Three Arts Festival
20th March 2019
Click through for Sevenoaks Chronicle article, dated 14th March with mention of Rockdale.
News
Keep up to date with all the latest news from Rockdale and browse our in-house magazine online
Hellebores
20th March 2019
Our beautiful Hellebores, enjoying a glimmer of sun!
Hellebores are sometimes known as the Christmas or Lenten rose and are perennial garden plants with elegant flowers, perfect for brightening up some of our shady areas during late winter and early spring.
Knit-a-Chick campaign for Hospice in the Weald
13th March 2019
Our residents are supporting the Knit-a-Chick campaign for Hospice in the Weald.
The chicks will be sold at the Hospice reception and in their 27 charity shops to raise vital funds for the Hospice.
How cute are these? 🐥
Summer house foundation
12th March 2019
Luckily, we enjoyed some dry weather last Thursday, when cement arrived for our new summer house foundation. We are waiting for another dry and calm day (certainly not today!), for the next stage of the summer house build.
Kent Police community placement
7th March 2019
The residents and staff at Rockdale House were delighted to enjoy the company of PC Wayne over the last few days, whilst with us on his community placement for Kent Police.
Our residents enjoyed activities with Wayne, such as Jenga, carpet Bowls, exercise classes with musical instruments and just having a good chat. Happy to turn his hand to anything, Wayne also got stuck into some housekeeping and helped residents who asked him to do something for them, like fix their razor.
Anita Cleugh, CEO at Rockdale said, “We feel very privileged to be part of the Kent Police Community Placement Scheme, which forms an element of equality and inclusion training for all new Police Officers in Kent. The Scheme provides the Officers with a chance to practice communication styles and interact with a range of diverse groups they may have had limited involvement with perhaps in the past, which can be daunting especially for the younger Officers. Our residents also really enjoy the additional attention, making full use of any extra skills the Officers may have. It’s a great scheme and Rockdale House is very proud it is able to help shape the Police Officers of the future.”
Wayne echoed our feedback and said it was an extremely positive experience all round.
Thank you PC Wayne for your time, commitment and energy over the last few days, we all very much appreciate it.
PC Wayne is pictured with Jean and Dorcus, two members of the team at Rockdale.
Lucky Lawrie celebrates his 100th Birthday
28th February 2019
We were delighted to celebrate Squadron Leader Jack Lawrence’s 100th birthday with him this week. A resident here at Rockdale, Jack is known as Lucky Lawrie.
Read Jack’s incredible story in the Sevenoaks Chronicle this week and by clicking here.
Along with Queen Elizabeth II, family and friends, we wish Jack a very happy 100th Birthday!
Supporting our community
We were very pleased to be able to support Kent Police with their Community Care Project recently, offering a placement for a Police Officer in training.
Sian joined us for four days and met many of our residents in Rockdale House, both on a 1:1 and in the communal areas. The residents very much enjoyed Sian’s company, as did we.
We wish Sian all the best for her future career with Kent Police.
Our gardens are springing to life!
The gardens at Rockdale are springing into life and enjoying this early warmth and sunshine as much as we are!
Sevenoaks Three Arts Festival
Sevenoaks Three Arts Festival
We are delighted to be a friend of the Sevenoaks Three Arts Festival this year. Our residents can enjoy all these events for free. Please see the website below for more information.
Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition 2019
Sunday 3 March from 10.30am
at Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks
Supported by Sevenoaks District Arts Council (which is funded by Sevenoaks District Council),
Sevenoaks Town Council, Sevenoaks School, Reid Sohn Pi
More dates for the diary:
Saturday 8, Sunday 9, Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 June 2019
Prizewinner’s Concert & Presentation of Awards
Saturday 22 June 2019
The concert is presented as part of the Sevenoaks Summer Festival
Exciting kitchen plans for the Beatrice Wilson Common Room are becoming a reality!
31 January 2019
The Beatrice Wilson Common Room will soon enjoy a new, much larger kitchen! The picture from today shows that work is very much underway and in two weeks, it is hoped that the kitchen extension and refurbishment will be finished. We will share pictures with you as work progresses over this time. (more…)
Snowdrops
31 January 2019
We are experiencing the first of the snow, here in Sevenoaks and at Rockdale the beautiful snowdrops are starting to appear in front of Rockdale House.
Our 2019 Calendar is still available to purchase
21 January 2019
Our 2019 calendar is still available to purchase from the Lodge. They are £5.00 each and the calendar features art created by our people living here at Rockdale.
Margaret is Leaving
Today we sadly said goodbye to one of our key volunteers at Rockdale House, Margaret Lee. For nearly ten years Margaret and her partner in crime Penny have manned the Rockdale Shop for our residents offering them the opportunity to personally purchase that extra little something they fancy or need.
For our residents who find it more difficult to get to the shops the weekly visit of the Rockdale Shop, on Wednesdays, has proved invaluable and the time they spend at both Rockdale House amongst residents, as well as on their frequent trips to the supermarkets to stock up, is greatly appreciated.
On the other hand, we are delighted to announce that long term Rockdale friends Maggie Collins will be taking over Margaret’s role working alongside Penny. Maggie worked in Rockdale House for 12 years and, therefore, for some residents will be a welcome and familiar face behind the tills and the chocolate bars!
Folkestone Trip
On a very blustery Wednesday a group of residents set off on a trip to Folkestone. We were lunching at the Grand Hotel on the Victorian “Leas” but first we visited the Battle of Britain Memorial perched along the white cliffs on the Dover Road. This was a wonderful place to wander around workhorses of WW2; The Spitfire and The Hurricane.
One could almost imagine them taking off from the cliff top and flying into the distance across the sea towards France. Unfortunately we could not see across to France due to the weather. After coffee we boarded the coach and headed towards Folkestone town. The dining room was certainly grand with large crystal chandeliers sparkling down onto white table linen.
After lunch some of us braved the elements and were blown along the promenade, enjoying the sea air. We were looked after so well by the staff of the hotel and the cheerful coach driver. A truly lovely day out.
News and Views Magazine
What’s On
