Romaine’s varied career began as a care assistant and continued through to managing learning disability satellite homes and founding a school for disadvantaged children in The Sacred Valley of Peru. Romaine joined Apple House in 2005.

On receiving her award, Romaine said, “I’m so honoured to receive this award. Every single person here tonight also deserves this recognition for the wonderful work they do.”

The Hampshire Care Awards is an annual event organised and hosted by Hampshire Care Association & Hampshire Domiciliary Care Providers, to celebrate outstanding individuals and providers of adult social care across the County.

Redcroft’s registered manager and team created an entire cookery book in Braille, as featured here on our blog. Working with an individual for whom cookery is a loved pastime, all of her favourite recipes are now fully accessible to her in her own Braille cook books!

The Daily Echo said of the awards, “Now in their third year, The Daily Echo Proud to Care Awards are an amazing opportunity for our readers to tell us about all those locally that are doing a fantastic job in care, both paid and unpaid. The judges were very moved by the stories they read in the hundreds of nominations received and found it very difficult to choose who to shortlist and the final winners.”

Sharron Eyears, registered manager at Redcroft, told us “I collected the Proud To Care Award For Innovation on behalf of Redcroft.” She added, “I am so proud to be the leader of such an outstanding, dedicated and caring staff team who go the extra mile without thinking about it.”

Also a finalist in the awards for the ‘Carer Award’ was Dawn Salmon of Apple House care home. Dawn’s nominees, family members of people she supports, submitted wonderful commendations about Dawn including: “Dawn gives 200% to the service her colleagues and the people she supports and is so deserving of this wonderful recognition as an award finalist.”

Not only are we beyond proud of Redcroft, but we are equally proud of our very own Dawn from Apple House care home who is a finalist in the Proud To Care Awards category of Care Home Worker! Dawn gives 200% to the service, her colleagues and the people she supports and is so deserving of this wonderful recognition as an award finalist.

Well done all of you and we look forward to the finals event next week!

— Jane Montrose, Managing Director.

Some years ago, D dreamed of being a karate black belt. At the time it seemed such a far off aspiration–where to start? One step at a time, we suggested, with the very first lesson, that initial moment of excitement and possibly fear.

Yesterday D was presented with his black belt, after years of dogged determination and hard work and he couldn’t be happier!

D has given his kind permission for his photo and wonderful achievement to be shared with you:

Last Friday, at the prestigious National Learning Disability and Autism Awards at the ICC in Birmingham, Apple House’s managing director, Jane Montrose, won the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Social Care’ award for England and Scotland. 

The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards celebrate excellence in the support for people with learning disabilities and aim to pay tribute to those individuals or organisations who excel in providing quality care.

Judges said: “Jane is impressive both on paper and in person. What shone through was her compassion and passion for her business and supporting the vulnerable people in her homes. She has the perfect blend of qualities that we look for in a provider: Behaviour, strategy, experience and commercial acumen. A clear winner.”

Jane said of her win, ‘I am so honoured to have won this award and pay tribute to my incredible team, fellow directors, Romaine and Guy, and office manager, Sarah-Jane, and Jayne, without whom I could never have achieved my dream to create Apple House. I am proud of everyone who works and lives in an Apple House care home. Congratulations to all winners and finalists of the awards announced on Friday!’

Finalist for The Frontline Leader Award

 Rebecca Blackmore:

Here are some of the things that our manager Sharron and the team have to say about Bex:

Rebecca who is known as Bex started working in our company in 2014.

Caring, compassionate and focused on helping and supporting people to be the best they can possibly be.

One of her strengths is also her cooking ability. Utilising this skill Bex is able to support individuals with healthy eating. She uses aids such as easy read menu’s and supportive technology, supporting individuals to understand the types of foods in their meals and understanding healthy options.

Bex has also inspired the individuals during house meetings to: choose a country, plan shopping lists, discuss a menu from the country, discuss utensils needed to make the meal, along with looking up information with individuals regarding the culture or the country. This will culminate once a month with the  person preparing the meal and hosting a lovely party. This creative use of skills in enhancing peoples lives and teaching independent living skills is wonderful and a real credit to Bex.

Her confidence has grown immensely, and this has transpired into Bex working and now achieving a senior role within Redcroft, taking on extra responsibilities such as Fire Marshal. Along with supporting staff as our advocate for dysphasia, oral health and supporting staff to be more confident in themselves.

She goes the extra mile when it comes to looking for fun ways to raise money for charities; Bex has helped to raise money for Macmillan, Red Nose Day and local Dorset charities. She rallies the residents round and gets them fully involved which gives people a sense of purpose and well-being. Bex has helped to raise awareness of these good causes and wanted the people she supports to feel a part of that experience. She is a shining example of a brilliant support worker and we are proud to nominate her for this award.

Thank you Bex for everything you do and we are all very proud of you.

The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards offer a unique opportunity to showcase and celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses in the learning disabilities and autism sector – people and organisations who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives. They aim to pay tribute to people who specifically support those with learning disabilities and autism and recognise inspirational individuals with a learning disability and/or autism who make a real difference within their communities.

— Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations

We are proud to announce that Apple House Ltd are finalists in the following categories:

The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award – Jane Montrose

This award will be presented to an individual who the judges think has made a long-term outstanding contribution to the lives of people with a learning disability and/or autism.

The Supporting Older People with Learning Disabilities Award – Jayne Jackson and the Apple House Team.

Let’s celebrate excellence in supporting older people with a learning disability or autism. The judges are looking for evidence from providers and individuals who are positive about older people, provide excellent person centred support, promoting independence, dignity and respect.

The Breaking Down Barriers Award – Apple House Team

We like it when we can see good access and easy read, as it helps to include all and encourages everyone to communicate more clearly and get around more easily. The award will celebrate an individual or organisation who have worked to make sure people get clear information and are able to contribute their views and experiences.

The People’s Award – ES who resides at Redcroft.

This award will presented to an individual or team of people with autism or a learning disability. We want to celebrate individuals or organisations who offer exceptional encouragement and support for individuals with learning disabilities and or autism in providing support services and or personal development and inclusion.

The Employer Award – Apple House Ltd

This award seeks to acknowledge and celebrate an exceptional employer who is committed to their employees delivering an excellent service to their customers, people with learning disabilities or people with autism and their families. Employers should be able to provide considerable acumen and entrepreneurial flair whilst at the same time having a sustained track record of delivering high quality care and managing change improvement.

The Great Autism Practice Award – Summerwood Team

The overriding goal of good autism practice is to enhance quality of life for individuals, families and supporters by making reasonable adjustments or providing support developing strategies to increase happiness and wellbeing in people with autism. This award will be presented to a team or individual who demonstrate evidence of good practice in their services and support to people with autism.

Carly’s nomination was supported by family members of the individuals she supports and you can see from the newspaper article above just how highly valued Carly’s contribution is to their loved one’s care.

Jane Montrose, Managing Director of Apple House care homes, said, ‘Do we seem just a little bit proud of Carly? WE ARE BEYOND PROUD! For Carly, this is so deserved. She always goes above and beyond and so I am not surprised to learn of yet another occasion when Carly has prioritised the needs of those she supports and their families above her own personal obligations.  Carly is one hundred percent focused on each individual and her pro-active approach has been rightfully highlighted. Good luck Carly!’

Carly will be attending the awards ceremony and lunch this Thursday, 15th November, cheered on by Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations.

Daily Echo Editor Andy Martin said, ‘We are delighted to be hosting these very special awards for the second year. The dedication of all those involved in caring for others, whether they be professionally trained or informal or family carers is amazing and these awards are a tribute to them and all they do. Where on earth would we be without them? We heard some wonderful and inspiring stories in last year’s awards. I know it will be the same this year.’

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About The Venus Awards…

“In 2009 I created the Venus Awards to applaud and reward working women who are so often starved of adequate recognition and workable life-balance.

My vision and mission for Venus is to actively influence a movement of change to a more equitable and inclusive society; not by forcing opinions but by mutual respect and inter-gender collaboration.” — Tara Howard, Founder.

Romaine says, “It’s been a great experience being part of the whole process for the Venus Awards. Not only did I meet such inspiring women during the the months leading up to the final who were also nominated, I was introduced to our fabulous sponsors and judges. If you know of someone that you would wish to nominate then I would highly recommend that you keep updated with the Venus website and put them forward when there are the nominations in your area.

I was delighted to achieve the Director of The Year award in 2017 for my area,  and now absolutely thrilled to be Director of The Year 2018 nationally!

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