This month at
Manor House in Upwood, which provides residential, nursing and nursing dementia care, Residents and Colleagues have been paying their tributes for Remembrance Day and Sunday.
As November has come around again, the Manor House Residents prepared to mark the anniversary of the fallen for Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday. Residents have been decorating poppy wreaths and placed them around the home as well as painting the windows and putting flags around the care home.
Residents had shared their stories and complied them together to make a booklet of their memories of the second world war. Elvira, a Resident at Manor House, was serving in the RAF after volunteering when war broke out, she was working as a wireless operative counting and tracking planes, which was how she met her husband through morse code.
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I remember we were out in London for the day when war broke out and we heard the sirens.
I signed up for the R.A.F and worked as a wireless operative on the airfield. I would be in charge of counting and tracking the planes that came in and out and where they were heading.
I met my husband Jimmy through Morse code, we communicated this way and once he sent a code to say “I Love You” which the girls I worked with came to tell me.
War didn’t bother us too much, it was a way of life and I felt safer on the airbase than anywhere else. “When war ceased, I was on the airbase and we celebrated until we were put back onto duty.”
Rosemary, another Resident recalls soldiers using her father’s farm as a stop gap to refill their supplies before being posted to an unknown location.
“One time I can remember entering my dad’s workshop to find soldiers there that had stopped through on passing that were cutting up their corn beef rations ready for their next stop.
The booklet is filled with Residents accounts such as these, and was handed out to Colleagues, Residents and Relatives.
Residents also took part in a service on the 11
th and held a two-minute silence with everybody at the care home. On the 14
th there was a service at the Upwood church for Remembrance Sunday, to thank and reflect on past conflicts. Reverend June made a special thanks and prayed for the Residents and staff during this time. Hymns and prayers were sang, with the service being finished off with the National Anthem to the Queen.
Winnie, a Resident at Manor House said “I was anxious at first to be going ot the church for the first time since covid, but I am very glad I went and took part. It has made me very proud of myself to pay tributes to the fallen and their sacrifice”.
Bheki, the Home Manager said, “It was lovely to see the Residents pulling together and really taking their time-sharing stories, its been wonderful to witness and listen to the accounts”.