Foley Arms Hotel

If you want to know where are the best places to spend afternoon in Great Malvern you should ask John. Nearly every day John goes out for a cup of tea and maybe a bit of lunch to various pubs and cafes in the town centre. Recently one of John's favourite places has been closed down so John wrote a letter expressing his feelings.

Letter from John Morris:

"I am very sorry that The Foley Arms Hotel has closed. I shall always remember having a cup of tea on the balcony in the summer but I mostly had cream teas. I hope it will be a hotel again but I think it will be a Weather Spoons".

Transition flat - week two

Well we're two weeks in now with the work on the transition flat and already there have been some big changes. The walls have colour now, which makes a huge difference, and the kitchen units and breakfast bar are in. We've picked out the carpets and light fittings and we are currently debating what colour tiles to have in the kitchen. And believe us, it's not such an easy decision. For now here are some photos. Stay tuned for more updates!

Transition Flat - first week

The first week of work has been completed and, as promised, here are a few updates. Here's how it looks at the moment (a bit chaotic!).

The company that made this mess and that's working hard to turn our old annex into a great flat is called Williams Brothers.

Williams Brothers is a building contractors run by two brothers, Stewart and Mark. We can highly recommend them so if you have any building work that needs doing you can contact them by phone on 01432 263838 or email williamsbrothers@o2.co.uk.

Transition Flat is going ahead

Here's a quick word from Donna, our Manager, about the transition flat:

Following the changes within the social care field, The Oaks is embarking on a novel way to ensure service users with learning disabilities are enabled to enhance their life skills and achieve a more independent way of life.

The ‘Transition Flat’ is a part of The Oaks Care Home which will be self contained for two service users to undertake a more extensive training programme. This will enable staff to teach life skills and will better enable adults with learning disabilities within the county to be equipped with the essential skills to ensure prospective independent living placements succeed.

Such training programmes will be delivered by ASDAN trained staff to ensure that Service Users can achieve formal qualifications in life skills. We have identified that sometimes adults with learning disabilities find the jump from residential care to independent living too daunting and with our company ethos based around promoting independence and individualised care we would like to help adults build the confidence they need to succeed in independent living.

Right folks, building work started on 1.02.10 and we will keep you all updated on its progress!

Take a last look at how the flat looks now, soon you won't believe the difference.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Well not so much Christmas and it definitely wasn't a dream. January this year was snowy and icy, much to many people's annoyance. Now that it's finally gone let us forget about traffic jams, problems with being on time, bins not being emptied and so on, and instead look again at how beautiful and magical Malvern looked in the snow.

P.S. Not everyone was annoyed by the weather, we at The Oaks had a great time... See for yourself!!!

John's holiday in Scotland

Every year John goes to visit his family in Scotland. He always comes back in a jolly mood, full of funny stories and lovely memories.

I asked John to say a few words about his holiday:

"What I liked the most was the lovely food. My sister is a very good cook. We didn't go out a lot because of the snow, you know how it is there, it's on the top of Great Britain! I didn't mind the plane journey, it's alright except when the plane takes off and your ears feel funny. I look forward to visiting Scotland again!"(written by John).