Member Article

Barratt Homes combats loneliness in the community with Christmas initiative in Harrogate

Local housebuilder, Barratt Homes Yorkshire East, is continuing to support the communities in which it builds by launching a Christmas initiative to help combat loneliness among Harrogate’s elderly over the festive period.

The housebuilder teamed up with pupils from Starbeck Primary Academy, part of Northern Star Academies Trust, to create Christmas letters of well-wishes for the residents at Granby Rose Care Home, close to Barratt Homes’ Kingsley Meadows development in Harrogate. The partnership aims to put a smile on the faces of those who have spent the majority of the year away from their loved ones.

The children at Starbeck Primary Academy were thrilled to take part in writing letters to help provide some comfort to the residents of Granby Rose Care Home this December. Barratt Homes Yorkshire East is also encouraging the wider community to play their part in combating loneliness affecting the elderly by offering digital support such as help with shopping and ordering prescriptions and taking part in video calls.

On receiving the letters, Gillian Allatt, Home Manager at Granby Rose Care Home, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has kept so many families apart this year and has impacted the community. At Granby Rose, part of the Four Seasons Healthcare Group, we have a full activities programme which encourages all-round wellbeing. The activities focus on keeping the mind sharp and agile, the body fit and mobile, and the spirit lively and engaged through entertainment, challenges, discoveries and personal interests.

“We continue to maintain links with our local community and Margaret, Brian, Roger, and the rest of the residents all loved reading the letters from the children of Starbeck Primary Academy. We are really grateful to Barratt Homes Yorkshire East for arranging this, it was definitely a much-needed morale boost this year!”

Garry de Castro-Morland, Head Teacher at Starbeck Primary Academy, commented: “It was wonderful for Barratt Homes Yorkshire East to ask our pupils to take part in this Christmas campaign to support the residents and combat loneliness during this uncertain time. The children really enjoyed writing the letters and it’s great to know that they will bring a smile to the faces of the residents during the Christmas season.”

Leonie Gilbertson, Sales Manager at nearby Barratt Homes’ Kingsley Meadows development in Harrogate, commented: “It was a pleasure to be able to connect with a local primary school and get the children thinking creatively and writing personal letters to residents at a nearby care home. We understand how difficult it has been for older people, the struggles that they face and how loneliness can affect them, and we wanted to offer our support. On top of this, we know it is so important that we continue to help our communities around us over the Christmas period and beyond.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Savage .