On Friday 5th May, our residents and staff enjoyed an afternoon of Coronation celebrations on our North Side lawn.

Ahead of the Coronation of His Majesty The King, we enjoyed music, games, laugher and sunshine, and of course lots of cake and delicious food. On Sunday 7th May, our Chaplain Alison held a service in the Chapel to mark the Coronation, which was followed by a lovely afternoon tea.

Thank you to our welfare and maintenance team for putting on a fabulous afternoon for us all to enjoy.

Click here to view the full photo gallery.

On Saturday 29th April, we joined forces with Winchester Hospice to climb Pen y Fan, the highest peak in South Wales. Over 20 walkers, plus four dogs tackled the challenge.

With the sun shining, the weather was perfect walking condition, and everyone made it to the top. There were two optional peaks to climb, Corn Du and Cribyn, six of the team completed all three, including the youngest member of the team who was ten!

We met with Winchester Hospice at 8.30am and we started our climb to the top at 9.15am which was led by one of our welfare staff.

We had glorious weather and luckily it wasn’t too hot. The paths were quite bumpy with rocks and streams to cross, but we did stop regularly to take in the views and also to catch our breath!

I have never climbed a mountain before and the feeling at the top was amazing, a feeling of ‘wow we have done it’, it was quite emotional. The views were incredible.

All of the aches and pains the following day were well worth it, and I certainly have the bug for climbing my next mountain.

The support from both St John’s and Winchester Hospice has been amazing and I’m looking forward to future collaborations.

Anne Green, Dementia Support Worker, St John’s Winchester

We have exceeded our fundraising target, and it currently stands at £2,877. The funds raised will provide much needed resources at the hospice.

We can’t thank our walkers and supporters enough. If you would like to congratulate our team for their fantastic effort, please visit our JustGiving to donate.

Please read our press release to find out more.

Click here to view more photos of the day.

On Saturday 29th April, St John’s residents, volunteers and staff will be joined by staff at Winchester Hospice to take on South Wales’ highest peak, Pen y Fan!

We are delighted to be supporting Winchester Hospice as we take on the challenge of climbing Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. We will be climbing together to raise awareness and much needed funding for the Hospice. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with and supporting a local charity who shares similar values and common goals as St John’s.

Both teams are excited about this partnership and are busy preparing for the climb, breaking in new walking boots and getting fit for the days climb. Rucksacks are kitted out and accommodation is booked.

Only a few more weeks to go!

Anne Evans, Admiral Nurse, St John’s Winchester

Along with Winchester Hospice, we will be sharing exciting updates in the lead up to and during the event, so make sure you head over to our social media channels to keep up to date.

Please visit our JustGiving page and donate what you can. Any donation that you are able to give is greatly appreciated, thank you.

Winchester Hospice provides specialist palliative and end of life care to adults with life limiting illness who live in Winchester and surrounding villages. Please visit their website to find out more.

Image credit: Hawlfraint y Goron / Crown Copyright

Studying Social Work at the University of Winchester, Abbey joined us in December 2022 for a 4-month placement. During her placement, Abbey will be working alongside our Dementia Support team, almshouse welfare team and our Hand in Hand team to gain experience and knowledge to compliment her health and social care studies.

Evalynn (Communications, PR & Marketing Officer) spoke with Abbey to find out how she’s getting on so far.

Evalynn: Hi Abbey, thank you for talking with me today. How have you found your placement with St John’s so far?

Abbey: I have really enjoyed my placement at St John’s Winchester and I look forward to all the further learning I will experience. Working with the dementia team and seeing first-hand the role of an Admiral Nurse is improving my knowledge of what other practitioners do and what they offer to help people in the community.

Shadowing the team also highlights the available services in Winchester for people with dementia and their carers to support them in living safely and happily.

Evalynn: Are there any other areas of St John’s that you are looking forward to getting involved with?

Abbey: I am looking forward to working with the residents of the almshouses and getting to know what the residents like about St John’s. Knowing what the individual using the service thinks about the charity will help me improve my practice and see what services like St John’s do for them. I am also hoping to get involved with the welfare team to see another aspect of care that St John’s offers. 

Evalynn: Do you feel that completing a 4-month placement at St John’s will support your studies and your future career aspirations?

Abbey: Completing my 4-month placement at St John’s will definitely massively benefit my practice and knowledge in health and social care. The depth of knowledge that the staff at St John’s have will give me a catalogue of provisions and procedures for working with people. Getting out into the community and going to people’s houses allows me to improve my skills and get to know what it is like managing caseloads.

Evalynn: Thanks Abbey. It’s great to have you on board!

This morning, our residents and staff took part in Elf Day to raise money and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society. We had a great morning, so much fun and laughter.

We drank tea, ate cakes (some homemade thanks to our lovely Executive Assistant Harriet), and enjoyed singing songs together.

In total, we raised £184.34 which we will be donating to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Click here to see the full photo gallery.

This afternoon, we held the successful launch of our Memory Wellbeing Centre at Winchester Sport & Leisure Park. Our Admiral Nurses and dementia team welcomed staff and members of the local community for tea, biscuits and social activities.

Our Memory Wellbeing Centre and dementia team are there to provide information, support and advice to those living with dementia and their carers.

Our sessions run every 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Please send an email to dementiasupport@stjohnswinchester.co.uk, or give us a call on 01962 858 282 if you would like further information.

We are working with Everyone Active Winchester and Dementia UK to facilitate this partnership. 

We are pleased to announce that we have submitted a planning application to Winchester City Council for permission to repurpose our Moorside site and create 18 new almshouses within the envelope of the existing building. Until September of 2021, Moorside had operated as a dementia nursing home for over 25 years.

Moorside has many natural advantages as a location for supported affordable housing for older people, benefiting from easy access to the City Centre, proximity to the stunning Winnall Moors Nature Reserve and a beautiful garden. When completed, residents would be able to access our care and support offerings and our other community outreach services such as our Hand in Hand service. The location of the site means residents would be able to join the broader almshouse community and participate in, and benefit from, its own good neighbours’ network.

We are at an early stage of the development, but if planning permission can be secured, we hope to start work on site in the early summer of 2023 and complete the works within a 12-month timeframe.

At the same time, we hope to become a registered provider of social housing through a subsidiary organisation, St John’s Community Housing. We have applied to the Regulator for Social Housing for that purpose. This will give us access to Homes England grants. If St John’s Community Housing does secure registration, the proposed development on our Moorside site would be carried out through the new organisation.

Clive Cook, St John’s Chief Executive, commented: “We have embarked on a period of expansion to further build our almshouse base and add a range of vital new services for existing residents and the older people in the wider local community”.