Lovell Later Living - influencing and shaping the future provision of housing appropriate for people in later life, ready for whatever the future holds! At Lovell Later Living we recognise the importance of creating places to provide an environment for people to live and age well within their communities, in homes that are suited to their needs now while also being future ready.
As a valued partner operating across the UK, we are fast becoming the national development partner of choice for later living housing solutions. Working closely with Local Authorities and Registered Providers to create developments through intelligent design and build solutions, Lovell Later Living are accelerating the delivery of aspirational solutions for people in later life.
Through these partnerships and the support of our parent company, Lovell Partnerships Ltd, we are able to offer a choice of solutions for quality living experiences appropriate for all stages of Later Life:
- Life Long Homes: homes for private sale and rent for the over 55s.
- Extra Care Housing: housing with care through partnerships with Local Authorities and Registered Providers.
- Registered Specialist Care Homes: through partnerships with Local Authorities and the private sector.
https://lovelllaterliving.co.uk/about-us/ (opens new window)
Food Angels, Harrogate More than just a good neighbour
Harrogate Neighbours is an exemplar Housing Association which is constantly innovating, redeveloping and modernising its care offerings for older people across the Harrogate District and the neighbouring boroughs in North Yorkshire.
When the organisation was founded, the objective was first and foremost to provide affordable, quality residential care for older people. That pledge still remains the aim today, but its services have greatly evolved. Harrogate Neighbours now provides a range of support, tailored to meet the needs of the individual people it works with.
An award-winning service
The not-for-profit organisation, with charitable status, has now developed a variety of services all designed to provide compassion, care and comfort while innovating during challenging times. With the provision of essential services with a modern outlook and a strong volunteer foundation, the organisation has adapted and grown throughout the pandemic which culminated in its ‘crowning glory’ - Harrogate and Ripon Food Angels being awarded a Queen’s Award.
Delivering quality retirement living
The organisation launched The Cuttings just over three years ago, an extra care scheme which drove forward its shared ambition of expanding the choice of high quality retirement housing to support people in later life. The scheme in Harrogate, close to Starbeck station, has 55 apartments and are a mix of one- & two-bedroom apartments and studio flats. Each apartment is fully equipped and offer complete security and privacy.
Harrogate Neighbours also prides itself in delivering exceptional care services and helping older people remain independent, as well as safe and protected. Its services enrich the lives of so many people and the organisation is proud of the difference it’s making. All its staff and volunteers are trained to the highest standards. Its aims are not just to simply comply with the relevant CQC, health and safety and food hygiene regulations but to go above and beyond what is required.
Sue Cawthray, CEO of Harrogate Neighbours, said:
“Every person is unique and has unique needs. We don’t dictate to people what services they should have; we give them freedom and the choice to make the decisions that feel right for them. Compassion, care and comfort are our focus and we treat everyone with respect.”
Sue has also been at the forefront of driving up standards of nutrition within the care industry. As well as her involvement with the National Association of Care Catering, where she is currently in her third year as National Chair, she has also been a member of a national working group that developed a nutritional screening tool for people living in sheltered housing and published the ‘Good Practice Guide - Addressing Malnutrition’.
Food Angels - the Queen’s Award of Voluntary Service
She has long championed the benefits of community meals in helping to reduce the incidence of malnutrition, social isolation and helping older people who still live at home to remain independent. This culminated nearly 10 years’ ago with the launch of Harrogate Food Angels which delivers a freshly prepared meal five days a week to older customers in the area.
This service was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - the highest form of recognition a voluntary group can receive in the UK. Its team of dedicated volunteers prepare and deliver over 150 fresh, hot meals every day to older people and in many cases, socially isolated people in Harrogate and Ripon who without the service may not be in a position to cook a meal for themselves.
For their beneficiaries it provides indispensable life enhancing service that directly supports public policy. What makes Harrogate and Ripon Food Angels exceptional is the outstanding quality of every aspect of their operation - innovative delivery, exemplary volunteer training and support, successful business engagement - combined with effectiveness and benefits that extend far beyond the delivery of meals.
One of Sue’s customers, Mrs. Shavley, expressed how many people have found the team’s support essential:
“Thank you everyone at food angels, really don’t know how mum and myself would have coped without your daily meal delivery. You have all literally been a life and sanity savers.”
Sue added:
“Every day hundreds of older people in Harrogate and the surrounding areas feel lonely and isolated. Our purpose is to help as many of these people as possible to live happy, comfortable lives with the respect they deserve.”
“Our services are tailored to individual needs, from simply delivering a freshly prepared hot meal every day, right through to providing round the clock care in our residential homes. We have an extremely dedicated team, who provide older people with the care and support they need.”
Food Angels and Covid-19
With the onset of the pandemic, Sue and her team have diversified further, innovating to extend their offering with The Baking Station, raising funds through the supply of artisanal Afternoon Tea boxes or Macaroon boxes, available for either collection or local delivery with 10% of all proceeds being donated to Resurrected Bites. This service has allowed people to enjoy special occasions when little else was available for celebrations.
The onset of the pandemic has seen volunteer organisations stretched throughout the country and Sue and her team have been no different, working hard throughout to maintain their regular, essential services while also providing vital support to local lunch clubs during the lock downs, maintaining the provision of lunch meals to those in need when they could no longer go out and meet and eat together, delivering them directly with the help of local volunteers. In addition, the Harrogate and Rippon Food Angels worked with Harrogate Borough Council for nearly 6 months at the heart of the pandemic, providing the 3 meals a day to the homeless individuals who were given temporary shelter by the Council.
Paula Broadbent, Managing Director at Lovell Later Living, said:
“Harrogate Neighbours mirrors our own core values of helping people to live and age well as independently as possible, but with support when and if needed.”
“Sue and her team are an inspiration as they continue, against the odds presented by the current social care crisis, to make a profound impact on people’s lives through their support. This is particularly evident through the socially active and inclusive extra care facility they operate and of course, through the ‘Food Angels’. Providing this service has never been more important than during the recent pandemic as it is well documented how meal times can have a deeply significant impact on the physical and mental well-being of individuals and Sue and her team rose to the challenges presented, enhancing their services, extending their reach throughout the Harrogate area and diversifying to meet the urgent needs of their community.”
Summary of what Harrogate Neighbours offers:
- Heath Lodge: 28 Bed Residential Home and a unit for Specialist Dementia Care
- The Cuttings: Extra Care Housing with 55 Flats offering a mix of studios, 1 and 2 bed apartments.
- Greenfield Court Care: Domiciliary Care Services
- The Baking Station: Innovation in generating additional income
- Function Room Facilities: Innovation in generating additional income
- Harrogate and Ripon Food Angels: A modern take on ‘Meals on Wheels’ - Winner of the Queen’s Award
And finally
Lovell Later Living are proud to sponsor the Housing LIN.
More about Harrogate and Ripon Food Angels (opens new window)
Also, join Sue and Paula at the opening session of the Housing LIN’s Virtual Summit - A Festival of Ideas - on 6 December 2021.
Register here