Horsham care home residents share Valentine’s Day advice

Residents and their spouses at Care UK’s Skylark House, on St Mark’s Lane, enjoyed a special afternoon tea, thoughtfully prepared by the home’s Head Chef, which included a variety of pastries, scones, traditional sandwiches and cakes.

Residents were encouraged to reminisce about their married lives and share their advice for younger couples.

Among those attending was couple, Beryl, a resident at Skylark House, and her husband, Tony Hoadley. The couple, who have been married for 70 years, met at secondary school and immediately took a disliking to each other.

Despite keeping their distance, the couple met again some years later when Tony was playing on the village cricket team and Beryl was the official match score keeper. This time they caught each other’s eye and Tony declared: “I was the real scorer that day.”

The couple married two years later, at Hurst Green and share two children, eight grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren. When asked what advice they would give to young couples, Tony said: “Always remember that the wife is always right – happy wife, happy life!”

Keen for the home’s setting to match the theme of the day, team members ensured love was truly in the air by decorating the home’s dining room with rose petals, flowers, heart-shaped bunting and balloons.

Dorota Woloszyn, Home Manager at Skylark House, said: “We thought Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity to encourage residents to reminisce with their partners, while treating them to a special romantic afternoon. It was great to be able to organise a special ‘date’ for them.

“Love truly is in the air at Skylark House, and many of the residents have also been reminiscing and sharing fond memories of their own wedding days; it was lovely to hear their stories too. We’d like to say a big thank you to Beryl and Tony for sharing their love story this Valentine’s Day.”

Skylark House has been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides full-time residential, nursing and dementia care, as well as short-term respite and palliative care.

For more information on Skylark House, please call Customer Relations Manager, Beverly Jordan, on 01403 887 578 or email [email protected]