Care HomesNews

Residents Say Thank You After Community Spirit Lights The Way During Storm Eunice Power Cut At Ixworth Care Home

An Ixworth care home was saved by the local community over the weekend when Storm Eunice left them without electricity for more than 24 hours.

The Beeches Residential Home was rocked by the harsh effects of Storm Eunice on Friday 18th February, which left them without any electricity from 2pm.

Ixworth Parish Council appealed for help for the care home through ‘The Nextdoor’ Ixworth Facebook Page, after learning of their power cut.

Bev Shave, Deputy Home Manager at The Beeches, said: “The light and heating had been off for a long time and everything was dark and dreary, the residents were starting to worry and were nervous about the storm.”

The facebook post gained a lot of attention and encouraged the community to work together to support the elderly residents at The Beeches.

Local pub, The Pykkerell Inn, offered the care home its kitchens to cook hot meals for the staff and residents.

Lesley Cracknell, Manager at The Pykkerell Inn said: “After hearing of The Beeches being out of power on Saturday morning following the disruption of the storm, we welcomed them over to our pub and offered for them to use our facilities to make a hot meal for the residents.”

“We helped the kitchen staff at The Beeches make a shepherd’s pie that would feed all thirty residents and keep everyone warm whilst they waited for power.

“We wanted to be able to support our elderly community as best we could in the circumstances and we are really pleased that we were able to do that, as well as providing other members of the village community with hot water and other items”.

Mulleys, the local coach service, brought torches to the home for the residents and staff to use. People within the Ixworth community also visited the home offering encouraging

support and large lanterns to provide light within the home.

The lights and lanterns were gladly received by the staff and residents.

Bev Shave, Deputy Home Manager at The Beeches, said: “Everyone at the home sat around the lights in the lounge and enjoyed singing and games.

“We also did a quiz with the residents to keep everyone entertained, it was really nice to come together and boost each other’s morale during the storm”.

Saint Mary’s Church in Ixworth also opened its doors and the church volunteers cooked and delivered hot parsnip, carrot and broccoli soup with bread rolls to the care home for supper.

Reverend Karen Burton and Parish Councilman, Ben Lord, brought the soup to the home.

Reverend Karen, Team Rector at Blackbourne Team Ministry, said: “It was just so good to be able to help! We knew that we had a lot of soup and bread rolls in the freezer, left over from an event just before Christmas.

“I popped up to The Beeches to borrow their pans, and along with others from the Parish Council and village, we defrosted everything and got the soup piping hot before walking it up the High Street for dinner.”

Reverend Karen continued: “It was wonderful to see people come together during the storm – knocking on doors to see if neighbours were ok, spreading the word that there was a warm place to go to.

“The Beeches holds a special place in the heart of this village, as well as other villages around us. We are all proud of the love and care staff show to our friends and family there.”

Bev Shave said: “Whilst we were out of power, we spoke about the war time with the residents and other memories throughout their lives.

The care home was connected with electricity again at 5pm on Saturday evening.

 

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