Home opens pub for residents, relatives and friends to enjoy

THE ribbon was cut to officially open

The Haughgate Inn at Haughgate House nursing home by Mayor of Woodbridge Eamon O’Nolan.

The Mayor joined residents, relatives, the care team and invited guests at the home for a garden party to celebrate the opening.

The Haughgate Inn is the result of a much-loved project for the staff team and the residents who have built a bar and gathered donations from pubs in the local area to create the atmosphere of a friendly watering hole.

Haughgate House was once family home to the well-known local Cobbold family and the Inn has been decorated with memorabilia, as well as some historical background about the Cobbolds.

The family has prominent links to the brewing industry and were landowners in the Ipswich area since the 18th century, as well as providing several MPs for the area and five chairmen of Ipswich Town Football

Club.

Home manager Agnieszka McDonald said: “We are delighted to be able to officially open The Haughgate Inn.

“Our residents love to have a trip out for a drink and we have also spent a lot of time making our gardens a wonderful place to spend time in – so what could be better than a pub in the garden?

“I want to thank everyone who has helped to bring the inn from just an idea into a reality and look forward to everyone enjoying spending time here over the summer and beyond.”

The inn makes good use of the visiting pod which was put into the garden at the start of the pandemic and is fully equipped with heating and electricity.

It will be used as a venue for lots of pub activities, meetings with friends and relatives or just for residents who may want to get out of the main house for a trip to the pub every so often.

THE family of an elderly animal lover who spent the last three years of her life at a dementia care home in Bridgwater found an unusual way to express their thanks for the care she received there – by enabling the team to buy pet rabbits for the residents.

Joyce Williams’ family was invited to an afternoon tea at the Avalon Nursing Home and her husband was given the job of officially naming the rabbits which have been called Joyce and William in memory of his beloved wife.

Joyce’s daughter, Lyn Dickens, said: “We really wanted to show how much we appreciated all the love and support Mum had while she lived at Avalon, so the family and many of her friends honoured her memory by donating to their residents’ fund.

“We were delighted when they said they’d like to use the memorial donation to buy pet rabbits for the residents. Mum and her twin sister Joan used to have rabbits as children, and Mum always loved them, so it’s an appropriate gift to make in her memory.

“When we arrived at Avalon for the tea party we found the lounge had been beautifully decorated with rabbit pictures, coloured in by the residents who are already great fans of their new pets.

“And many staff brought in homemade cakes in memory of Mum, as well as a lovely savoury spread provided by the chef. I know that all the staff, residents and visitors were invited, and many staff attended even those for whom it was their day off. Mum was obviously a very popular lady.”

Joyce arrived at Avalon on Christmas Eve in 2019. The first thing she did on arrival was to ask for a bacon sandwich.

Lyn added: “That was produced in double-quick time and she enjoyed it very much. From then on, until she passed away last November, nothing was ever too much trouble.

“That initial timely bacon butty was typical of the many small ways the team would engage with her and support her to lead her best possible life.

“My dad Peter, my aunt Joan – my husband Steve and I, and other family members who visited her frequently, really appreciated the way the team always go the extra mile for their residents and were totally confident Mum was happy and well-looked after by them.

“There was also a real outpouring of love and support from them for us as a family, which made all the difference.

“My parents had been married for 60 years and during the afternoon we shared many anecdotes with the team who had cared for her, including the time she surprised us all by accepting and drinking a glass of red wine –even though she was not a drinker – and making us laugh by telling us how much she’d enjoyed it.

“She was a very giving, loving, wonderful person, and had so many friends. Dad used to say it would take them all day to walk the length of the High Street because there were so many people who wanted to chat with her.”

Joyce was Bridgwater born and bred and lived there all her life. She had numerous jobs in the town, of which her favourite two were as a sales assistant in Mothercare and selling raffle-tickets for the Blind Society.

A 99-year-old tropical bird-loving resident’s dream come true when she came face to face with exotic birds for the first time in years. Kay Tailby, who is a resident at RMBI Care Co. Home Devonshire Court, in Oadby, had a fondness for birds since she was a child. Nowadays, she often enjoys watching the birds visit the bird feeder that come right by the window of her room at her care home. She confided in staff that she would dearly love to go and see tropical birds again so the staff arranged a special visit for Kay to go to Tropical Birdland in Desford. She said: “This really is a dream come true. Being able to see these beautiful creatures and to stroke them made me feel so happy and brought back wonderful memories.”