Twenty six Quantum Care homes for older people took part in this year’s First World War centenary commemorations by making their own tributes for the occasion.
The not-for-profit care provider offers specialist residential, respite, dementia and day care services across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex. The company decided to launch a project whereby all homes would involve residents, staff and families in making a tribute to say thank you to those special people who were either in active service or supporting the war effort 100 years ago.
Although residents would not have had first hand experience of the war, many would have had relatives or friends who served, many of whom never returned. It also wanted to be able to pay tribute to those people living in its care homes who were involved in active service for their country in the many conflicts that have happened since that time.
On Thursday 1 November, the care homes brought their tributes to the company head office in Welwyn Garden City where they were placed together in one room for all to see. They were also entered into a competition which was judged by chief executive Maria Ball and relative Veteran Ernest Large on visual impact, relevance, personal involvement and creativity.
When the final scores were collated, there were two joint winners; Willow Court from Harpenden and Fosse House from St Albans. The tributes from both homes had visually stunning impact, but also involved personal memories and stories from residents.
Chief executive Maria Ball says: “I was incredibly moved by all the tributes created by our homes. It was an extremely emotional experience to be part of such a meaningful project and reading some of the personal memories of our residents.
"It was also enormously difficult to make the final decision about the winners as the standard was so high. I am hugely proud of all of our Quantum Care homes and this is another example of the passion and creativity of our wonderful care teams.”
The tributes were returned to the individual homes where they formed the centrepieces of their commemorations on Sunday 11 November.
