walking 26 miles around the Jurassic Coast. Simon Bird was keen to show Care South’s appreciation of Weldmar Hospicecare for the amazing and compassionate care they gave to Elaine and her family when they needed it most, by applying to Care South’s Chairman’s 2020 Fund for a donation of £1,000.

Take5 winners

Congratulations to all our winners from the last issue!

Our spot the object winners were Ian Berry from Castle Dene, Danny Payne from St Ives House, Sarah Robinson from Sussexdown, Rebecca Harris from Fern Brook Lodge and Jenna Whaley from Head Office. You will all receive a £30 voucher.

Our anagram winners were Carol Hill from Care at Home, Crewkerne, Julianne Grey from Dorset House, Ita Graven from Elizabeth House, Julie Parks from Talbot View and Kamila Srutwa from Alexandra House, who will each also receive a £30 voucher.

Robyn Dominey from St Ives House, Linda Evans from Care at Home, Crewkerne, Andrea Varcoe from Care at Home, West Dorset, Deb Wiltshire from Fern Brook Lodge and Chloe RevellWareham from St Ives House correctly completed the spot the difference and will receive a £30 voucher.

Lesley Marlow from Care at Home, West Dorset was our Take5 quiz winner and will receive a £30 voucher. Congratulations Lesley!

January issue quiz answers

The answers for the Take5 quiz in our winter issue: 1. 26 2. Robin 3. Paris 4. Four 5. Pentagon 6. Eight 7. 3,600 8. Tinkerbell 9. Pancakes 10. Valentine’s Day.

Mark’s Shortbread Biscuits

Make these moreish shortbread biscuits using just three basic ingredients. They’re wonderfully crumbly and go perfectly with a cup of tea for a mid-morning treat.

Ingredients (makes approx 20 biscuits):

100g butter, lightly chilled and cubed

50g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling

150g plain flour

½ tsp vanilla essence (optional)

Lemon or orange zest (optional)

Method:

1. Heat the oven 170C/150C fan/gas 3

2. Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and cream together until the mixture is lighter in colour and fluffy

3. Sieve in the flour and add the vanilla essence and zest (if using)

4. Gently queeze the mixture until it comes together as a dough

5. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ½ cm thick. Cut the dough into fingers and place on a lined baking tray. Use a fork to create light imprints, then sprinkle with the remaining caster sugar

6. Chill the dough in the fridge for around 20 mins, then bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown

7. Remove the shortbread fingers from the oven and leave to cool on a tray for 10 mins – naughty but nice!

Take5 minutes with Mark Bryant, Head Chef at Fremington Manor

What made you decide to become a chef?

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a chef. Being half Swiss-German and half English has given me a different food culture to most of the children I grew up with.

Since leaving catering college in Bournemouth, I have worked in many different places in England, France and Switzerland. I was part of the original crew at the opening of Disneyland, Paris and have worked in a vegetarian restaurant, a fish restaurant in Switzerland and even in a chateau in Brittany, France.

How do you plan and create the menus?

When concepting dishes for the menus, I consider the look of the plated dish, colours and textures of the food and of course the flavour. Also, the equipment and the time available are important factors to bear in mind.

As this is the first time I have cooked in the care home sector, I have found that there are other factors to consider, like the fortification of foods, avoiding overly crisp textures, making food easier to eat. Some food needs to be puréed, but I endeavour to purée the same food as the other residents have, and of course taste test and season it.

What are some of your residents’ favourite meals?

I have to say that crumble with custard does seem to be a very firm favourite with residents at Fremington Manor. We try to switch it up a little with different fruits.

What did Fremington Manor do to celebrate our Spring Food Festival?

We put on a BBQ complete with a selection of compound salads, many of which I learnt to make in The Hoffgarten vegetarian restaurant in Luzern – all meat free. I love creating combinations of flavours that surprise the palate.

How do you organise and run a busy kitchen?

The organisation of our busy kitchen is an ever-changing task that needs ever-evolving solutions. Finding the solutions to special requests from residents presents interesting challenges. Unlike a restaurant setting, the residents are here every day, so if a solution cannot be found today, one will be provided the next.

What do you love most about your job?

The main driving force of our kitchen is the team. A Head Chef is only as good as his team, without them, nothing is possible. Equally, a care home is only as good as its care team. Working together, carers and caterers, all pulling in the same direction – anything and everything is possible.

Take5 WordSearch

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2023 STARS AWARDS

Celebrating our shining stars of 2023

This year’s Stars Awards are set to be our biggest and best yet! The official awards ceremony will take place at AFC Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium on Thursday 13th July, giving us a fantastic opportunity to all celebrate the amazing passion, commitment and professionalism that is delivered day-in, day-out by all our teams at Care South.

New for this year, we have an exciting online event taking place on Wednesday 31st May for everyone to enjoy a party to celebrate the great contribution that everyone makes! This will include a live stream to announce those who have been shortlisted and will attend the big event in July.

The judges will be looking for evidence of the ways in which nominated individuals or teams have demonstrated the HEART Values. Including:

• Someone who lives the HEART Values every day

• Someone who inspires others in the workplace

• Someone who improves quality of life for residents, Care at Home clients, or fellow workers

• Someone who goes out of their way to make a real difference

We hope to see many of you tuning in to our special live event in May to see if your home or office has been shortlisted in this year’s awards with our special live event. Details of how to take part in this will be shared soon.

Take5competition entries

Send your entries for all our Take 5 competitions to take5@mckennatownsend.com. The closing date for all the competitions in this issue is 23 June and all the lucky winners will be listed in the next edition of Take5 Good luck everyone!

Here’s a reminder of this year’s award categories:

Residential – Care Home of the Year

Residential – Activities Team

Residential – Carer of the Year

Residential – CTL or Nurse of the Year

Residential – Dining Excellence

Residential – Home Management Team

Residential – Pride in Your Home

CSAH – Care South at Home Office of the Year

CSAH – Care Supervisor of the Year

CSAH – Home Carer of the Year

CSAH – Management Team

CSAH – Pride in Your Service

Head Office – Support Team of the Year

Head Office – Outstanding Contribution

Company Wide – Rising Star

We look forward to celebrating all of your hard work and dedication with you at the awards.

Tell us what you think!

We’d love to hear your feedback on Take 5!

Is there something you’d like to see in the next issue, or do you have any news that you’d love to see featured?

Just get in touch by emailing take5@mckennatownsend.com

We look forward to hearing from you!