Life's a beach for care home as kind-hearted Atherstone ensures a 'day beside the seaside'
By Nick Hudson 21st May 2020
DECK CHAIRS, WINDBREAKS, AIR BED, RUBBER DINGHY, BAG OF SHELLS AND FRIENDLY PLAICE FISH AND CHIPS IN A TIDAL WAVE OF GENEROSITY
CARE home manager Lisa Strachan is awarding Atherstone her version of Tripadvisor's five-star review after being "seashell-shocked" by a tidal wave of generosity.
The landlocked town might be more than 100 miles from the sea but it knows how to throw a beach party – without setting foot outside the front door.
The 44-year-old Grendon grandmother called on the town for help in providing some 'props' for a special celebration to bring some much-needed sunshine to the people with learning disabilities and autism at one of the homes she looks after.
She told Nub News: "Coronavirus restrictions have been really hard for the people we support as they haven't the understanding as to why we are having to self-isolate, and why they can't see their families."
So, to cheer them up, a lockdown beach-themed party – with a ton of sand being shipped in – was planned at the home.
Her appeal on social media forums to provide street furniture for the event –"with anything that should be beside the seaside" – left her swept away by the items donated.
For Atherstone townsfolk turned the challenge into a modern-day version of the Generation Game with a conveyer belt of donations from deck chairs to air bed, a rubber dinghy to windbreaks and even a bag of sea shells.
To top it all, Atherstone's Friendly Plaice boss Danielle Stokes came up with 15 free fish and chip meals to make tomorrow's "day trip to the coast' complete for the Elderberry Mews home in Sutton Coldfield.
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Lisa, with two grown-up girls and three grandsons, said: "I couldn't believe it.
"It was an amazing reaction and I was overwhelmed."
The registered manager for Precious Homes – which runs care facilities in Birmingham and district, Milton Keynes, Gloucester and London – said she had wanted to create a day out at the seaside, similar to beach huts and deck chairs on site at Atherstone's award-winning residential home Merevale House which, along with Bentley House, has been on lockdown since March 10 – two weeks before the Government imposed measures on the general population.
Last word from Lisa on behalf of the people at Elderberry Mews: "I put the word out across the area our homes cover and there is no question that the best reponse in terms of giving came from Atherstone.
"As a result life will certainly be a beach on Friday at Elderberry Mews.
"Thank you so much. You have been so kind."
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