Care home residents write touching notes for locals

Care home residents have been praised for writing encouraging notes for people in their local community.

Orchard House Care Home, in Cambridgeshire Fens, said its residents had written quotes on cards which staff then placed on people's cars in the area.

Wally, 92, one of the residents involved in the project, said: "I was feeling a little low, and I wanted to write these messages to make me feel better and cheer myself up, not realising that it would travel around so much."

Dom Stannard, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, received one of the notes and said the gesture was "lovely" and the "small act of kindness goes far".

Honey Berry, one of the staff members, said she came up with the idea after seeing a different care home on social media doing a similar act of kindness.

"It's not only impacted the community, it's impacted the residents that have done it as well, and it's just been really lovely all-round for everyone involved," said Berry.

She said she also delivered flowers with the notes, and it was amazing to see people's reactions and "the smiles and the conversation that it brought to the wider community".

The team delivered the notes across Wisbech, including at the Alan Hudson Centre, the police station and the ambulance bay at North Cambridgeshire Hospital.

Officers based in the town from Cambridgeshire Police posted on social media that they had received a note from Wally.

The post said: "Last week, one of our officers came back to their car to find this lovely bunch of flowers and a note from a member of the public.

"Thank you so much for this kind gesture; it really brightened up our day."

Wally said: "Making myself feel happy was making someone else feel happy and smile.

"If I have achieved something from writing this note and making someone smile or feel happy, then my job is done. I hope they find happiness for a long time."

Other people had taken to social media to express their delight at receiving the gestures, with one stating: "The phrase really touched me and made me smile."

Harold and Dorothy, who have been married for nearly 30 years, joined in with writing the notes.

Dorothy, 92, said: "It's good that it's made someone happy and smile."

She said she enjoyed doing it and was looking forward to doing more.

Harold, 88, said he had heard that the notes had made "a lot of people happy", adding: "I wrote the messages as it's what I believe."

Stannard, who is also a teacher at Marshland High School in Wisbech, said he saw the note from Dorothy after coming home from taking students on a trip to Orlando, in Florida.

"I was ready to go to bed, and it was good timing," he said.

"It was really nice as my role is head of character and culture at the school and I talk to children about small acts of kindness."

Sarah Watson, general manager of the care home, said: "It's just amazing to see the reaction from everybody and the joy that it brings to everybody because, you know, it's quite hard at the moment with everything going on.

"I'm stuck for words... It's quite emotional."

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