Our stories

Peace of mind

Moving into a care home made easy

Our care team are here to make sure that making the move is as easy as possible for you and your loved one. If you still need reassurance, here are some stories from our residents, their families and our care team.

Every week in our poetry club, those living with us collectively write a poem. This is based on an idea or theme of the poems which we read aloud together. We thought these poem needed a home, so we’ve created this album to store them week by week. Check out what we have so far!

Abingdon Court's Poetry collection

Today we celebrated one of our gentleman's birthdays and St Patrick's Day in one. We threw a birthday/St Patrick's day party for all of the people living with us. For the celebration we wore Irish hats. Everyone joined in on the fun and looked lovely!

Birthday and St. Patrick's Day celebrations

The people living with us at The Hawthorns had a special visit this week from some furry friends.

Everyone living with us got to cuddle and feed the Guinea Pigs, especially as they visited everyone's rooms for people who may struggle to get out of bed.

Guinea Pig visit to The Hawthorns

At Abingdon Court we unleashed our inner child with a ‘Big Musical Pass the Parcel’ organised by Veronica, one of the lovely ladies who lives with us.

Big Musical Pass the Parcel

“Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus”

Happy St David’s Day from our clan to yours! We hope you celebrated in style like we did.

The people living with us enjoyed a tasty Welsh dinner -homemade Welsh Rarebit and delicious Welsh cakes.

Everyone had a fantastic day.

Happy St. David's Day at Abingdon Court

We’re kicking off St David’s Day in the best way we know how - getting the Welsh Cakes on the griddle!

St David's Day Baking

On 1st February, the people that live with us made a Valentines Day Hamper which we sold raffle tickets for.

We managed to raise an amazing £150 which the residents wanted to donate to Anglia Air Ambulance.

Raising money for Anglia Air Ambulance

The people with us at Belmont House love Pancake Day and taking turns trying their hand on tossing the pancakes around each unit.

We were delighted to celebrate 20 years’ of service for Sandra Wardle at Carmel Lodge on Friday 24th February.

Celebrating 20 years of service

We were delighted to celebrate Blessing passing her Croft OSCE exams.

Please welcome Corinthian houses newest team member. We have introduced a resident ambassador into the home who will be the collective voice for the residents at family meetings. He will be called upon when visitors attend the home to give his views and experience of living here.

Colin - Resident Ambassador

Getting sporty for Sport Relief! ⚽️🤾🏻

Sport Relief are joining forces with the Commonwealth Sport Foundation to inspire the nation through our shared love of sport, using this momentous sporting event as an opportunity to raise money and change lives for the better.

Many of the people who live with us are green fingered and have very fond memories of tending to their gardens and allotments.

Indoor Gardening

Happy Valentine's Day from everyone at Pinewood.

The people that live with us had a wonderful day celebrating, everyone (including staff members) received a red rose and had a special Valentine's lunch.

Valentine's Day at Pinewood

The people that live with us had a very enjoyable Valentine's Day.

They all created their very own Valentine's hearts which we joined together to make a beautiful collage. Everyone was very pleased with the end result.

Valentine's Day at The Hawthorns

A million loves songs later...

There is no better way to round off our Valentine’s Day celebrations than inviting family and loved ones for a wonderful concert, performed by Katalin and Stanley from the lifestyle team.

Valentine's Day Concert

In the spirit of Random Acts of Kindness Day, we reflected on our experiences of kindness through our poetry club

It’s Student Volunteering Week.

We’re so lucky to have an excellent group of Student volunteers who dedicate their time weekly to assist with our lifestyle programme, enriching the lives of those who live with us.

Student Volunteering Week

This is Abingdon Court's take on Valentine's Day.

The residents enjoyed creating their very own Valentine's Day cards, which were given to loved ones and others in the home.

These were then hung in the garden outside, sitting beautifully for all to see.

Valentine's Day at Abingdon Court

We enjoyed a trip to the local pub this month at Willowdene Care Home.

It was Friday afternoon and the people who live with us fancied a trip out to one of the local pubs called the Dun Cow in Sedgefield.

Our Brambles unit has started the Just Bowl competition for the home this month and staff and family members enjoyed getting involved in the competition with the people who live with us.

Just Bowl Competition

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon in January playing the parachute game.

Not only do the people who live with us love the game, but it also encompasses our “More” programme which embraces all elements of mind, body, and soul.

This month we enjoyed getting back out into the local community and went round to the local PCP to grab a cup of tea and some biscuits.

Who doesn’t love a slice of lemon drizzle cake? During one of our coffee mornings, we chatted about favourite cakes and a few of the people who lived with us mentioned home-made, lemon drizzle cake.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Charity has always been close to the heart of staff and residents at Field View Care Home and this year is no exception.

Hartlepool Baby Bank Charity

We were delighted to start up our coffee mornings in February and in preparation, our Chef Moira baked the most glorious carrot cake.

Coffee Mornings

The people who live with us were delighted to welcome Zante fox and friends to the home with their owner Steve.

We met the gorgeous TJ his white rat, Valentine the Dove, Freddy the corn snake and Sapphire the barn owl before the star of the show Zante the fox.

Animal Visitors

Last month our lifestyle team, Jay, and Aimee, thought they would repurpose an old medication trolley and make their very own musical tuck shop which they could take around the units here at Astor Care Complex.

Astor Care Complex Musical Tuck Shop

“Writing a poem is discovering” 📝

I present to you Open and Talk; two poems written by those that live at Abingdon Court, friends from St Helen and St Katherine, and Larkmead School.

Abingdon Court Poetry Club

We are incredibly proud to have been nominated as a Finalist for the Pinders Healthcare Design Awards 2023.

A huge congratulations to the team behind our beautifully designed home!

Lace Hill Finalists of the Pinders Healthcare Design Awards 2023.

Here at Abingdon Court we've been preparing for the Big RSPB England Bird Watch the in our craft club this week

RSPB England Bird Watch

Everyone at Furze Hill enjoyed a spectacular production of Cinderella which encouraged a lot of interaction from the audience, "Oh no it didn't"

Our beautiful home looks so festive and even more beautiful in the snow.

We made and decorated some lovely Christmas cookies!

Christmas Cookies

Our residents spent the afternoon making Christmas cards for their loved ones which will make lovely keepsakes. We then had a Christmassy film and a quiz and everyone enjoyed refreshments.

Christmas Preparations

Our residents had a lovely morning baking coconut tarts. It triggered lots of lovely memories when they lived at home and baked for their own families.

Baking Club at Gateford Hill

Celebrating Christmas Jumper at Kingsbury Court with our residential Snow Man “Frosty”

Christmas Jumper Day

This morning our lovely residents made and decorated gingerbread houses, they all loved talking of Christmas time, the smells and of course the delicious food.

Gingerbread Houses

Christmas has arrived at The Wharf and we are looking forward to welcoming our residents friends & families over the festive season.

Christmas at The Wharf

Christmas preparations were in full swing at Furze Hill Lodge in November and the residents enjoyed wrapping presents and preparing the decorations for our tree.

Christmas Preparations

Our residents have had a lovely afternoon decorating the Christmas tree in another of our lounges today. It triggered lots of lovely memories for them from when they used to decorate their own homes at Christmas time over the years.

Christmas Tree Decorating

We had a lovely day on Friday celebrating Elf day with a family and friends, playing games and quizzes.

More movement was Thursday fun at Chartwell Manor this week. One of our lovely ladies who live with us used to be a PE teacher - so she led the class this morning. 'More' is Maria Mallaband's Lifestyle Programme which allows us to support our residents in doing...More...😊

Anyone for cocktails?? Last night we held a Cocktail Tasting Event at Chartwell Manor. Our guests were treated to tasters of Franky's signature cocktails and were given a score card to rate each one...trouble was they were all so good...we couldn't decide!

Cocktail Tasting Event

We had a spooktacular time this week at Chartwell Manor for our first Halloween event. Thank you to Bea and Carol in our Lifestyle Team and our very talented Chef, Amanda for the truly delicious cupcakes.

Halloween Event at Chartwell Manor

It's Hospice Week this week and in appreciation for the incredible work our local hospice,

Last Friday the team at Chartwell Manor supported the Breast Cancer Awareness Day...Wear it Pink. This charity is very close to our hearts as one of our team is still going through it.

Wear it Pink Day

Diane and Jacqui got stuck in to making some cupcakes and were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Our Lifestyle Team are passionate about meaningful activities to support independence and cooking and baking will be high up on

Who Said Cake???

Diane was treated to a mini pamper session at Chartwell Manor Spa and had a full manicure. Diane used to love going to the beauticians to have her nails painted – we are so lucky to have such a beautiful spa for our residents to use.

Creating meaningful activities that support independence for the people that live with us is so important. The lifestyle team worked with the catering team to provide an opportunity for people to make their own supper. Everyone had a great time cutting up vegetables for so