Recently, Notre Dame’s chaplaincy team was given the wonderful opportunity to visit Burwood Grange, an old people’s home, to spend time with the residents during lunchtimes.
Every year, our school’s chaplain, Mr George, runs the Chaplaincy team which helps out with various events throughout the school year. For example, their duties include helping organise masses, charity events, and attending the recently introduced meetings with the residents of Burwood Grange.
Every other week, a group of around four girls are invited to spend a lunchtime at the care-home, talking with the elderly residents whilst eating their lunch. Mr George even kindly drives the minibus himself as we take the journey to Burwood Grange. Last week, my friends and I attended one of these meetings, and we had an absolutely fantastic time.
According to Mr George, “I am delighted that we have the opportunity to take students to spend some time with some of the older neighbours in our local community. There is so much mutual benefit and enrichment to be gained. Seeing students and care home residents interact, it is wonderful to observe the way that news, stories, laughter and affection are shared across the generations.”
During this meeting, we were given a small tour of the care home, and it was lovely to see the wonderful, ornate interior as well as modern exterior of the site. I sat at a table of four lovely ladies (one of whom was 89 years old!), and we discussed topics such as their experience here and their families. It seems to me that this care come looks after them splendidly, which shows that the amazing workers there deserve a lot of appreciation and respect.
Overall, the visit was incredibly enjoyable and I feel very lucky to have been able to have spent some time there - we all wished that we could have stayed for longer when we had to return to school. A big thank you to our wonderful chaplain, Mr George, for organising these visits, and I hope to go back to Burwood Grange soon.
