I'm sending "Tidings of Comfort and Joy" to you all. Thank you so much for visiting and liking the pictures, reels and posts on my North Devon Focus Website, Blog, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram & Youtube. Thank you for sharing your news and local events. Cheers Pat Adams
🎄🎄🎅🎅Merry Christmas🎅🎅 🎄🎄
Here's to a happy, colour full, peaceful 2026
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Join us on
Edenmore Nursing Home in Ilfracombe, North Devon, have been overwhelmed by an outpouring of generosity this Christmas, after receiving over £500 worth of Christmas gifts for its residents (fondly known as family members), through a TikTok campaign run by a relative of a person living in the care home.
The campaign was started by Charmain Lovett, whose dad, Harry, lives at Edenmore.
In early November, Charmain shared a short video on TikTok, inviting anyone who
was able to donate a small gift to the family members via an Amazon wish list
she had put together.
While Edenmore Nursing Home ensures each family member receive a
personalised Christmas gift from the team, Charmain wanted to set up her own
initiative so the home might receive a collection of shared gifts, activities
and treats for everyone to enjoy together. The idea was inspired in part by an
online friend of Charmain’s, who had previously run a similar campaign for her
nan, Beryl, called Beryl’s Christmas.
The response to the campaign was immediate. Charmain shared: ‘Literally
within the first 24 hours, all of it had been sold almost, so I just kept
topping it up [the wish list] with little bits and pieces. People are just
amazing. I can’t wrap my head around it.’
For Charmain, the campaign was deeply personal: ‘It's a bit of a
different one for us this Christmas, because my mum passed away earlier on in
the year. Gayle, the home manager at Edenmore, was just brilliant and really
supportive of me, my brother Will, and dad in that time. So I just thought it'd
be a really nice thing to do something nice back for them.’
Harry has lived at Edenmore since April this year. Described as ‘a
proper London boy’ by his daughter, Harry was a chauffeur and worked for
Rolls-Royce for a time.
Charmain shared: ‘One thing that he's always been almost obsessive about
is making sure that he knows where his car keys are. So Gayle's husband made
him a little set with a tag saying Harry's keys. So he's always got his keys in
his pocket.’
Harry also worked in construction and labouring, and loves fixing
things, so the home also got him a plastic toolbox set to tinker with around
the home.
‘It was those sorts of things that made a big difference to dad's
happiness there. So when I was doing the wish list, I was making sure that I
was putting activity items in as well. So it wasn't all just about chocolates
and body spray!’
The gifts have now been dropped off at the home, along with notes from
the senders, to be sorted for Christmas Day.
Gayle, Home Manager, shared: ‘It means everything to the team and I that
Charmain thought of us. We are all truly touched by the kindness and generosity
of everyone who sent a gift. Thank you from all of us at Edenmore.’
The home’s team and family members have been busy preparing for the festive celebrations over the last few weeks, painting decorations, writing their Christmas cards and hosting their own carols-by-candlelight.
Edenmore Nursing Home offers the reassurance of 24-hour nursing care so
that help is always available when needed, without delays or waiting for
support to arrive. To find out more, visit https://www.edenmorenursinghome.com/
The Burton at Bideford has been awarded £50,000 from Art Fund, the national charity of museums and galleries, to reimagine how its collections are used and shared over the next two-years.
The funding is part of a total of £1.3 million awarded to 29 museums and galleries through the latest round of Art Fund’s Reimagine programme, supporting innovative collections projects in museums and galleries across the UK.
Burton 2101: Collections for the Future will use the backdrop of The Burton’s 75th birthday in 2026 to reimagine the role of its collections for future generations in Torridge. It will pilot projects with schools, community groups and in the public realm to find new ways to connect residents to the stories of their past, present and future.
Launched in 2020 in response to the pandemic, Reimagine was developed to address the most urgent challenges facing UK museums. This latest round focuses on collections – a cornerstone of Art Fund’s mission and one of the areas of museum practice with the greatest demand for funding.
The UK is home to some of the world’s most remarkable collections, yet the resources required to care for and interpret them are increasingly strained. Art Fund’s Museum Directors Survey in 2024 found that 56% of museums cite a lack of funding for collections as a major barrier to essential work such as digitisation, collections reviews and acquisitions.
Harriet Cooper, Director at The Burton at Bideford said:
“It has been a challenging few years for the museum sector and as The Burton at Bideford enters its 75th year in 2026 we are excited to think about the role we can play in the next 75-years of culture in Torridge. Our rich collections are at the heart of this and this vital funding from Art Fund will help us to reimagine how they are used over the next two years. ‘Burton 2101: Collections for the Future’ will see us pilot expansive collections projects, consult more closely with our local community, learn from innovative organisations across the UK, and build a long-term strategy to support art and artists in North Devon to thrive.”
Jenny Waldman, Director at Art Fund, said:
“At the core of Art Fund’s purpose is supporting museums to develop, care for and share the collections that enrich people’s lives. I'm delighted we've been able to support The Burton at Bideford through our final round of Reimagine funding, enabling museums to explore their collections, connect with communities and ensure that works of art, objects and their stories are shared and preserved for future generations.”
The Burton at Bideford was originally established in 1951 to house the collection of artist Hubert Coop RBA, gifted to the town of Bideford. The permanent collection now holds a rich array of objects and artworks that vividly capture the history of Bideford and its surrounding area.
Highlights include work by artists including Gillian Ayres, Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA FRS, Aubrey Hunt, Bertram Prance and James Ravilious; alongside one of the leading ceramics collections in the South West and the archive of Mary Stella Edwards and Judith Ackland.
This funding has been made possible thanks to support from The Kirby Laing Foundation, Art Fund members and supporters of Art Fund's Expanding Horizons appeal.
If you would like to find out more about Burton 2101: Collections for the Future and how you can get involved, please sign up to The Burton’s newsletter at www.theburton.org or get in touch at info@theburton.org.
Sundial Care Home, located in the heart of Tipton St John near Sidmouth, Devon, recently welcomed loved ones, friends, and both familiar and new faces for their Christmas Mingle. The afternoon featured a delicious festive spread prepared by the home’s Kitchen Team, alongside homemade goods brought in by team members, some of who came in specially on their days off to enjoy the event.
Zara
King, gave a wonderful performance in the home’s lounge’s, whilst family
members (residents) enjoyed an optional glass of bubbly and sang along with
loved ones and the team. Gus, a Shetland Pony from Tiny Hooves Therapy Ponies
Devon, made a special visit, spending time with family members individually and
even going in the lift to visit those who preferred to remain in the comfort of
their rooms. Mikyla, the home’s Administrator, shared, “Everyone loved it—
family member Pauline, was in tears of joy!”.
The
home also welcomed Father Christmas to the party, (Maintenance Man, Matthew) who
took time to visit each family member, chatting and handing out gifts. It was
said a lot of the ladies liked the texture of his beard and family member Joan,
even asked to try it on! With everybody n the home beautifully set for
Christmas, the event created a warm and festive experience for family members
and visitors.
Sundial Care Home, near Sidmouth, Devon, continues to nurture connections within its care community. By welcoming relatives of both current and former family members to events, the home offers a sense of familiarity and comfort, particularly during the festive season. Events such as the Christmas Mingle reflect Sundial’s caring, community-focused approach, ensuring everyone feels welcome and supported.
If you would like to learn more about
Sundial Care Home, please visit https://www.sundialcare.com/lifes-journey-continued/
For more information about Edenmore Nursing Home, visit www.edenmorenursinghome.com
Grief is not a single
moment. It isn’t just the final breath, the last phone call, or the quiet
closing of a door. Grief can begin long before goodbye, long before we
even have the words to name it.
For many, grief arrives as a slow
unravelling, not a sudden strike, but a quiet, physical breaking that aches
through the body long before the heart understands why. It comes in waves that
feel confusing and lonely, the shock that something is changing, the denial
that whispers maybe it’s not as bad as it seems, the anger that flares
at the unfairness of it all, the bargaining with life, doctors, hope itself.
Then come the heavy days of depression, the weary acceptance, and eventually,
gently the integration, when grief becomes something we fold into our lives
instead of fight against. These seven stages don’t follow rules or order. They
loop, repeat, collide. Grief is messy because love is messy.
And nowhere is this more true
than in dementia.
The grief of losing someone
who is still here
When someone we love is living
with a Dementia, we lose them in pieces.
It is a grief that feels almost
invisible, because the world often expects grief to follow death. But here,
death has not come, only the quiet, painful vanishing of the person you
remember. And that raises a question many carry in their hearts - is this grief
any different from the grief that follows death?
In truth, it isn’t.
The pain is real. The loss is
real. The longing is real.
As National Grief Awareness Week approaches, it encourages us to recognise this quieter
grief for what it is. The theme “Growing with Grief” reminds us that grief
doesn’t fade just because someone is still here. Instead, we grow around the
ache. We adjust our hearts, reshape our routines, and learn to love the person
in front of us while mourning the person they used to be.
In the everyday moments, grief
lies quietly
In social care, grief isn’t rare
or loud, it lives quietly in the day-to-day. It appears in the trembling smile
of a son who repeats himself again and again, trying to hold back the grief of
knowing his Dad no longer remembers the world they once shared. In the
soft sigh of a wife watching the person she married drift further into a world
she cannot enter. In the long pause before a carer answers the same
question again, and again, and again - with kindness, because they know it
isn’t really the question that matters, but the reassurance behind it.
These moments rarely make
headlines, but they shape the days of those who love, and those who care.
Within this grief, something else
grows too. A tenderness that wasn’t there before. A fierce patience. A
love that holds on, even through the cracks and the hurt.
Families learn to hold on to the
moments that are still left - a warm hand held tightly, a flicker of
recognition, a shared song that somehow still reaches the heart. They are small
moments, but they become everything.
You don’t have to carry grief
alone
National Grief Awareness Week is
a reminder that grief isn’t something we should carry alone. When we talk about
it, it becomes a little lighter. Stories connect us. Sharing brings comfort.
The Good Grief Trust continues to
shine a light for anyone walking through loss, whether that loss is sudden,
expected, complicated, or stretched across years of dementia. No one
should feel isolated in their grief, especially when their heart feels fragile.
This week is a chance to reach out, to talk, to really listen, and to give your grief some room, not to fix it or make it disappear, but to let a little hope grow alongside it.
National Grief Awareness Week runs from 2nd–8th December 2025
