Two care home \u201cheroines\u201d have been honoured for nearly 90 years of dedicated service between them.<\/p>\n
Ellen Griffith and Cindy Clutton were presented with special awards and bouquets of flowers by Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths at the town\u2019s Hillbury care home during a party to celebrate a double anniversary.<\/p>\n
Hillbury is marking its 60th<\/sup> anniversary this year while owners Pendine Park also have a big birthday this year \u2013 their 40th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/p>\n The care home was originally founded in 1965 by the Sisters of Nazareth and was run by the nuns for 37 years until it was taken over Pendine in 2003.<\/p>\n Pendine already owned the Gwern Alyn care home next door and both homes are now managed by Cindy.<\/p>\n She goes back a long way with laundry manager Ellen who started at Hillbury in 1979 and remembers Cindy arriving there three years later as a pig-tailed \u201cSaturday girl\u201d.<\/p>\n Lesley Griffiths said: \u201cIt\u2019s a great pleasure to be here today on such a special day, to say thank you to two very special people.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween them, Ellen and Cindy have clocked up nearly 90 years\u2019 of looking after people which I think deserves a big round of applause.<\/p>\n \u201cPendine took over Hillbury quite a few years ago but the care here pre-dates Pendine and when I was a child I remember when the nuns were here providing care for people in Wrexham and Pendine\u00a0 have carried on that care to an extremely high level.<\/p>\n \u201cI have visited many care homes across Wales in different guises and I can honestly say that I have never been anywhere that comes close to Pendine.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s down to the magic instilled by the owners Mario and Gill Kreft and the wonderful staff here and today we are celebrating the contribution of two very special people in Cindy and Ellen.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellen, now in her 47th<\/sup> year at Hillbury, recalled: \u201cI left school at 16 and came here in 1979 for an interview on a Friday and started work on the following Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI came here in the first place to work as a carer on a YTS scheme \u2013 it was only for six months but they extended it for another six months.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that ended I went to work at another home but I got a call saying there was a permanent job for me here and I\u2019ve been here ever since.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time has just flown by. I don\u2019t know where the years have gone. I just love every minute of it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re happy in your work\u00a0 you don\u2019t need to look elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Cindy, she also still loves her job and looks forward to coming into work every day.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI started in Hillbury in 1982 \u2013 my mum worked here I was looking for something during school holiday and weekends. She got me a job and I haven\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n \u201cEllen took me under here wing and I helped her, working in the kitchen upstairs and folding clothes<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I left school at 16 I joined a YTS scheme on placement at another care home and when I was 18 I joined the old Clwyd County Council as care practitioner and then a relief manager.<\/p>\n \u201cThen in 2000 I\u00a0 started with Pendine at Gwern Alyn, next door to Hillbury. Six months later the manager went on to pastures new and Mario very kindly made me as a relief manager and I\u2019ve since become the manager of both homes.<\/p>\n Cindy added: \u201cThere are challenges every day but it\u2019s incredibly rewarding \u2013 I really enjoy what I do.<\/p>\n \u201cPendine started in 1985 and that family orientation is still there. The staff in Hillbury and Gwern Alyn is a family \u2013 I see more of them than I do my own family.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship with the residents is something very special and you get good relationships with relatives, building up a rapport with them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Mario and Gill Kreft opened Gwern Alyn because they were struggling to find a suitable care home for their own grandparents.<\/p>\n Four decades later the couple run nine care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon where they have a total of 440 beds and employ more than 860 people.<\/p>\n Mario said: \u201cHillbury has been a very special place for 60 years, providing care in the community since 1965 and we are continuing to do that today in large measure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Sisters of Nazareth left a very good template for us and Cindy and Ellen epitomise what Pendine is all about.<\/p>\n \u201cYou couldn\u2019t pick two better people \u2013 they have the milk of human kindness flowing through their veins.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody outside looks at social care and thinks it\u2019s easy but it\u2019s not easy at all \u2013 you need the innate qualities of kindness, compassion, patience and dedication.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you see here is people who have that in spades and the residents get the best out of that. Ellen and Cindy are real-life heroines.\u201d<\/p>\n