'It has been a very good year' (From Warrington Guardian)

'It has been a very good year'

5:20pm Thursday 31st December 2009

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‘ENJOYING being alive’ and attending a grandchild’s graduation are among the highlights of 2009 for a number of pensioners living at a Culcheth care home.

Residents at CLS care home, Holcroft Grange, on Jackson Avenue, reflected back on the year and aspirations for 2010.

James Fletcher, aged 97, a former mining engineer in Allerton, said: “I would like to see Prince William and Kate Middleton married in 2010. I think she is a grand girl and I would buy Hello magazine to read about it.

“I don’t think they are engaged so maybe that is a bit far ahead.”

One of the highlights from the past 12 months was watching a cabaret show in Lowton.

He said: “I just enjoy being alive, when you get to 97 you don’t worry. I came here two years ago and I am very comfortable and happy here.”

Eighty-four-year-old Brenda Coleridge said: “The best thing to come out of this year is the band Golden Oldies (the group of pensioners who are serenading residents throughout town). We all dance around with the staff.

“I was really depressed living alone after my husband died. I thought I would hate being in a care home but I really love it here.”

She said she spends Christmas with her daughter in Wales and loves going to a Christmas carol concert at Chester Cathedral before having a party with the grandchildren on Christmas Day.

“I love dancing and still do with my great-grandchildren. I love it when they are around dancing, they are good fun.”

Proud grandma Nora Byrne, aged 91, said the best day of the 2009 was attending her granddaughter Rachel’s graduation in the summer at the University of Manchester, where she achieved a law degree.

Nora, who has been at the home for nearly two years, said: “It was absolutely wonderful. I had never been to a graduation before and it was just fantastic.

“For my birthday earlier this year I had a party and my daughter came in and my hairdresser did my hair. It has been a very good year.”

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