Julia Johnson, Author at Abbeyfield Ferring

Abbeyfield become Ferring Colts’ new cricket shirt sponsor

Ferring Cricket Club are delighted to confirm that Abbeyfield Ferring Society Ltd have become the new sponsor of the club’s Colts’ shirts.

Abbeyfield Ferring offer a wide variety of care and support services locally. Our Support at Home service, at Old School House which is assisted living with extra care; Cornwell House our residential home, and our dementia support and advice services which also offer respite day care.

Jacqui Swindells, chief executive officer of Abbeyfield Ferring Society Ltd , with colleagues Pandora Barclay and Michelle Roebuck recently saw the new shirts in action when they visited an U10 training session at the club’s Little Twitten ground in Ferring.

Ferring CC chairman Rob Miller commented “We are very grateful to Abbeyfield for their generous sponsorship. Our Colts’ section has become a successful and intrinsic part of our village club. Our U12s won their league last year and a number of our Colts have been selected to go onto the Sussex Pathway, a programme to identify and develop talented cricketers at an early age.”

“We are running three sides this year at U10, U13 and U14 levels under the management of Alex King, club member and Sussex Cricket Development Officer, with the essential help of parents and volunteers. It is great to have the local business community engage with the club as it is a significant financial commitment to run the Colts’ section. It is a boost to the confidence of all involved that a respected organisation such as Abbeyfield Ferring have chosen to support our efforts”.

Ferring’s Got Talent – Saturday 4 June

Abbeyfield Ferring are delighted to sponsor Ferring’s Got Talent on Saturday 4 June on the Village Green.

This is a great way to join in The Queens Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in the Village. The competition is open to individuals and groups of all ages.

Prizes will be given for the most Entertaining Act, Most Original Act. Enthusiasm; talent; entertainment, presentation and overall ability to entertain the audience will be taken into consideration, and the final choice will be down to the judges.

Fill in an entry form to enter and please contact Rassasy, Abbeyfield Ferring or email ferring.platinumjubilee@gmail.com

Join us for a Ferring Village spectacular on Saturday 4 June, 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm on the Village Green. Download a poster.

Download an entry form here. These must be handed in to Rassasy Farm Shop and Delicatessen or the Abbeyfield Ferring Office. Alternatively, you can send a scanned or photographed version by email.

Lottery Funding for Dementia Hub and Services

National Lottery Funding for a Worthing Dementia Hub, innovative day services and support for people with dementia and their families

Dementia Friendly Worthing and Abbeyfield Ferring Society are delighted to announce a 3-year project to support people living with dementia and their carers. The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, is supporting the dementia project to the tune of £222,104 for three years.

Jacqui Swindells, Chief Executive at Abbeyfield Ferring, who will oversee the Worthing Dementia Hub and respite services, said, ‘We’re delighted to have been successful with this application. The funding will ensure the continuation, for three years, of Dementia Friendly Worthing’s Co-ordinator and provide partial funding for a Stay Active and Social respite service. The money will help support isolated carers and people living with dementia in the Worthing area, and most importantly, set up a new Dementia Hub. The hub will consist of a shared space for carers and people living with dementia to drop in for advice, support, and services, and where professionals can hot desk. Premises in Goring High Street are currently under offer and we hope to open in early summer.’

Chairman of Dementia Friendly Worthing Steering Group, Bob Smytherman echoed Jacqui’s delight, adding, ‘This funding will allow us to continue to work closely with our partners Abbeyfield Ferring and is vital to maintain the work of our valued Dementia Co-ordinator. Lynsey has been working throughout Covid to support local people, mainly through online events with carers, people living with dementia in the community and extending our work with schools especially, Our Lady of Sion school.’

Helen Bushell, Senior Head of Regional Funding for London, South East & East at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We are delighted to award Worthing Dementia Hub this funding, which will have a massive impact on the lives of people with dementia and their carers. Through the development of a Dementia Hub, local people will have improved access to important information, support and services that will help them in their day to day lives.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, organisations like this have played a vital role through the pandemic in helping people with dementia and their carers build connections and tackle feelings of isolation and loneliness.”

National Lottery players raise £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK.

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on dementia services during the past twelve months and charities are yet to re-instate services before the lockdown is fully lifted.

The funding will provide signposting, information hubs in the community and work with other local dementia alliances. Events such as bi-monthly dementia cafes and support for carers to help access small funds such as the carers wellbeing fund. The hub will host the Worthing Town Cryers – a social action group made up of people living with dementia who are very active in the Worthing area. It will also provide opportunities to work with GP surgeries, the dementia assessment and crisis team and the Dementia Matron. The hub will be open daily for anyone with dementia, their carer or family and have hot desk facilities which health and dementia-specific workers can use.

Abbeyfield Ferring Covid Vaccinations

We have had a busy few weeks across our services and are delighted to announce that all our staff and residents, at Cornwell House, our Support at Home Service and the Old School House in Ferring, have had their first round of Covid Vaccinations.

This is a huge relief to all of us, and our staff have worked tirelessly to keep the virus from our doors and to protect our residents. A huge thanks to everyone but rest assured, we are not letting our guard down yet and will be taking the same precautions to ensure it doesn’t slip in through the back door.

Our Cornwell House residents were the first on the list have the vaccinations; and the last of our small community cohort, at the Old School House, were driven to the Brighton Centre this week so we could ensure a 100% rollout. Limiting transmission in the community and reducing any effects the virus might have on those we care for is vital to getting back to enjoying the kind of society we are all used to.

New furnishings for our front lounge and conservatory

Our residents at Cornwell House are enjoying new furnishings and carpets in the front lounge. It has taken a few months to complete and carpet but the wait was well worthwhile and everyone is delighted with the new furniture and the lovely soft carpets.

It makes such a difference for our residents to spend time with friends and relax in a lovely environment. We have fortunately avoided the coronavirus and the staff have been wonderful. However, it has been difficult to put on the large variety of activities which we normally offer, and, therefore making sure the home looks it’s best with new furnishings was very important for wellbeing and positivity. Everyone at Cornwell House who has been involved helping residents choose the decor has loved the final results. We hope you do too.

Latest news and thanks from Abbeyfield Ferring

A huge thanks to children and staff at Ferring Primary School whose Mufti Day has given us lots of food donations for our oldies. Many thanks also to The Henry Pub and other local people for their generous donations.

We are truly overwhelmed here by people’s generosity and it also saves time queuing in supermarkets for our staff. Our Home Care Service is working flat out locally to make sure everyone is safe and healthy at home, so the donations are extremely welcome.

Our residential services, both Cornwell House and the Old School House are not accepting visitors currently to safeguard the health of our older residents. We have also suspended our day services but will have these back running as soon as the government issues some good news.

At both Cornwell House and the Old School House, we are helping residents keep contact with their friends and families via Skype. Lessons are going well!

If you are an older person, or the family of an older person, who has been self-isolating but is looking at a residential care home place or a small studio flatlet at the Old School House, we can talk you through the facilities and send you some photos. We had a vacancy at each of the locations and the rooms are delightful. Just give us a ring and we can talk through how we can help you arrange this.

Cornwell House Summer Garden Party

It was a lovely warm day for this year’s Summer Garden Party at Cornwell House, our residential care home, in the village of Ferring, near Worthing.

The staff and volunteers worked incredibly hard to make this a day to remember and it was well supported by families of residents, friends of Abbeyfield Ferring, volunteers and staff. It was a great opportunity for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves. The residents talked about it for weeks and we were very grateful for the support of local businesses who donated raffle prizes and plants. The event raised £619.50 and our residents will be deciding to spend the money which could go to social events or trips out.

This year, for the second year running, we welcomed the energetic dance and entertainment group, Eight Beat Jive. Their demonstrations of dance from the 1930s (Balboa) through to Lindy Hop (Jitterbug) in the 1940s, Rock ‘n’Roll and the history behind the music and dance, was thoroughly enjoyed by all ages.

The care home staff made cream teas, baked homemade cakes, served up hotdogs and burgers and sold hundreds of raffle tickets. The tombola did extremely well and all the cakes disappeared from the cake stall and lots of visitors purchased plants.

The Home Manager said ‘Thank you to everyone for making our garden party such a fun-filled day and seeing the smiles on our residents’ faces and the joy the day brings makes the hard work all worthwhile. We receive a lot of support from local traders and our suppliers. It was a fabulous afternoon.’

Supported Living Studio

Ground Floor Studio available now – fully refurbished

Our fully-refurbished ground-floor studio is now available for an elderly single person or couple. The Old School House is Abbeyfield Ferring’s supported living accommodation situated in the village of Ferring. This newly refurbished studio is near to shops, the library and the GP and is one of eleven studios supporting independent older people.

The studio has been fitted with a beautiful new kitchen and shower room with easy access and emergency pull cords.

Our accommodation is similar to assisted living and sheltered housing models but with an emphasis on our staff and volunteers having time for our residents. Independence is supported with a member of staff on site during the day, 365 days of the year and you have the security of a 24-hour call alarm system. Freshly prepared meals are available daily and the Old School House is a wonderful small community of friendly older people who still enjoy social activities and getting out and about.

Read more about The Old School House and please contact us, without delay, if you are interested in viewing. We know it won’t be available for very long.

Dementia respite service launch

We are very pleased to be launching our new dementia respite service, Stay Steady, for people living with dementia and their carers. The launch is on Friday, 7 December 2018 at our Abbeyfield Centre at 50 Ferring Street, Ferring, near Worthing BN12 5JP.

The launch is open to everyone that is interested including local health professionals, GPs, carers, staff and dementia specialists. Just call into our centre on Friday, 7 December between 11 am and 12 noon for mulled wine and mince pies. This is an opportunity to meet our team and find out a little more about the service which is mainly for people more recently diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, and who are still socially active and enjoy getting out and about.

The service will commence on January 8th and 9th. It will run for two days per week and has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund Reaching Communities. You can find out more here

Abbeyfield Stay Active flyer.

Recruiting new staff

Our team have been busy this month recruiting new staff at the Jobs in Care Recruitment Fair on 3 October at the Assembly Hall in Worthing.

The event was focused on Jobs in Care and was organised by West Sussex County Council ‘I love care’ team. We set up our stand, literature and banners and felt it was a good opportunity for job seekers looking for opportunities in the care sector. We did take a few names and chat to some prospective recruits.

We do advertise all our jobs on our website careers page so if you have visited this page directly, please do take a look at the current vacancies we have and perhaps bookmark the page in future as we do offer different roles from time-to-time.

Our current positions include Day Support Workers for 6.5 hours per day and Community Care Workers.