Exhibit of eight decades of embroidery experience
AN EMBROIDERY exhibition was held at Mandale House Care Home – showcasing work from a resident with over 80 years’ experience with a needle. The event took place at Mandale House Care Home, in Thornaby, near Middlesbrough, where 89-year-old resident Mavis Thomas displayed her artwork. Mavis was only five-years-old when her grandmother bought her first pair of knitting needles and she was winning embroidery and cross stitch competitions by the time she was 19. In the seven decades since, she has often been commissioned to do needlework, which includes complex designs such as street scenes and landmarks, portraits of ballet dancers and children. After moving into Mandale House Care Home at the end of 2018, staff asked Mavis if they could hold an exhibition of her embroidery, hanging them in a recently redecorated hallway. Thornaby Town Council Mayor Cllr Steve Walmsley and Mayoress Sheila Walmsley were among the guests at the exhibition, which also included family, friends, residents and staff at the home. Mayoress Walmsley knows Mavis and her daughter Brenda Burton from Thornaby Methodist Church and they enjoyed catching up on shared acquaintances and family members at the event. Fellow residents also enjoyed viewing Mavis’s artworks before afternoon tea with the visiting dignitaries and other guests. Mavis said: “Thank you so much to everyone who organised this. I’ve had a lovely day.” Louise Clements, home manager at Mandale House Care Home, said: “Mavis’s artworks are stunning and unique. When she moved into the home around six months ago, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to showcase her embroidery after carrying out refurbishments. The exhibition was a huge success and we’re delighted the Mayor and Mayoress could join us and officially open the event. All our residents agreed that it’s great to have Mavis’s work on display and they are now lining one of our corridors.” For more information about Mandale House Care Home please visit https://www.hillcare.net
Care home residents remember at Thornaby War Memorial
TEESSIDE care home residents, Mandale House Care Home, were among those to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Thornaby War Memorial. Residents and staff from Mandale House Care Home were joined by army, navy and police cadets, civic officials and pupils from schools across the town. Among the care home residents were Second World War Merchant Navy veteran Leonard Harnden, alongside Billy James and Peter Wilson. Peter said: “It was a lovely ceremony. My dad lost his leg in the war.” Jane Ewart, carer at Mandale House Care Home, on Acklam Road, said: “We like to bring the residents to the ceremony as they all appreciate it. Plus, the pleasure gardens are just near Mandale House, so it’s an easy stroll for them.” Julie Walker, customer relations officer at the Hill Care Group, which operates Mandale House Care Home, also attended the service in Thornaby. She said: “It’s so important to remember the sacrifices of our young men who marched off to war. And also the people who returned but continued to suffer from their experiences in the trenches of Belgium and France. My grandfather, John Godwin, and his best friend, Freddy Mennell, were conscripted in 1916. Through a great deal of luck, they both survived the war, but they could never speak of the horrors they had seen. We owe all to the people of those times a great debt. Not just the members of the armed forces but also the women who worked in the munitions factories and stepped into traditional men’s roles to keep the country going.” Mandale House Care Home is part of the Hill Care Group. For further information visit www.hillcare.net.
