Yercombe Trust August 2015 No 14 Yercombe Lodge, … · 2016-05-03 · Today there are more than 4,500 active PAT dogs and a smaller number of PAT cats working throughout the UK.

Yercombe News

The newsletter for the Yercombe Trust

August 2015 No 14

Telephone: 01453 542513, Respite Home; 01453 548349, Day Centre;e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.yercombelodge.co.uk

Yercombe Lodge, Stinchcombe, Nr Dursley GL11 6AS

SUMMER FAYRES and Christmas Fetes at Yercombe Lodge have a remarkable record of breaking all sorts of records for the amount of cash raised, writes Teraza Bingle.

June’s fayre was no exception breaking the all-time record for the amount raised by a raffle.

The day started well on June 13 with the usual chaos prevail-ing as staff, members and volunteers arrived bright and early to finished setting the stalls. As the last minute titivating got under way people began arriving at 11am despite the event not sched-uled to get started until 11.30am.

The crowds kept coming and there was a lovely, happy at-mosphere especially from the children who loved the weird and wonderful animals that the little zoo had brought with them and the great sound coming from the decking where the Woodford Silver Band were playing.

We had a really good and successful day which was shown with the totals raised. The raffle raised a massive £312 which broke all existing records at the Lodge. The final total raised was an amazing £1193.07.

We have to say a big thank you to not only the people who came to support us and spent their money but to all the staff, members and volunteers who not only gave up their time to help and made the cakes, crafts and donated raffle prizes etc.

Without this kind of commitment and support we could not have made the day the success that it was.

Another record fallsat the Summer Fayre

All the fun of the Fayre! Above – there was plenty to eat on offer at the fayre and Gracie Murphy took advantage to try out the hot dogs.Left – the Woodford Silver Band in full swing on thedecking. More pictures on page 3.

Page 2 Yercombe News August 2015


On July 14 a long-stay resident Ruth Workman celebrated her 90th birthday. So banners and balloons festooned the part of the lounge where she spends her day. First her daughter arrived for the festivities, followed by her son and daughter-in-law. The family brought a special birthday cake for all to enjoy. They also created a memory board of old photographs covering family events, family weddings includ-ing the birthday girl’s own wedding pictures. It was lovely to see her past history in pictures. Her grandson arrived to join in the celebrations.

Ruth celebrates her 90thPETS AS THERAPY is a national charity founded in 1983. It is a community-based charity providing therapeutic visits to hos-pitals, hospices, nursing and care homes, special needs schools and a variety of other establishments from volunteers with their pet dogs and cats.

Since its beginning more than 28,000 dogs have become registered PAT dogs. Every year some of these dogs need to retire and new dogs, having first passed a health, temperament, and suitably assessment, join Pets As Therapy.

Today there are more than 4,500 active PAT dogs and a smaller number of PAT cats working throughout the UK. Every week visiting PAT teams bring comfort and companionship to 1,000s of people, young and old, by giving them the opportunity to stroke, hold and talk to one of these calm and friendly dogs and cats

Every Monday at Yercombe we have a visit from Georgina and her PAT dog Snoopy.

Everyone looks forward to seeing Snoopy (and Georgina), and he is a firm favourite amongst many of our service users.

Snoopy has got to know us over the weeks he has been visiting and now seems to have a bit of a routine. He visits people in a certain order and knows who is likely to give him some attention – and even a biscuit! We would all like to thank Geor-gina for giving up her time to bring Snoopy to see us – they both brighten up our Mon-day mornings.

Lunch was served for all to enjoy and afterwards candles were ignited and happy birthday was sung. The following day her two sisters and brother came to celebrate the oc-casion. Tea and cake followed and another good day was had by all.

Snoopy isa big hit

Georgina, Snoopy and resident Stella Lainchbury.

August 2015 Yercombe News Page 3


Yercombe’sSummer Fayrein focus

‘Right, Gran. That on would be good and that . . .’ Miles Murphy tries to persuade Gran, Ros Poyner, that a lot of cakes would be good.

Yercombe Lodge trustee, Dr Marion McDowell, contributes to therecord-breaking amount raised by the raffle.

Any successful event it highly dependent on the help of many volun-teers. The kitchen staff are pictured taking a break after a busy spell.

Braver than most . . . Louise Griffiths makes friends with a formidable looking snake.

Paul Spencer shows off some of his paintings which proved to be very popular.


Page 4 Yercombe News August 2015

A GROUP visited Westonbirt Arboretum at the end of July and were welcomed by Clare Goulding, the community officer and volunteers.

Morning refreshments were ready on our arrival and we en-joyed a day exploring parts of Westonbirt we had never seen be-fore. Along the way Clare picked out interesting trees for us to look at which enabled us to use our senses. Various activities were arranged for us which we all enjoyed.

The day centre has enjoyed a busy and exciting few weeks. Robin King has entertained us again with his knowledge of musicals. We’ve been busy making paper mache bowls, an underwater collage for the wall, delicious cakes and pastries, the Friday group cooked their own lunch and the Thursday group enjoyed a Mary Poppins day.

HELLO EVERYBODY, it’s that time again.

We’ve been busy as usual, with an air of competition about Yercombe Lodge over the last couple of months. What started as a bit of jokey fun to see who could grow the tallest sunflower has turned into a quite seri-ous race! Team names like ‘The Untouch-ables’ and ‘Sky High’ give you some idea of the desire to win.

Certain people, who I shan’t name, even brought in the largest sunflower I’ve ever seen from home to show us how it’s really done! Briefly named ‘The Winner’ you’ll find it tied to a drainpipe near the office window.

It’s has not one, not two but FOUR heads and has been renamed ‘The Triffid’.

Planting and growing has been a lot of fun with you all, thanks to everyone who has helped to get them either in the ground or pots outside, watered, fed and treated for various ailments.

It’s been a lovely ‘whole home’ ac- tivity, and soon we should see the results of those efforts in the form of lots of beauti-ful sunflowers. We’ll be measuring height and flower width soon and announcing the winners!

We had some interesting visitors one morning when Karen Pugh brought in some baby Royal Pythons. The three little visitors caused quite a stir both in the resident’s lounge and the day centre. Many of our service users enjoyed handling the snakes, and Karen answered lots of

Day Centre group explores at Westonbirt

The sky is the limit forbudding horticulturists

questions and explained how they are cared for them.

Also, while I was on holiday, Jenny Fryer brought in some of her photographs and showed them to our service users. Jenny explained how she had taken them and an-swered lots of questions.

So many of us have interesting and ex-citing hobbies and interests it would be lovely to hear and learn more about them. I’m thinking of running an ‘interests and hobbies week’ so if you have anything you would like to share please come and have a chat with me!

Finally, I would like to ask for your help. I have (madly) signed up to do a 26-mile Stonehenge Trek on September 5 for the Alzheimer’s Society. The trek is a moder-ate to hard challenge over various terrain, taking in the chalk downs and woodland of Southern Wiltshire. I’ll be lacing up my walking boots and trekking through mead-ows, over high ridges and into quiet wood-land. I’ve been promised stunning views of Stonehenge, so will be taking my camera!

This is a huge challenge for me as at 14 I

was diagnosed with Spina Bifida and need-ed emergency major surgery to keep me walking. Since then there have been more hiccups and major surgeries, but at 40 I am so thankful that I am still walking.

I’d love to raise as much money as pos-sible for the Alzheimer’s Society, who work so hard to make ‘today’ better for those living with dementia. Alzheimer’s Society funds research to find a cure for tomorrow and provides information and support for families and carers too.

I support people with Alzheimer’s on a daily basis and am all too aware of the strug-gles faced by so many of them. I’m pas-sionate about making ‘today’ better through the work that I do. So far on my just giving page I have raised £250, my target is £300. I’ve been training hard and have got some good long walks in to try and prepare for the challenge. I’ll be placing some sponsor-ship forms around Yercombe and would be so very grateful if any of you would be able to find some pennies to sponsor me and help me reach my target. I’ll let you all know how I got on in the next Newsletter.

The group who visited Westonbirt Arboretum.

by Amanda Willis

Snakes alivePeter Iball and Karen Pugh get up close and personal with two visitors Yercombe Lodge – a couple of baby Royal Pythons.

Yercombe Trust August 2015 No 14 Yercombe Lodge, … · 2016-05-03 · Today there are more than 4,500 active PAT dogs and a smaller number of PAT cats working throughout the UK.

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