January 29th, 2008: A letter of thanks.
I am writing to tell you, once again, how grateful I am for the wonderful care that you and your staff gave my father, especially in the last days of his life.
When he moved out of Sandy Cross while the re-building took place, I really did not expect that he would ever return, but he was absolutely determined that he would. I am so glad that he was able to get his wish; the new building is wonderful - light and airy and uplifting - but it is the staff who make it so special. Everyone, from the cooks and cleaners, to the staff and nurses, clearly understands the importance of treating the residents as individuals, and giving them the kindness, respect, care and dignity they deserve. I think you should be very proud in having done such a fantastic job, both in choosing the staff and in the continuing day-to-day assessment and training that maintains such high standards.
Your help and support in persuading the hospital that my father was better off at home was absolutely invaluable. It's hard to express how much we all appreciated the care and consideration that not just he, bit his entire family received in his last days. The sensitivity in allowing us to spend as much time we needed with him, being able to stay overnight, and the constant supply of tea, coffee and meals supported us through those last difficult days. But as well as all the practicalities, the staff were simply wonderful in the emotional support they gave us. A member of the family said that the level of care we all received was equal to that of a hospice, and as she works in one as a grief counsellor, she should know.
I truly believe that Pickering House is setting a standard in the care of the elderly that should be emulated by every care home in the country. I just wish that every one could spend their last years in such a sympathetic environment.
Please send my family's thanks and best wishes to all your staff.
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Inside the journalists' care home by Dominic Ponsford (Press Gazette 17.08.07): 20 August 2007
Built at a cost of £4m, Pickering House, the Journalists' Charity's state-of-the-art new nursing home in Surrey, provides accommodation and care for retired journalists and their dependants.
Here we have an exclusive peek behind its doors and speak to some of its residents.
Toiling daily in the vineyard of news, it is perhaps comforting to know that after a lifetime of page leads, door-steps and deadlines, journalists can look forward to spending their dotage in a top-class nursing home.
Pickering House, on the outskirts of Dorking was opened by Countess of Wessex on September 12th 2007.
Built at a cost of £4m, Pickering House -named after former Daily Express editor and News International executive Ted Pickering - can justifiably be described as state of the art. Set in three acres (1.20ha), the home has 20 en-suite rooms for residents, a library, gym, hairdressers, games room, chapel and a well-stocked bar (provided courtesy of Sir Ray Tindle).
And of course, no community of journalists would be complete without a newsletter, Risca - it comes out once a month, written by resident Marhita Wearing, a former newspaper reporter with the South East London Mercury and Kentish Times, among others.
The building is light and airy - without any of the atmosphere of an institution - and evidently built to high architectural standards around a glass-domed, three-storey central atrium. So far, seven residents have moved in, and up the road at Harmsworth House there is sheltered housing for up to another 10 people. Pickering House, which provides nursing care rather than being a retirement home, charges fees for those who can afford it, while the Journalists' Charity tops up local authority funding for those who can't.
According to deputy director Anne Moxham: "We try very hard to accommodate everybody who wants a place. If anyone wants to they can come and have a look around - we then talk to their GP and decide whether it is right for them. Sometimes they may decide that they need to wait a few years before they are ready."
She adds:"If somebody's a journalist, or a widow of a journalist, they usually find someone they know in here or find they have friends in common. It's a bit like the forces - everybody knows everybody else."
The home's manager, Helen Tomlinson, says: "The good thing about caring for journalists is that they are interesting and they are interested. They are very interested in the staff, which is nice for them because it's a hard job, and it's nice when people want to know about them as well."
So far just £1.5m of the £4m need to pay for the care home has been raised by the Journalists' Charity. As well as paying for the construction and upkeep of Pickering House, the Journalists' Charity annually makes hardship grants of £250,000 to former journalists and their dependents.
Arthur Garrett, 94 who sadly died in December 2007 talked to the Press Gazette at the opening of Pickering House .
Arthur Garrett started his career on the Hampshire Telegraph and Post.
"I was unable to get into journalism because I didn't have enough education at the time. At my first inteview they said: 'You would make a good compositor'.
"That didn't appeal to me very much - but as this was the best they could offer I thought being a compositor was better than being outside of print."
Mr Garrett served his apprenticeship - getting some experience of journalism at the same time - before serving in the RAF medical Corps during the Second World War, first during the Blitz and then in North Africa.
"I'd written a lot when I was overseas, and the people who worked in journalism were impressed and they offered me a job as soon as I got back," he says.
Of his time at the Hampshire Telegraph and Post he says: "We covered Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and parts of West Sussex. It was a lively paper and had a pretty high standard - I enjoyed working for them. I finished up as editor of a group of weeklies and an evening."
Recalling what journalism was like in those days, he says: "I think it was quite a different style of journalism - people produced stories in a different way. I enjoyed my life as a journalist but I don't think I would enjoy life as a journalist today in the same way. It's always been pretty cut throat, but people had a certain standard: there were things people wouldn't do that they would perhaps do today."
"I enjoy it here, it's a wonderful life," he says of Pickering House. "I strongly recommend it to anyone."
Gwen Thompson, 95
At 95, Gwen Thompson (above) is the oldest resident of Pickering House.
Her husband, John, was a sports writer for the Daily Mirror, and went on to run his own magazines. His ambition from the age of eight was to work on Fleet Street, and he joined the Mirror as a reporter in 1936, when he was 20. Mrs Thompson recalls going to Rio with Arsenal once, and taking Yehudi Menuhin to watch Stanley Matthews play.
Mrs Thompson has fond memories of Fleet Street and enjoying the company of journalists.
"When they used to go into a bar they would sing 'Cigarettes and whisky and wild, wild women'," she says. "I was very glad I married a journalist, and not the other man I was going to marry.
It was a great life; we were welcomed everywhere and we had the best of everything. You couldn't let the name of your paper down, so they paid for you everywhere."
Journalists' Charity chairman Robert Warren this week urged news organisations to make a contribution to do their bit for Pickering House.
"We are immensely proud of our new care home, which will be there to serve a generation of journalists and their dependents. As a council of trustees we have worked hard and taken the tough decision to build it. Now is the time for all journalists and media organisations to do their bit. '' he said.
"News International, Associated Newspapers and the Harmsworth Trust, Telegraph Newspapers, Guardian Media Group and Tindle Newspapers have been magnificent in their support and came up with £850,000 between them. We need to double that.
"I am still hoping Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers will pitch in, and there is every reason why they should. We have, for example, spent £60,000 in grants to former Express staff over the past few years.
"I urge individual journalists across the country, whether they are working in broadcasting, online or print, to put the Journalists' Charity first when they stage raffles, collections or sponsored events.
"But the best way to help us is by making a Direct Debit. You can do that online and you won't feel the pain.
"Finally, please remember us in your will. For the charity will be here long after you are gone."
If you are interested in Pickering House or wish to apply please call 01306 887511
