Activities at Ottley House Care Home

We're so happy to announce that Adam Wright has been crowned Maintenance Champion for the Central Division in the Barchester Care Awards 2023 and is through to the national round of judging.

The Barchester Care Awards celebrate the staff who go the extra mile for the benefit of the 13,000 residents living in Barchester’s 252 care homes and private hospitals across the country. Categories range from ‘Registered Nurse of the Year’ and ‘Carer of the Year’ to ‘Dementia Care Champion’ and ‘Activities Coordinator of the Year’.

"My name is John Morris and I was born in St Helens in Lancashire in December 1939. I lived with parents Doris and Alf, my brother and sister. I am married to Rosemary and have 2 sons and a daughter.

For 18 years I worked for British Rail doing different jobs and I then started my own business doing LGV lecturing and a driving instructor.

Sport was a very large part of my life, I played football, cricket, table tennis and golf.

My biggest passion was growing flowers such as Chrysanthemums and Bonsai and I showed these at The Shrewsbury Flower Show to which I won a prize.

As a director of The Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Society I also participated in the rebuilding of the Station in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury.

One of my passions is singing and I joined The Shrewsbury Male Voice Choir until 2009. I had the pleasure to sing in The Royal Albert Hall to 8500 people. There were 800 people in the choir as we merged with other choirs and made a CD."

We have arranged for The Shrewsbury Railway Heritage to visit John to reminisce about the time he spent there and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.

My name is Claude Higgins. I was born in Dudley in 1934. I lived right next to Dudley Zoo. I am one of 5 children with 2 brothers and 2 sisiters. I joined the army for National Service in the Catenng Corps where I learned to cook and feed the troops. I was based in Germany, Aldershot and Whittington Barracks. I met my wife through a mutual friend and we married in August 1957. We have 2 daughters Jayne and Kim and 4 grandchildren Kristian, Phillip, Jessica and Craig. We have 5 Great Grandchildren Hetty, Frida, Sebastian , Ada and Tyler. We received a card from The Queen for our 60th anniversary. I worked for Charles Richards Fasteners Ltd which made nuts and bolts. I worked there for over 25 years. On my last day my daughters arranged for a limousine to take me to work and pick me up after the shift had finished. I worked up to my 75th birthday in different jobs including cleaning schools and colleges and supermarkets. I love music especially Rose Marie, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black and Petula Clark. My favourite food is cakes and biscuits but I don’t like fish and coffee.

We took Claude to the local library to look at the Aldershot Barracks to see if he recognised them. He went for sausage and chips and a cuppa at the local café. He had a lovely time.

John Draycott is one of our residents on Memory Lane. He played centre half for Shrewsbury Town FC for 5 years. He played in the promotion winning team in 1958/59 season and he was awaiting to sign for Aston Villa but was unfortunately diagnosed with TB and had to cut his career short. He did not play for Shrewsbury again after that but did play football until he was 42 mainly in the Welsh league for LLaniloes and Rhader. We arranged for him to have a tour at Shrewsbury Town FC which he thoroughly enjoyed along with his wife and daughter Sam. He married Dianne in 1975 at Shrewsbury Registry Office and had 9 children. He has currently 44 grand children and one more on the way. He has lived in Shrewsbury all of his life, working at Shropshire council as an electrician.

We arranged for The Diddie Dancers from Shrewsbury to come along to Ottley House to surprise one of our residents who used to teach dance. Yolande Laurens was born in 1931 in Greenfields, Shrewsbury, along with her one sister and brother. Her father was in the navy but was killed In the 2nd World War. She married Frank when she was 21 and they bought a caravan and lived behind The woodman Pub in Coton Hill where she started a small dance club. A dance troupe was formed along with some of her friends. Yo went on to have 3 children where her daughter also danced. "Ladies called Grace Phillips and Eileen Welsby made the costumes. We used to visit different places in the country doing Pantomines, Nursing Homes, Fetes and Carnivals", Yo told us. Ottley House decided to surprise Yo with a dance troupe and she thoroughly enjoyed it along with some of our other residents.

Residents at Ottley House marked International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8th by spending the day celebrating the achievements of wonderful trail-blazing women throughout history.

Residents took part in discussions about the role of the many different women who have shaped history from Cleopatra and Boudica to Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie right through to the Queen and Mrs Thatcher. They talked about the important women in their own lives and celebrated the achievements of their fellow residents.

Resident Gwen commented: “It is amazing to think how much things have changed just in my lifetime, when I was younger there were so many things it was deemed inappropriate for women to do. It is wonderful that women have so many more opportunities these days and days like this are so important to make sure we keep going in the right direction.”