Winchester Care Home Raises £3,000 For Charities During Lockdown

Big-hearted residents and staff at a Winchester care home have overcome lockdown challenges to raise more than £3,000 for charity.

Activities at Colten Care’s Abbotts Barton have featured manicures, weekly cake sales, sessions on a rowing machine, a brave-the-shave haircut and walking hundreds of laps around the garden.

As their main charity to support, residents chose the Winchester Live at Home Scheme, which helps older people living in their own homes who may be experiencing feelings of isolation or loneliness.

Altogether, Abbotts Barton has raised over £3,150 for various charities in the past year, with £1,800 going to Live at Home.

Other organisations to benefit include Macmillan Cancer Support and Children in Need.

Resident Peter Winchester completed a 26-lap walking challenge around the Abbotts Barton garden – one lap for every mile of a marathon – raising £230 in the process.

Peter said: “It has been such a different year for everyone because of the pandemic and we have had to find new ways to raise money for charities, but everyone has done very well.”

In a sponsored, three-day ‘nailathon’, every resident at Abbotts Barton received a manicure, with £150 raised.

Team members also spent eight hours taking turns on a rowing machine, bringing in a further £340.

Home Manager Dee Lovewell said: “We are proud to have raised such a fantastic total for our charities this year including Winchester Live at Home.

“Fundraising is always an enjoyable experience for residents and staff and it helps residents continue to play a part in the communities we serve.”