Monmouth Care Home Shares Life Story of Resident

For many families, choosing a care home is about more than finding the right support. It is about knowing the person they love will continue to be recognised and respected for who they are, the life they have lived, and supported to continue enjoying the things that have always brought them happiness.

Team members at Gibraltar Nursing Home spend time getting to know every family member (resident) as an individual, learning about their routines, preferences and the experiences.

For some family members, and where they and their loved ones wish, this understanding is taken a step further by having a life story written about them and these stories can help build a deeper picture of the person beyond their care needs and can make a real difference to everyday life.

Whether it is encouraging someone to engage in something they have always loved, like baking, painting, listen to familiar music or simply reminiscing about treasured memories, these personal details help shape meaningful occupation, conversations, routines and support truly person-centred care.

Told through stories and memories shared with her daughter, Alison, this is Adele’s story.

Early Life and the War

Adele was born in December 1933, in East London, to her parents Sydney and Alice. Alice was a waitress, and Sydney was a licensed victualler assistant. They lived in the rooms above a corner shop in Battersea. Adele was an only child, and started school at the age of three, where she learned to read and write at this incredibly young age!

When war was declared on the 1st of September 1939, Adele was just five years old. She had been visiting the cemetery with her mum, and on their way home, a man pulled up in a car and told them that war had been declared and to get home quickly.

Shortly after this she was put on a bus with other children (parents weren’t permitted to go with them on transport) and remembers arriving at the station and getting on a steam train. She had one suitcase with two of everything inside it, though is adamant she never had a gas mask. Adele was completely lost and confused as to what was going on, having left her aunt and cousins behind at her home in London. It must have been an incredibly frightening experience for a five-year-old, yet it was the first of many moments throughout her life that showed her resilience.

She was evacuated from the East End of London to Caldicot (which was considered to be England at the time!) and went to live with a foster family. It was a difficult transition for her and she was quite unhappy, struggling to adapt to this new life. In December of that year her mother came to visit Adele at her new foster home. She wasn’t comfortable with the arrangement and spoke to the billeting officer about finding Adele somewhere else to live.

A lady called Lizzie worked at the house and spent a great deal of time with Adele. Seeing how unsettled she was, Lizzie offered to foster her herself. The arrangement was agreed, and over the years the pair formed an incredibly close bond. Lizzie became a source of comfort, stability and love during those difficult wartime years, and Adele still keeps a photograph of her in her room today.

When the bombing of the East End of London subsided, she was finally able to return home. But the safety was short-lived. Germany soon began launching V1 flying bombs, known as ‘doodlebugs’, over London, and once again she had to leave her family home behind.

This time she was evacuated to Lytham in St Anne’s near Blackpool, as the V1 bombs couldn’t reach that far North. She remained there until the war was drawing to a close, finally returning home in 1945 – just a few months before her twelfth birthday.

Adele attended school in Caldicot, and a school for girls in London when she returned home. She always enjoyed English, especially reading and writing, and has always had an eclectic taste in books, with a particular affinity for anything historical like Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. She still enjoys flicking through books now and likes to watch the subtitles on the television.

She was also a beautiful artist and would have liked to go to art college, however, opportunities at that time we’re limited so she was unable to go. This didn’t stop her though; she pursued her creativity on her own and some of her artwork is displayed in her room today. She was also a prolific knitter, crocheter and embroiderer!

After moving back to London, Adele would come back to Caldicot to visit Lizzie and her foster family once a year. This is how she met her future husband, Douglas, (who was actually the younger half-brother of Lizzie!) who Adele had known throughout her childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

Family Life and Working Years

After leaving school, Adele trained as a nursery nurse before going on to work in nursing. She stepped away from completing her training after marrying Douglas at the age of 19. The couple were married at St Mary’s Church in Caldicot and, on their wedding day, walked across the fields to the church together!

Adele and Douglas had three children, two sons and a daughter. Sadly, Douglas later became unwell with a heart condition. Quite unconventional for the time, Adele returned to work while Douglas stayed at home to care for the children. Determined to provide for her family, she took on a variety of different roles over the years, often sharing stories with her children about the interesting places she had worked.

For a time, Adele worked as a clerk at Adam’s Grocery Store, where she got the job because of her beautiful handwriting. Her role involved hand-writing everyone’s bills and, although adding them all up proved a little more challenging at first, she soon got the hang of it.

She later returned to nursing as an auxiliary nurse, where one of her favourite jobs was whitening the surgeon’s theatre shoes! The surgeon always preferred Adele to do them because she took such pride in making them look their best.

Never one to shy away from trying something new, Adele also worked in catering and bartending at Caldicot Leisure Centre. It was there that she once met Prince Philip and, on another memorable occasion, accidentally dropped a trifle onto a guest’s back while serving dessert – a tale she would be unlikely to forget in a hurry!

Later, as a staff cook at Somerfield Supermarket, Adele became well known for her legendary cooked breakfasts. In fact, people who worked there still talk about them to this day.

Adele’s daughter Alison shares about this time, ‘Because she worked so much of the time, any time I had with her was precious. Money was always scarce, but she would show her love and appreciation by making things for you, like knitting a bobble hat or a jumper. She would knit or hand sew dolls clothes for me, and even made an oven for me out a cardboard box and sticky back plastic. She always showed how much she cared by doing something practical.’

As family life evolved and her children grew older, Adele remained as active and creative as ever, embracing new interests while continuing to care deeply for those around her.

Adele’s Journey into Care

During her retirement, Adele joined the newly formed Caldicot U3A and became the scrabble convenor, something she thoroughly enjoyed! She was also an avid gardener and treasured any opportunity to spend time in the garden whenever the weather allowed.

Adele even taught herself Italian and enjoyed visiting Italy quite frequently. She still finds a phrase or two today!

She lived independently until she was diagnosed with mixed vascular dementia in 2022. As time went on, it became progressively more difficult for her family to support her safely at home, and a few years later she moved into a residential care home.

As Adele became more unwell and was admitted to hospital for a time, it was decided that her care needs had increased and that she now required nursing care, meaning the family needed to begin looking for a new home for her.

Reflecting on that time, Alison said, ‘We were really impressed with the person-centred approach of the staff at Gibraltar when we had our initial visit. We also liked the way everything was laid out into what they call “streets”.’

At Gibraltar Nursing Home, each floor is known as a street and is made up of smaller households, with the people living there reflecting similar care needs. For family members living with a Dementia or on a cognitive journey, this means they may move between different households during their time at the home, depending on where they are in their journey.

As the home puts it, ‘The people who live with us won’t always stay in their first household, but Gibraltar is always their home.’

Alison shared, ‘It felt light, airy and relatively modern compared to some of the other care homes we had visited. All the staff at Gibraltar are brilliant, and I’ve got to know many of them now. It took Adele a little while to settle, but it’s been seven months now and she seems happy and content, which speaks volumes.’

Life at Gibraltar

Today, although creative pastimes such as painting and drawing have become more difficult due to the reduced feeling in her fingers, Adele still enjoys taking part in some of the art workshops at the home with support from the team. She has also joined the home’s gardening club, Sunshine and Soil, which meets once a week, giving her the opportunity to spend time in the garden, chat with others and reminisce, something she really enjoys.

Music also brings Adele great enjoyment. She has always loved opera, particularly La Bohème, and looks forward to the home’s weekly musical Touchwood sessions, where everyone is invited to sing along and play instruments if they wish. As a naturally sociable person, she enjoys spending time with others in the lounge and will often sing to fellow family members.

The little things remain important to Adele too. She takes great pride in her surroundings, enjoying keeping things tidy and organised, happily putting things away and making sure everything is in its place. These familiar routines continue to reflect the person she has always been.

Adele’s family remains an important part of her life. Today she has seven Grandchildren, and three Great Grandchildren. Her Daughter Alison, Son David and Daughter in Law Sue visit her regularly. Alison and Adele remain incredibly close.

To read more stories about the events, activities, and people living and working at Gibraltar Nursing Home, please click here.