Knorr-Bremse Local Care for Leonard Cheshire

LEONARD Cheshire Disability, a charity supporting disabled people in the UK and around the world to fulfil their potential and live the lives they choose. has received a helping hand from staff at the Melksham facility of Knorr-Bremse Rail UK.

a Leonard Cheshire nursing home for those with physical disabilities, called Greathouse, is located in Kington Langley, near Chippenham. The Knorr-Bremse staff based in Melksham, through their ‘Local Care’ initiative, have supported Greathouse over a number of years now. but their latest achievement is probably one of the biggest yet attempted!

Greathouse is a Victorian building and the large TV room, a key meeting and socialising area for residents, had become very run down and tired. Hilary Wood, senior HR manager at Melksham, who has been closely involved with Greathouse, was approached and asked if Knorr-Bremse Local Care could perhaps help with some support for redecoration.

Hilary thought more could be done than ‘just’ providing funds and formed a plan through the Knorr-Bremse Local Care initiative to not only fund the redecoration, but to give Knorr-Bremse employees a chance to get involved. Following an all-employee request for volunteers based at Knorr-Bremse Melksham many stepped forward, plans and rotas were drawn up and decorating began a couple of weeks before Christmas.

The teams got busy cleaning, sanding, filling, masking and painting and the project was completed in time for the residents to enjoy Christmas day in the room. Through Knorr-Bremse Local Care, volunteers are encouraged to participate in work hours, but the size of this project meant that many also worked in their own time too.

Hilary said, “This project is exactly what Knorr-Bremse Local Care is all about; providing real support to our local community and making a real difference to people’s lives. The completed refurbished room will make a massive difference to the lives of the residents and we’ve also funded some new furniture as the old furniture was in a really bad state. I want to say a big well done to the team who finished the work in time for Christmas.”

Roll of Honour – the Knorr-Bremse volunteer decorating team were: project team organisers: Nerys Brocklehurst, James Cockram, Helen Forrester, Hugh Webber, Hilary Wood and Aly Wells. Team members: Maureen Butler, Adam Collier, Maryanne Edwards, Harry Finch, Steve Ferris, Leonel Graca, Courtney Gwynne, Lucy Hopkins, Mary Hurrell, Jerry Lane, Peter Mantova, Tom Mitchell, Lynn Redfern Ricardas Slinkse and Neil Stevens.