Mayor of Tameside celebrates Care Home Open Week in Dukinfield

The Mayor of Tameside visited a Dukinfield care home as they welcomed visitors and guests from the community to enjoy this year’s Care Home Open Week celebrations.

The Civic Mayor of Tameside, Betty Affleck and her consort, who is her brother, Declan Fitzpatrick met residents at HC-One's The Beeches and spent time chatting with everyone. Residents found it "fascinating" that the pair's father was the Mayor in 1987, and Ms Affleck is now following in his footsteps.

HC-One’s main celebration events took place during Care Home Open Weekend, June 28 to 30.

Care Home Open Week is a national event hosted by Championing Social Care, designed to connect care homes with their local communities. 

The week provided care homes with the opportunity to showcase their range of services, provide tours of their facilities, and highlight the activities that are offered to residents.   

HC-One’s chosen theme for this year’s Open Week was "dancing together through the decades". Throughout the week, residents, colleagues, families, and friends enjoyed a variety of fun-filled activities culminating in an end-of-week celebration at the home. 

On Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, the care home hosted a variety of fun-filled activities, entertainment, and refreshments which were enjoyed by all, including a coffee morning with home-baked cakes, a buffet, a ‘Name That Tune’ quiz and lots of dancing.

On Saturday, the residential care home also celebrated resident June's 90th birthday, with entertainment from the talented Elizabeth at Amazing Grace Entertainment. The Beeches was decorated especially for the occasion and the celebration was seen as "a chance for everyone to come together as a community, and to learn more about life at the care home".

In the weeks leading up to the open day, residents created posters of their favourite singers which were put up on show for visitors. Attendees could also enjoy learning from colleagues in the home about what a rewarding career in care looks like. 

They also found out about opportunities for community engagement and about the volunteering roles on offer designed to support their local care community.

Louise Clifford, Home Manager at HC-One’s The Beeches care home, said: “We were delighted to be able to open the doors of The Beeches care home again to welcome in our local community and bring everyone together to celebrate Care Home Open Week 2024. Everyone had an amazing time. 

“We are proud to support Dukinfield, and our Open Week celebrations provided a great opportunity to reconnect with our local community and to support community engagement which is so important to our residents, colleagues, and the local area.

“The week was also a chance for us to showcase what life at our care home is like, share career and volunteering opportunities, and remind our local community that our kind care teams, and extensive facilities are here for them if they ever need support.”