Brookside Care Home raises over £600 in holiday raffle

Brookside Care Home, run by the Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT), were giving away a holiday for up to six people at Haven in Burnham-on-Sea, which was donated by Sharon Sigrist, activities coordinator at Brookside, and her family, who own the caravan.

Dan Hayes, chief executive of OSJCT, drew the winning ticket and Melksham resident Paul Ford was the lucky winner of the caravan holiday.

Paul Ford won the caravan holiday (Image: Brookside Care Home)

Dawn Wallburton, Home Manager at Brookside, said: “We’re bowled over by the generosity of Sharon and her father, Steven. Their gift will make such a difference to our residents and we’re all so grateful to them.

“So many people are finding things hard at the moment so to be able to give someone a holiday and a chance to make memories with their family is really special.”

The care home, which was been open for over 40 years, also celebrated the opening of its newly refurbished café, designed by local volunteer Tara.

Tara wanted to create a cosy space for residents to spend quality time with their families and was able to transform the café by using local charity shop finds and donations from the community, including a vintage tea set and crockery.

Dawn added: “We are immensely grateful for the overwhelming support from our community. The success of the raffle and the opening of our new café reflect the strong bonds and generosity of our community and we’re grateful for their continued support.

"Everything we do here is for the benefit of our residents and they’ll be able to enjoy the space for a long time to come.” 

The Brookside team are now looking forward to their next project, which will be a ‘pamper parlour’ offering manicures and hand massages to all residents.