Haggis, Neeps & Tatties at Ilfracombe Care Home

Edenmore Nursing Home, a leading provider of compassionate elderly care in Ilfracombe recently hosted a vibrant and memorable Burns Night celebration for its team members and residents, who are fondly referred to as family members. The event, held on the 25^th of January brought the spirit of Scotland to the care home with traditional Scottish cuisine and day of togetherness.

Both family members and team members enthusiastically embraced the traditions of Burns Night, delighting in a thoughtfully selected menu showcasing iconic Scottish cuisine. The centerpiece of the festivities was the presentation of the timeless Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties, bought from local Ilfracombe Butcher Mike Turton, served on a dining table adorned with Scottish decorations, accompanied by music and poetry.

The objective of the day was to inspire positive sentiments and emotions while also commemorating the national day for individuals with Scottish ancestry.

Edenmore’s approach to life recognises the values, beliefs and identity of each person. Each person that may need support is unique and by understanding one’s life history, one’s journey in life, by striving to be a true continuation of home, the team at Edenmore create a place where everyone feels safe and never alone

To find out more about Edenmore Nursing Home 

please visit www.edenmorenursinghome.com

EDENMORE NURSING HOME WELCOMES HOME LIBRARY SERVICE

Edenmore Nursing Home are delighted and honoured to partner with Ilfracombe Library to welcome the Home Library Service through their doors and open their residents to the wonderful world of literature.

The Home Library Service is a bespoke book delivery service that is fully funded and available for the residents, fondly referred to as family members by the home, who are no longer able to go to the library for their books of choice.

Volunteer led, books are picked based on the reader’s interests and hand delivered every 4 weeks, giving those who receive them enough time to read through what they have chosen and then exchange for new ones. As the weeks pass, volunteers can befriend family members and bond over the joy of reading.

Not only does the Home Library Service deliver books, but there are also audiobooks and tablets available to borrow, making the service accessible for those with sight loss and granting access to a wide range of books, newspapers, and magazines online.

North Devon MP, Selaine Saxby, commented “Ilfracombe is a wonderful community, and it is great to see their library working with a local care home to provide a fully funded home library service. I do hope that this is a model that can be used elsewhere across North Devon.”

It is widely known that reading can be a great brain exercise, as well as a relaxing outlet to relieve stress levels. Stimulating stories with captivating illustrations can ignite feelings of joy, curiosity, and nostalgia, especially if a person has been an avid reader in their lifetime. The service has exemplified the importance of such communal gatherings in promoting a sense of belonging and shared experiences. The team remain dedicated to crafting more heartwarming experiences that enrich the lives of its residents and bring the community closer together.

Edenmore Nursing Home is based in Ilfracombe, North Devon. It’s approach to life recognises the values, beliefs and identity of each person. Each person that may need support is unique and by understanding one’s life history, one’s journey in life, by striving to be a true continuation of home, the team at Edenmore Nursing Home create a place where everyone feels safe and never alone.

To find out more about Edenmore Nursing Home, visit: https://www.edenmorenursinghome.com/

Edenmore Nursing Home in Ilfracombe Enjoyed a Hawaiian Themed Party to Celebrate National BBQ Week

Edenmore Nursing Home in Ilfracombe enjoyed a Hawaiian-themed party put on by the team to celebrate National BBQ Week. Residents, along with staff dressed up in Hawaiian outfits to get into the party spirit ready for the celebrations to begin.

Residents, who are fondly referred to as family members, spent the day partying away whilst tucking into their delicious food cooked on the BBQ by the chefs at the nursing home. There was an array of mocktails and vegetarian dishes for family members to also enjoy.

Home Manager, Gayle Cooper, joined in on the fun and said, “The family members had a lovely day with some of them wanting to dress in Hawaiian-style clothing and joining in with Hawaiian dancing.”

Edenmore Nursing Home is a Nursing Home based in Ilfracombe North Devon. Their approach to life recognises the importance of creating a home that represents a true continuation of life for each individual living within the home.

To find out more about Edenmore Nursing Home 

visit www.edenmorenursinghome.com

Oyez, Oyez.Oyez. Heanton Nursing Home Celebrates OUTSTANDING rating

Over 100 local people including the Town Crier of Ilfracombe, Roy Goodwin, and his wife, Bea, joined the team at Heanton Nursing home to celebrate their success at being rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
 

Heanton Nursing Home, the 51-bed, specialist dementia nursing and care home near Barnstaple, received this highest rating following a rigorous two-day inspection by five inspectors. They concluded that “People received outstanding care and were supported to have the best quality of life possible.” Less than 2% of all the homes inspected in England achieve the Outstanding rating.
 

The guests who came to the party on Sunday 7th October, were treated to a hog roast and lots of home-made treats prepared by Heanton’s chefs. The event was a family affair and children were entertained with face painting, a bouncy castle and a bucking rodeo bull ride.
 

The manager of Heanton, Paula Mascall, said “We strive hard to make the lives of those living with us, the best possible. It is so important that people living in a home maintain their links to the community. Heanton prides itself on providing a bespoke service by familiarising ourselves with all the family members’ preferences which we obtain by taking individual life histories. I want to pass my thanks and congratulations onto the incredible care team who work so hard every day and night”.
 

Heanton nursing home is part of the Evolve Care Group, which operates 12 nursing and care homes across the South West. This is their second home to receive CQC’s outstanding rating in as many months. Their first was their Sundial Care Home, near Sidmouth. CEO, Preyen Dewani, a former National Care Entrepreneur of the Year winner, said “Our Evolve Model of care was developed by our team of specialists who researched practices in Australia and America, and we are delighted to be celebrating the results of it, here today.”
 

Evolve Care Group has developed its own bespoke training course that educates people living and working with dementia on the latest thinking and techniques. A number of free places on the course are available to people from the local community. Anyone interested should contact Rebecca on 0117 938 7747.

It is estimated that by 2030 the number of people living with dementia will increase by 61%. The independent charity, King’s Fund say that the cost of supporting those living with the condition is also set to rise to £24 billion by 2026. The Evolve Care Group has a number of subsidised care places for local residents. Further information can be obtained by calling the number above

Ilfracombe’s  Town Cryer, Roy Goodwin and his wife Bea Goodwin with Evolve Group CEO, Preyen Dewani

  Ilfracombe’s Town Cryer, Roy Goodwin, with his wife Bea Goodwin

Best foot forward for the Ilfracombe Art Trail.

What attracts artists to Ilfracombe? Beautiful architecture, huge Georgian terraces and gothic-style Victorian mansions, as well as cottages dating back to a time when Ilfracombe was a seafaring town. The dramatic coast has an abundance of sea birds and wild flowers, and inland the hills, woods, moors and rivers provide walks that can inspire anyone to stop and gaze. In 2012, Damien Hirst, an internationally known artist with strong links to the town created 'Verity', a 20-metre bronze/steel statue weighing in at 25 tonnes and she took her place on the pier. Following this wonderful gift to the town, new art galleries and shops started opening, including Damien Hirst's own gallery 'Other Criteria' and his restaurant 'The Quay' and an art renaissance ensued.

Ilfracombe Art Trail was the brainchild of Sue Hutchins, an artist from Bristol who moved to Ilfracombe 9 years ago. Bristol has many art trails and Sue thought that Ilfracombe would be an ideal place to host a similar event. Not only does it have an amazing array of talented artists but it has a good community spirit. After visiting Bristol's Easton Art Trail in 2014, Sue and her friend Jo Beech decided to launch Ilfracombe Art Trail. There was a lot of work to do and no money to do it with. But after generous donations from Ilfracombe's Town Councillors and the Ilfracombe Charity Book shop, Ilfracombe Art Trail was launched. A committee was formed, all women, the website was built and flyers designed. Local businesses offered their help free of charge, local radio and newspapers picked up the story and registration forms started coming in. The response was overwhelming, with some artists offering to share their houses with others who didn't have a venue of their own. Three house-owners let visiting artists use their homes even though they weren't exhibiting themselves. When Ilfracombe Art Trail opened its doors on 9th-10th May 2015, it had 27 open houses, 37 artists, 5 open gardens, Saturday night poetry in the Museum, Sunday night comic poetry in a pub, and 2 live bands playing in pubs. There was a poetry workshop, a 'meet the author' session in the Library, a willow-weaving workshop in the community garden and a large community painting happening in an artists' studio. There was even a group of wandering musicians who busked to entertain the crowds. As a sign of the event' s success, one venue counted 300 visitors through their door over the weekend.

Ilfracombe Art Trail 7th-8th May 2016 is proving to be even bigger, so successful that registration had to be closed early to maintain its ethos of an art trail that could be followed on foot over a weekend. With 29 venues, over 45 gallery-standard artists, free workshops (for adults and children), music and poetry, there will be something for everyone. It demonstrates that anything can be achieved if you have a group of dedicated, committed people and a town with a strong community spirit and a big heart. This is one event not to be missed.

ILFRACOMBE ART TRAIL 
7th-8th May 2016

For further information please contact Ilfracombe Art Trail on ilfracombe.art.trail@gmail.com 

or visit the website http://artilfracombe.co.uk.

Short Film - Ben Bengey - North Devon's Young Fishing Industry Ambassador

An inspirational young fisherman from Ilfracombe in North Devon is fast becoming the voice for the future of fishing in the UK. Ben Bengey's charm and passion for his work make him the perfect young ambassador for the industry. Ben features in a new short film - A Life in the Day of a Young Fisherman - one episode in a ten part series of five minute documentaries on the people whose lives revolve around boats and fishing in North Devon.

Ben understands the importance of sustainability in his work and wants to share this with others. In September Ben took his film to London for the launch of Blue New Deal, an initiative from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and explains "It was about UK coastal communities and the jobs and people behind it all. So I went to talk about fishing and tell people that fisherman are not as bad as the news shows and we do put things in place to stop overfishing, like the ray box and the Trevose box."

One scene in "A Life in the Day of a Young Fisherman" shows Ben returning a lobster to the sea despite it being within the legal size for keeping. He says he'd "rather put it back... may have kids... grow a bit bigger" and adds "I don't see any reason to keep 'em. You're just messing with your own future, to be honest". Ben lives and breathes a life on the sea - at just 19 he has his own boat, Silver Spirit, which is licensed for both commercial fishing and passengers so when he's not out potting for lobsters and crabs (or volunteering for the RNLI) he's running fishing trips and he spends his spare time on his boat fishing with his mates for the sheer pleasure of it. He sums up his film with the words " I just want to be out on the water, every day, every hour."

Boat Stories Producer, Jo Stewart-Smith says "Right from the beginning I wanted to make a film about a young fisherman starting out - who was serious about making a go of it in this tough, fickle, roller coaster business. It's not a choice many youngsters make - there are far easier ways of making a living. But as someone wrote after watching our film 'Ben is following his dream and making a go of it.' The Boat Stories films are a valuable way of informing people about the fishing industry, Ben says "It's really good as like I said on the news (ITV Westcountry interviewed Ben to launch Boat Stories as a web series) people don't have a clue what we do and it's great to show people!" 

You can watch Ben's film and read more about him and his work on the Boat Stories website www.boatstories.co.uk.

SHORT FILM HIGHLIGHTS THE WONDERS OF DIVING IN NORTH DEVON

If you ever thought that scuba diving in North Devon would be dull then think again. The waters off the coast of Ilfracombe are littered with wrecks and populated by fascinating underwater life. A new short film - Every Dive is an Adventure - introduces members of Ilfracombe and North Devon Sub Aqua Club (ILFSAC) who dive alongside volunteers from Seasearch, surveying marine life as they explore this fascinating underwater landscape.

Film producer Jo Stewart-Smith talks about the inspiration behind this latest addition to the Boat Stories series "I had two people equally passionate about their favourite subject and was torn between whether to focus on exploring undiscovered wrecks or recording marine life in our short film. Luckily, because wrecks which lie on the sea floor act like rocky reefs and become magnets for marine life we are able to reveal a little bit of the excitement of both."

Jo says that the title for this film is a direct quote from ILFSAC Chairman Shaun Galliver who says in the film "Diving off the coast of North Devon is a challenge and we never know what we are going to find - whether we're looking for a new wreck or new marine life - every dive is an adventure."

Galliver, a self-confessed 'wreck head' told Jo about the many wrecks off the North Devon Coast "Around 1910 Cardiff was one of the world's busiest ports and in one year 13 million tonnes of coal or 300 ships a day travelled past Ilfracombe. Many of those either hit rocks or hit each other so we still have a lot of undiscovered wrecks here, we found four last year and even last week we dived two new ones."

He commented that to dive a new wreck, one that no one has touched or seen for 150 years, is amazing and the club can offer that opportunity to its members. ILFSAC has been exploring new wrecks since it was founded in 1960 so its club house is a bit like an Aladdin's cave of treasures from the deep. One of these holds pride of place at the bar; a ship's bell which came from the steamship The George Lamb which came a cropper on the rocks in the late 1800s.

Jo was entranced by the brilliant colours in ILFSAC diver, Maggs Ashton's photographs. Maggs is passionate about photographing this colourful underwater world 'people always say you must have photographed that in the Red Sea, I have trouble convincing people that they are found here in North Devon."

In the film Sally Sharrock tells us about Seasearch, a project which encourages divers to map out the sea bed and survey marine life "We work on the assumption that if we don't know what's there we can't protect it and the only people who see what is down under water are the divers. We train them in basic marine biology so that they know what they are looking for."

Talking about the variety and colourful nature of the marine life Sally says "It's like an old fashioned sweet shop where you have all the jars of different colours on the walls." On this dive she discovers a curious looking Tompot blenny and exclaims "they're always good fun, 'cause they've got a big smiley face!"

Every Dive is an Adventure will be shown on the big screen along with the 9 other Boat Stories Films at a free event on Friday 16 October 2015 at Bideford Cinema, Kingsley School, Bideford - details at www.bidefordcinema.org.uk.

Unsurprisingly, seats are selling fast so if you can't get to the screening you can watch the films online at www.boatstories.co.uk or look out for the DVDs which will be on sale in selected museums and information centres soon.

Underwater cameraman, Rich Stevenson, just surfaced and back in harbour,  ILFSAC, Seasearch members and camera crew after a successful mission, Neptune setting off on an adventure. Photos copyright Jo Stewart-Smith (All Rights Reserved)

• North Devon Moving Image CIC
• Ilfracombe & North Devon’s Sub Aqua Club (official full title of the club btw) they’re often called ILFSAC or Ilfracombe Dive Club
• Seasearch 

Free Public Screening Event Launches Boat Stories Short Film Series

It is time to roll out the red carpet for the series premiere of Boat Stories - ten short films featuring local characters whose lives revolve around boats and fishing in North Devon. Local film maker Jo Stewart-Smith has joined forces with community film making organisation North Devon Moving Image (NDMI) to tell ten different boat stories. From traditional salmon fishing to the Lundy ferry and from Clovelly to Ilfracombe Jo sought out stories of heritage, politics, sport and family to create a valuable snapshot of life in North Devon today. As the project comes to a close and the final film sails out of the editing suite it is time to celebrate Boat Stories with a free screening event at the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe on Friday 4 September 2015 at 7.30pm. Amanda McCormack, Creative Director of NDMI is delighted with the project "Jo has worked extremely hard on Boat Stories. From a chance meeting on Woolacombe beach two years ago to this fabulous series of local social documentary films we certainly have a journey to celebrate."
"Boat Stories has been much more than just a film making exercise. Jo has also kept the public up to date with the project in her frequent blogs and photos on the Boat Stories website and this in itself is a great local resource. Additionally, I've been very strict about NDMI's 5 minute running time policy and some of Jo's interviews were too good to end up on the cutting room floor so we have posted the best video clips on the website." Jo also did a great job of keeping it local, another rigid NDMI rule. She says that one of the best things about working on the project was the opportunity to work with new filmmakers. "Boat Stories was made by four different locally-based freelance cameramen, we had several young talent assistants on camera and sound and we worked with a different local musician for each film."
Jo adds "The biggest highlight though, was the people I met: fishermen, skippers, crews and scientists or conservationists - being welcomed on board for a few hours or whole days and being given a privileged peek into a new world."
"There were lows too: including losing a camera over the cliff on Lundy island on the first day of our three day visit and realising we'd have to wait till the following year to complete the film. On other films we cancelled trips for bad weather and lack of fish, had a couple of seasick cameraman and technical issues with film equipment, but the shows went on!"
Chrissie Ingle, Project Development Officer at North Devon + says "The Boats stories films have shown how intrinsically linked north Devonians are to the sea. These short films, supported by the Northern Devon FLAG, pack a lot into 5 minutes and are funny, engaging and, most importantly, informative. I thoroughly recommend going along to the showing of the films as part of the ‘Sea Ilfracombe’ and ‘Fishtival’ events, they are a treat to see. "
The Boat Stories Premiere is the launch event for Sea Ilfracombe 2015 - a weekend of celebrating all things maritime from 4-6 September. Although this is a free event, tickets must be reserved via the North Devon Theatres box office. 

 North Devon Lobster Potting. Photo copyright Boat Stories (All Rights Reserved)

Boat Stories Short Films. Photo copyright Boat Stories (All Rights Reserved)