A care home in Worsley has been accepting postcards of kindness in hopes of tackling loneliness within the elderly community.
Postcards of Kindness is an initiative that asks people to write and send postcards to residents of care homes.
Alderwood Care Home in Worlsey have received postcards from across the world since signing up to the appeal.
It all started by Tina Lowe, activity coordinator from Alderwood, wanting to do something special for the residents.
She said: “I didn’t want it where the door was just closed for people. I wanted it where you could have that link to the outside.”
Tina started by asking friends to sent postcards. The main question circulating was, ‘why postcards?’
She explained: “For this generation in this care home that is what they did. They went on holidays with their children and sent postcards.” She continued: “So if they see a postcard now they remember what they did with their children, where they went on holidays. It’s great for reminiscing”
The residents at Alderwood, on Simpson Road, display all their postcards that they have received from up and down the country by pinning them to a wall in their living room.
Tina said: “We have had some from a school, a whole class. We’ve had them from Los Angeles, Canada. We have a really interesting one where somebody is in the theatre, and they send us one every month to six weeks from each theatre they are working in which is really interesting to follow them around.”
She also said: “The residents walk past the cards and they will stop and read one card. They go past another time and they will read another card.”
“But when you take the card off and hand it to them they love it. They think it is amazing that someone has sent them a card because it is to them.”
“They feel like forgotten people in here, because they don’t choose to be here, they have to be here. People outside saying ‘we remember you, here’s something to say hello’, the residents really enjoy it. They love hearing from all the generations, from school children to all over the world.”
“There was one we got from the whole class as school, sending in from their holiday, there was different places that they had gone on holidays and what had happened. It was funny reading how they interpret things. We were laughing at how they said ‘crocodile’ or how they spelt some words.”
“The postcards of kindness is about kindness, they are sending it to say ‘hello, you are not forgotten.’ You don’t have to reply to them because it is not an open link, some people do. Other care homes and younger children would like a reply, which is a great opportunity for us, so we sit down and have a writing session where the residents tell me what they would like to put on the card.”
Tina explained that is has been an overall positive response and that the residents have loved.
She explained: “The more the merrier, we want lots of cards, we just want that people remember that there are older people out here that need the younger people to tell them what is going on in the world.”
If you want to write your own postcard, pick a design of your choice, write your message and send it to ‘Alderwood Care Home, Simpson Road, Worsley, M28 1LT’
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