Dorset Care Home Fair Benefits Youth Cancer Charity

From Buttons to Brownies and cakes to kookaburra, all the fun of the fair helped a Dorset care home raise more than £600 for a children’s cancer charity.

Colten Care’s Canford Chase home in Branksome Park, Poole, used its annual jamboree to seal a year’s fundraising for the Bournemouth-based Youth Cancer Trust.

Residents and visitors enjoyed performances from traditional Morris dance troupe the Dorset Buttons, now in their 36th year, and Union Jack-clad stiltwalker, Jules the Entertainer.

Girl Guides and Brownies helped by running a cake stall while a visit from animal education experts Creature Teachers brought guests face to face with a pair of raccoons, a chinchilla, a laughing kookaburra and a barn owl.

The fair culminated in the presentation of a giant £613 cheque, representing funds raised for the Youth Cancer Trust during the past year by Canford Chase.

Home Manager Charlotte Wilson said: “We had a lovely fair and it was an honour to present the cheque on behalf of everyone at the home who has helped out through donations and other fundraising activities.”

The Youth Cancer Trust provides holidays for young people across the UK who are suffering with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Founder Brenda Clark, who accepted the cheque, said: “This money will enable us to provide two young people with desperately-needed free holidays. It’s absolutely fantastic.”

Colten Care runs 19 care homes across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, all of whom support nominated charities as part of their activities programmes.

Colten Care services include residential, nursing, respite and dementia care. The family-run group is determined to set the highest standards in all aspects of care of the older person.

* Canford Chase will open its doors to the public for National Care Home Open Day (NCHOD), Friday 20 June, 2014. Visitors are invited to join residents and staff at a coffee morning from 10am. They can enjoy a cuppa with homemade cakes in a homely and relaxed atmosphere. There will also be live music during the day and a raffle in aid of the Youth Cancer Trust. The aims of NCHOD are to invite people to visit care homes in their neighbourhoods and to connect homes and communities. For more information, visit www.CanfordChase.co.uk.