ISSUE 3
10TH JANUARY 2014
Dear Readers,
Happy New Year to you all! We hope you had a lovely
and enjoyable festive period.
All the staff would like to thank the residents and their
families for all the cards, sweets, treats, drinks and
appreciation that we received – it is very kind of you all
and of course much appreciated by us.
Above: Vera enjoying the singing of Dave Johns.
Below: David decorating the tree in his new Cardigan!
Entertainment / Events
There has been a lot going on since our last letter.
At the end of November we had a nice memorial party
for the late Hazel Cook with interactive entertainment
from Dave Johns and our Christmas Fayre raised monies
for the Resident’s social fund and featured the lovely
singing of our good friend Roger!
The residents really enjoyed themselves decorating the
Christmas tree, making cards and wrapping presents
during some of their activity sessions with Michelle in
the lead up to Christmas.
We also had the very enjoyable Christmas meal at The
Bull, Great Totham. The food and entertainment was
equally top notch and some of our residents even took to
the dance floor to show off their moves!!
Our Clothes shows were a success with residents buying
some nice new items to wear. The carol singers, Bell
ringers, and Christmas Communion were also excellent
and enjoyed by all in attendance.
And to top it all, there was a visit from Santa at our
Christmas party!!
Enjoy a few photos on the right, further photos can be
seen on the monitor in our front reception lounge.
New Residents
There are no new permanent residents to report but we
have enjoyed the short term company of Jill Rich – 4
weeks, Joan Ridout – 4 weeks and shorter visits from
our regular visitors Ron Hearn and Ken Dash.
Above: Residents Christmas lunch at The Bull.
Below: Pictured with Penny, Santa visited all residents.
Departures
It is with regret we announce the passing of Irene Washington. Irene came to Mansion House early November due to
illness and soon after was admitted to Hospital. She passed away on the 26.11.13. She will be missed by her family and
friends and our thoughts and best wishes are with them.
Birthdays
In December we celebrated the birthdays of Penny Crump 94 (pictured with Santa), Vera Covington 95 (pictured with
Dave Johns), Victor Bell, Kitty Hale and Jean Tammaro who are all pictured below. We have already had January
birthdays for Peggy Newman and Jane McFarlane – also pictured. We hope they all had a lovely day.
Victor 96
Kitty 94
Jean 88
Peggy 90
Jane 82
Resident Profile – Arthur Jones
Arthur - the much travelled, hard drinking, harder working, multi-talented, dog loving, party boy has been living at
Mansion House since January 2005 - is now a quiet man and is most likely to be seen with a book in his hands!
Arthur began work at the age of 15 as an office junior, following this position Arthur then joined the Navy as a Telegraphist
and specialized in Japanese Morse code. Arthur returned to banking after the War, working for Hill Samuel - a leading
British merchant bank and financial services firm (later taken over by TSB Group then becoming Lloyds TSB). During his
career Arthur did lots of travelling, had a dispute with Robert Maxwell (over pensions), became a director and also turned
down a very lucrative position to work in Singapore. Arthur retired at the age of 60 and became a School governor.
Additional and diverse talents include Carpentry, which he also taught as a teacher. Dress making, he made his daughters
dresses and even knitting and plumbing! After buying a plumbing book, Arthur installed a central heating system in his
first home that is known to have worked faultlessly for 40 years!
In his down time Arthur liked a
beer or two, loved pubs or a party
and incredibly never had a hangover, despite sometimes stumbling
home late at night. In fact Arthur
was very healthy in that he only
ever had two weeks off work due to
exhaustion and never needed
hospital treatment until he was 80.
Age: 89
Having learnt to drive at the age of
50, Arthur was then in his 70’s
when stopped for speeding at 90
mph!
Described as the life and soul of
the party, a happy person, being
very hospitable and respected by
friends and colleagues - Arthur was
also an animal lover, particularly
dogs, especially Golden Retrievers.
Fave Sport: Cricket
Fave colour: Blue
Fave Food: Roast Beef
Fave Music: Big Band
Fave Book: Autobiographies
Arthur absolutely adored his wife,
Grace who he was married to for
56 years before she sadly passed
away in 2010. They had 3 children
together; Susan, Jennifer and
Andrew. It was Susan who kindly
provided the information enclosed.
In the Navy – Circa 1942