Two care home workers have been honoured for nearly 90 years of dedicated service between them.
Ellen Griffith and Cindy Clutton were presented with special awards and bouquets of flowers by Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths at the town’s Hillbury care home during a party to celebrate a double anniversary.
Hillbury is marking its 60th anniversary this year while owners Pendine Park are also marking their 40th anniversary.
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. Pendine already owned the Gwern Alyn care home next door and both homes are now managed by Cindy.
Laundry manager Ellen started at Hillbury in 1979 and remembers Cindy arriving there three years later as a “Saturday girl”.
Lesley Griffiths said:
“It’s a great pleasure to be here today on such a special day, to say thank you to two very special people.
“Between them, Ellen and Cindy have clocked up nearly 90 years’ of looking after people which I think deserves a big round of applause.
“Pendine 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 have carried on that care to an extremely high level.
“I 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.
“That’s 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.”
Ellen, now in her 47th year at Hillbury, recalled:
“I left school at 16 and came here in 1979 for an interview on a Friday and started work on the following Monday.
“I came here in the first place to work as a carer on a YTS scheme – it was only for six months but they extended it for another six months. After 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’ve been here ever since.
“The time has just flown by. I don’t know where the years have gone. I just love every minute of it. If you’re happy in your work you don’t need to look elsewhere.”
According to Cindy, she also still loves her job and looks forward to coming into work every day.
She said:
“I started in Hillbury in 1982 – my mum worked here I was looking for something during school holiday and weekends. She got me a job and I haven’t looked back.
“Ellen took me under here wing and I helped her, working in the kitchen upstairs and folding clothes.
“When 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.
“Then in 2000 I 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’ve since become the manager of both homes.
Mario and Gill Kreft opened Gwern Alyn because they were struggling to find a suitable care home for their own grandparents.
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.
Mario said:
“Hillbury 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.
“The Sisters of Nazareth left a very good template for us and Cindy and Ellen epitomise what Pendine is all about. You couldn’t pick two better people – they have the milk of human kindness flowing through their veins.
“Everybody outside looks at social care and thinks it’s easy but it’s not easy at all – you need the innate qualities of kindness, compassion, patience and dedication. What 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.”
