You can download any of our older newsletters here:
CURRENT NEWSLETTERS
To view our current newsletter - The Way Ahead 2010-2011, please click here
To view the newssheet for - Possible Esther Community, Plymouth, please click here
Next publication date for Headline News - May 2010. Please scroll down the page for other news.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
EXCERPTS FROM Headline News (Winter 2009) ...
CEO writes...
"...The need is great but so is our God."
Day of celebration at Alexander House...
"October 3rd saw the opening of the newly restored and reopened wing at Alexander House ... Many of the visitors commented on the beauty of the new work ..."
News from our projects ...
Residents at The Mount start Shoebox Collection
"The ladies at The Mount have prepared 27 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is an initiative of Samaritan's Purse ... "
Soul Survivors from Wayside
"I had the most amazing time; I learnt more about God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who is now my rock...."
OTHER NEWS
Keychange Conference 2010 - 11th to 13th May- Brunel Manor, Torquay.
You will be welcome to join us. Tel: 0207 633 0533 email: info@keychange.org.uk
_____________________________________________________________________________________
THANK YOU LETTERS ...
Walmer House - "... heartfelt thanks to you all for the love ..."
Letter received at Walmer House from the daughter of a resident (deceased) - 22.10.08
"This is just to say a heartfelt thanks to you all for the love and care you gave Mum over the last 8 years and especially to us both over her last few difficult weeks ... the gentleness with which you treated her ... I was totally confident leaving Mum in your care ..."
Rosset Holt - "Praise for Care Home"
Letter sent to Kent & Sussex Courier on 2nd May 2008
"I wish to re-iterate the praise of a former Courier letter-writer for Rosset Holt Residential Care Home. My mother spent nearly three years there at the end of her life and my feelings for our choice of home are expressed in the final paragraph of my eulogy at my mother's funeral: "We come now to the final and quite beautiful chapter in Kath's long life. Her last three years, spent at Rosset Holt residential home, must have been divinely inspired. She was among the most loving and caring people, both staff and residents, that we could ever have wished for. She loved them all deeply and demonstrably in return. As she lay dying in the last two weeks, I felt she was being cared for by angels and cushioned in love. Thank you Marilyn, Lydia and all of you from the bottom of our hearts."
Valerie Boyd, Tunbridge Wells
Rosset Holt - "thank you" email from son of a resident (deceased) on 28th April 2008
"...on behalf of my family, I should like to thank Keychange for all their help to my mother. . The staff at Rosset Holt were extremely kind to my mother for a period of over five years, and she was very well looked after there."
Rose Lawn - Letter of thanks received from Canada, 23rd January 2008 ...
"I felt that I should drop you a line as I would like to thank you for the wonderful way in which you all provided for Mother.
She frequently told me that she valued each one of your staff, from the Chef discussing the menu; the welcoming daily smiles of George and his brother whenever they arrived with tea/coffee, to the loving care she received from her 'helpers' (Linda and Lilly come to mind, but I know there were others) who she said never complained whether it was daytime or the middle of the night. She appreciated everything and loved them all and was grateful not to be treated as a number.
...without hesitation I would recommend Rose Lawn as I will always have fond memories of it. Having said that, I would love you to come out this way and operate one here, so that I can reserve a spot!"
Letter of appreciation sent to Kent & Sussex Courier , 31st August 2007
"Some care homes are wonderfully run
So much bad publicity has recently been given to the poor conditions that a lot of our elderly people have to suffer in care homes. I am pleased to say this is definitely not the case in our experience.
My father-in-law who died this weekend aged 93, lived in Rosset Holt care home (in Tunbridge Wells) which is part of the Keychange Charity, for four years.
During that time he was not only looked after in a spotlessly clean, comfortable environment, but was treated with the utmost courtesy, respect and affection by the ladies who run the home.
Nothing was ever too much trouble, the food was always freshly cooked and delicious, his clothes were always immaculate and we couldn't fault anything.
It is a tribute to those people who genuinely care about the needs and have a love for the elderly people that this home exists andd it should be a benchmark for the standards that should be set for every care and nursing home throughout the country."
Karen McEwen, Forest Road, Tunbridge Wells
Share the compliments: This is an extract from a very moving letter received by the manager, Margaret Haxton at Rose Lawn. What we do and the way we do it affects more people than we could sometimes know:
“….to tell you and all the staff at Rose Lawn how grateful I have been for all the love and care you have always shown Mum. Knowing she was so well looked after helped me overcome the guilt I felt that she was not cared for at home. As a family we always felt welcome when we visited and over the past few months this became very important when there was little communication with Mum”