Dedicated staff at The Royal Star & Garter Homes have been recognised at a Long Service Awards ceremony.
It was held at the Surbiton Home on Wednesday, 23 January, and acknowledged stalwarts who had notched up between 10 and 45 years of service for the Charity.
In total, 35 staff were commended for their work and commitment helping ex-Servicemen and women and their partners living with disability or dementia.
All recipients started work at the Charity’s historic Home in Richmond, before relocating to the award-winning Surbiton Home, where they are now based.
Among those honoured were members of the nursing, housekeeping and physio teams. They received a small gift for their dedicated service from the Charity’s Chief Executive Andy Cole.
Emrys Owen has been with the Charity for 36 years, joining when he was 23. The Lead Health Care Assistant (HCA) said: “It’s mostly the people I have looked after over the years, the stories I have heard and the characters that I have met that makes the job so worthwhile. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else, it’s an amazing organisation to work for.”
HCA Roson Gonzaga, who has been with the Charity for 22 years, said after receiving his award: “It’s a nice feeling, it’s a privilege to be recognised. I love looking after the residents, and this is a special place to work.”
Andy Cole thanked staff for their many years of dedication. He said: “The Charity feels like a family, and staff staying with us for a long time helps so much to support this. It was an honour to personally thank everyone for their dedicated service. That so many people have spent such a significant part of their working lives with The Royal Star & Garter Homes is something that we are enormously proud of, and hopefully reflects well on the way that we value our staff.”
For further information please contact:
Goolistan Cooper
Communications Officer
e: goolistan.cooper@starandgarter.org
t: 0208 481 7669 / 07391 868796
Cally Madden
Marketing & Communications Manager
e: cally.madden@starandgarter.org
t: 020 8481 7692 / 07881 017299
About The Royal Star & Garter Homes:
The Charity provides award-winning care for veterans and their partners who live with disability or dementia.
The Royal Star & Garter Homes is a charity founded in 1916 to care for the severely injured young men returning from the battlegrounds of the First World War. Today we provide specialist care to the whole military family in our friendly, state-of-the-art Homes. Disabled ex-Servicemen and women, and their spouses, can all benefit from our pioneering approach to nursing, dementia and therapeutic care.
We are in the process of building new Homes around the country to provide specialist nursing care for disabled ex-Service people in the best modern surroundings, including dementia care facilities to address this growing need. The Charity has award-winning Homes in Solihull, West Midlands, and Surbiton, Surrey, which also enables the Charity to offer interim care for young disabled Service personnel. Following the successes of the first two Homes, a third Home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, is being built, with a planned opening in 2019.
We are proud to have enjoyed Royal patronage since our foundation, including that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to the present day.
Twitter: @starandgarter
Facebook: facebook.com/starandgarter
Website: www.starandgarter.org
The Royal Star & Garter Homes is a member of the National Care Forum – the leading voice for not-for-profit care providers. A national perspective may be available from info@nationalcareforum.org.uk or by contacting 02476243619. More details on NCF available at www.nationalcareforum.org.uk.
