Latest news with #respite
Khaleej Times
19-07-2025
- Climate
- Khaleej Times
Summer in UAE: Ajman Police distribute free ice cream, refreshments to workers
As temperatures soar close to 50°C in the country, most residents look for some respite from the heat. Ajman Police, in a show of compassion and warmth, distributed cold water and other refreshments to labourers in the area. The authority could be seen handing out packets of juice, laban and small cups of ice cream in the labour community. Officers were also handing out these freebies to other residents passing by. Watch the video below: This isn't the first time that the authority has conducted such an initiative. In 2023, it launched the 'We Come to You, Our Summer is Cool' campaign. It visited several sites to meet workers in an attempt to keep workers happy throughout the summer.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bradford gardening firm becomes patron of The Principle Trust
A Bradford gardening firm has become a patron of a children's charity. Garden Artists Ltd is now a patron of children's charity The Principle Trust, which provides respite breaks for children who are underprivileged, disadvantaged, or disabled, who have life-limiting conditions or mental health issues, or who have experienced poverty, trauma, or abuse. Mike Davies MBE, chairman of The Principle Trust, said: "We are delighted that Garden Artists has joined The Principle Trust as a patron; they are a young business with an exciting future ahead of them. "Thanks to the support of compassionate businesses like them, the trust can continue to support disadvantaged families across the Yorkshire region." Established in 2024, Garden Artists offers garden design, landscaping, and maintenance services across the Aire and Wharfe Valleys. One of the company's current projects is a sensory park for dogs in the Keighley area.
Times
03-07-2025
- Times
Shore thing — the Secret Coast holiday home of your dreams
Arriving at a faraway (but not too far) holiday house on a Friday night, at the end of another working week, when your children are young and nerves are frayed, is the definition of respite. Especially when that house is a sumptuously restored and mildly eccentric Victorian villa overlooking Argyll's Secret Coast. A canny bit of tourism marketing speak that must be true because in almost 30 years of living in Scotland, I've never come here before. It's dark when we pitch up in Tighnabruaich, its scattering of houses rising from the shoreline as though they've been hurled into position from across the Kyles of Bute. The late hour means the softly lapping waters are heard more than seen, spotlit here and there by sturdy village lamps studding the shore. But there are advantages to arriving somewhere after night has fallen. The next morning we wake early, and through the vast Victorian bay windows in the sitting room, sit huddled together watching the sun ascend over the Kyles of Bute. Slowly, slowly the quiet beauty of this part of western Scotland reveals itself. Shorefront House opened in 2021 after a huge restoration. Previously a hotel with a reputation for rowdy ceilidhs and late-night lock-ins, it had lain empty for 15 years, growing increasingly derelict until a Glasgow couple, Graeme and Lorraine McFall, with a background in the music industry saw it, fell in love and snapped it up. In less than three years they transformed this grand old mansion into a five-star holiday house with underfloor heating in the en suite bathrooms, Nespresso coffee machines and a sound system so impressive we fear the neighbours might come round (fear not, they don't). There is a Big Green Egg barbecue, a huge terrace for outdoor dining, a fire pit and pétanque court in the garden, and a pool table in the games room over which my son becomes extremely territorial. The thing that impresses this middle-aged mum most of all? A boiling water tap in the kitchen. • Tide & Thyme Bistro review: better than any takeaway in Glasgow or Edinburgh You could have an incredible multigenerational party here, spilling out onto the lawn, catered by Tide & Thyme, a local restaurant that also does private functions. The eight bedrooms — six are en suite — are named after Graeme and Lorraine's favourite Eighties bands. Which means listening to the children running up and down the stairs screaming, 'I'm in Orange Juice!' 'No, the Waterboys!' 'No, the Proclaimers!' We end up in Deacon Blue. It's a quirky modern touch, but it's also a nod to Tighnabruaich's deep historic links with Glasgow. Like so many imposing (and often decaying) Victorian mansions, Shorefront House has a long and complicated past, indelibly wrapped up in this country's history of empire. While the house was being built in the 1890s for a member of the Dobie family, who owned a tallow and tobacco company in Paisley, the village around it was expanding into a popular weekend retreat for Glasgow's merchants who were making huge fortunes through the unfettered plunder of tobacco, sugar and cotton in the colonies. Tighnabruaich was still only accessible from the water then so the merchants would come by paddle steamer, a history written in the three ghostly piers jutting from the village's short stretch of shoreline. (The expression 'Getting steaming' is said to come from this era because the paddle steamers, unlike many areas of Glasgow, were licensed.) The scenic, twisting road we drive here wasn't blasted out of the Cowal peninsula's hillside until the 1960s. Despite the cut-off feeling that accompanies all stays on peninsulas, there's loads to do. Just off the road out of Tighnabruaich you can play a round of golf that you pay for via the honesty box at the clubhouse. There are boat tours and trips 'doon the watter' from Tighnabruaich pier aboard the last seagoing paddle steamer, the Waverley. We head to Ostel Bay beach a few miles' drive from Tighnabruaich, parking at a little farm with an adjoining café, to stroll through dunes to a vast stretch of golden sand with magnificent views across to Arran. But why go anywhere when you're staying in a house like this? So it's back to the big views from the big windows. The generosity of the kitchen and the sound system. The game of pool with a bottle of local craft ale in the evenings. And the knowledge that we're staying in a carefully preserved piece of history that could so easily have been Ramaswamy was a guest of Luxury Cottages ( which has one night's self-catering for 18 at Shorefront House from £840
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Merle Weiner: ‘Opening my home to people with dementia makes my heart sing'
Three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I open my home to small groups of five people living with dementia early to moderate dementia. It's a different approach to dementia care; in the comfort of my home, nobody feels overwhelmed by a large group and it feels like a day and lunch with friends. What happens in each group varies and is bespoke to the preferences and personalities of each group. Activities can include craft work, painting, baking, playing dominoes or Scrabble, or even sitting and having a long chat. Quizzes are also very popular, especially ones where I ask questions about nursery rhymes (which everyone seems to remember) such as 'where was Humpty Dumpty sitting?' and we all merrily start reciting them together. Each group, of four or five people, comes on the same day every week, so it's a familiar routine with the same faces in a comforting home environment. They know they will be spending time with friends and look forward to it. It's not just about giving their families or carers a break (although I know that these six-hour windows of respite are hugely appreciated), it's about allowing people with the condition to still have a fulfilling social life. I began working as a dementia host several years ago when I first heard about The Filo Project, an award-winning not-for-profit organisation providing small group care days for people living with early to moderate dementia. It's like a home from home experience. My passion for working in the aged care field goes back 20 years, when I obtained my Aged Care diploma in Australia, after leaving South Africa in 2005. I'd settled in England when my own mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 69. The changes in her personality crept in slowly: initially she developed OCD and would spend hours washing her hands obsessively, fretting about whether they were clean. She was living with my sister at the time, but when my once gentle and sweet-natured mum became violent and threatening towards my sister's young children, heartbreakingly we knew she needed to go into a home. I would call each month from the other side of the world, and while she'd lost the ability to talk by then, the care home workers described how her whole face lit up as they held the phone to her ear and I regaled her with my news. I liked thinking it was bringing some comfort to her. My beautiful mum lived a long time with the disease – 21 years – so I know how devastating Alzheimer's can be. I joined The Filo Project to try and make a positive difference to people living with dementia, realising how isolated and lonely they felt. Caring for people living with dementia is a privilege, and every person's dementia journey is different. It's important to know that the person living with dementia is still a living human being, although the brain is functioning differently. Everyone should feel comfortable and safe, amongst friends who love and care for each other. Our clients vary in age – our oldest being 103, and the youngest is 68. The sad thing about dementia is that is doesn't discriminate when it comes to age. In my groups, my clients are very happy to talk about the past. They enjoy reminiscing and going down memory lane together and I love listening to them. We enjoy celebrating special occasions. For VE Day, we decorated the lounge, made cupcakes with the Union Jack on and had a party. Christmas time is also very special. Some clients even come to me on Christmas Day and we enjoy a traditional Christmas, where we do a lot of singing, play charades and finish the day by watching the King's speech. We never put on the television (unless there's a royal wedding or coronation, which we will all be glued to) instead we play cards games or dominoes together, leaving all the cards open so we can talk about what to play next. Our sessions are lively and filled with joy, and everyone adores my elderly spaniel, Chloe, who also acts as an unofficial therapy dog. We form lasting friendships with each other and people's families too. I have one client who's been coming to me for five years now, every week. So it's devastating when the disease progresses beyond being moderate, as the scheme isn't suitable for those in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. Hosts like myself aren't able to work with clients who are in a wheelchair or need personal care sadly. But we make the most of our time together. Caring is a tough job for loved ones, so I see my role as supporting the whole family as much as my client. The more we talk about dementia, the more awareness we generate, and talking about dementia should start at a young age. Even chatting to young people about why they shouldn't be scared if Granny sometimes acts a little strangely. She's still their granny, it's just that her brain isn't functioning as it should. I'm wearing my Forget Me Not Appeal badge this month in recognition of the outstanding work carried out by Alzheimer's Society, in memory of my beautiful mum, and for everyone who has lost a loved one to dementia. If you enjoy the company of older people, are kind, gentle, with a sense of humour and keen to make a difference to someone who feels lonely and isolated, why not consider becoming a host for The Filo Project? Experience isn't necessary; hosts work between the hours of 9am to 5pm on hosting days. It's essential to have a driver's licence and a five-door car, easy access into your home, with no more than a few steps, a downstairs toilet, and loose carpets or rugs need to be put away. A host's salary is very good, and we have ongoing training and support. Having seen how much clients get from coming to my home I'd love more people to join us and for them to experience how life-enriching it can be. When I decided to open my home up to others, I had no idea how much it would open up my heart, too. As told to Susanna Galton Merle is supporting Alzheimer's Society's Forget Me Not Appeal, which funds life-changing support and groundbreaking research for the UK's biggest killer – dementia. Donate at
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Emily Place, Woking's new respite centre, opens for family breaks
A £5.7m centre to offer respite for families caring for adults with additional needs has been opened in Woking, Place features a sensory room, lounge and eight en suite bedrooms at the property in Goldsworth building was officially opened by Surrey County Council leader Tim Oliver, a year after construction mother whose daughter has made a five-night stay already, described it as "absolutely amazing". Mr Oliver said: "My wife and I know from personal experience how challenging it can be when a loved one has disabilities and additional needs, and the level of commitment that takes from parents and carers."It's about the right support, in the right place, at the right time – that's absolutely what we're trying to achieve."Sinead Mooney, cabinet member for adult social care, said: "I can see how people coming to use the facility will be very settled and very happy here, and the location is great – you've got facilities right on the doorstep that people can use and access."It's fantastic to see this place up and running." Jean, whose daughter has used the centre, said she had been able to drop her at Emily Lodge and "not panic"."The life of having a young adult with disabilities – or abilities, whichever way you want to go – is absolutely exhausting, so to have a few hours, a few days, a few nights, is irreplaceable" she in the centre will be allocated by the authority.
