Disabled adults living in a Harrogate charity’s residential home have given the district’s Mayor a guided tour of their facilities.
In addition to showing Coun Michael Newby around their Disability Action Yorkshire home, located on the town’s Claro Road, the residents treated him to not one but two teas!
The home, which was opened in 2007 by the Countess of Wessex, has two identical wings, each containing 20 en-suite bedrooms, communal lounge and kitchen and dining areas.
The residents, aged between 18 and 65, are given training and support to help them lead as independent lives as possible, with the ultimate aim of them moving to their own homes within two years.
Coun Newby – who last year spent a morning at the charity’s Hornbeam Park headquarters speaking to service users and staff, and seeing firsthand the work carried out there – was taken around both wings, shown into bedrooms by residents, and sat down in each kitchen to enjoy afternoon tea prepared by them and staff members.
Disability Action Yorkshire chief executive Jackie Snape said: It was an honour welcoming Coun Newby to our Claro Road residential home, particularly after he had visited our training facility a few months previously.
We are very proud of 34 Claro Road, and so too are our residents.
They were the ones who wanted to show the Mayor around
their home, and it was they who wanted to impress him with their culinary skills.
He certainly seemed to enjoy both his afternoon teas and the company of the residents.
Disability Action Yorkshire was founded in 1937, and, in addition to the Claro Road residential care home and its Hornbeam Park training facility, it operates a Home Care team in Thirsk.
From here, the 30-strong team of home care assistants carry out a wide range of duties and services to people living in their homes in Thirsk, Northallerton, Bedale, Richmond, Easingwold and Ripon.
Main photograph: Mayor of the Harrogate District, Coun Michael Newby, sits down to one of his two afternoon teas with resident Kirsty Walker
