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The Local Community...
Maintaining and encouraging an interest in the outside world is an integral part of our ethos and supports a varied and well balanced lifestyle for all at Birtley House.
As a business we have always maintained strong connections to the local community, meaning our nursing home Residents have many opportunities to enjoy both indoor and outdoor events. These connections allow us to bring opportunities into the home and onto the estate wherever possible, which is particularly important for those Residents who are no longer able to visit places themselves or interact easily.
A much loved community experience is the intergenerational opportunities we are able to provide through strong connections with local nurseries and schools.
We have a close working relationship with the halow project, a local charity who support young adults with learning disabilities. They visit our kitchen garden each week and with the supervision of our award winning gardener Matt, the group help to plant, grow and manage our fruit and vegetable beds. Whilst much of the food grown is used in our Residents meals, the halow project also spend time with our in house chefs, learning valuable culinary skills whilst cooking and baking food which they can then take to local market stalls.
To allow these young people to fully explore their interests in outdoor activities, we converted the Birtley House Kitchen Garden into a Community Garden, and a space also for them to socialise whilst ‘at work’. Our friends from halow also mix with our Residents during their activities, further developing the intergenerational experience for both parties, and giving our Residents the chance to share some of their own gardening (and cooking) knowledge to the young group.
Other community events may be part of the monthly Activities programme e.g. a visit from a local school, hosting a coffee morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer support (our latest raised a staggering £1850), or our annual Christmas Choral Concert, with a visit from an excellent local choir.