83-year-old resident publishes book about care home's heritage

Brenda Flavell, 83, has been a resident at Lavender Hills Care Home in Ramsbottom for two years and has recently written a book with the support of her activity coordinator, Abi Dawson.

The pair researched the origin of the home as ‘The Cliffe’, which was a Manor House for a local mill owner, and delved into the last 170 years of the town by speaking to locals and The Ramsbottom Heritage Society.

They spent three months gathering information and collating the 50-page book before unveiling the work at the home in Stubbins Vale Road, Ramsbottom, last week.

Speaking on why she was eager to write this book, Brenda said: “I like this house. I think it’s beautiful and the history of it became very interesting to me.

"I love the grounds, inside and out and I wanted to learn as much as I could about the history and how it’s developed into the home it is today.”

Abi and Brenda (Image: Stacey Astin)

Brenda and Abi spent one hour every Monday working on the book. She added: “The more you put in, the more excited you got!

"We got about five pages in and Abi and I looked at each other and we both smiled because it was taking shape. We got lots of photographs together and we had the perfect amount to fill the 50-page book.

“I felt really pleased to hand it over because Stacey [registered manager] was blown away and thought it was amazing. I’m quite proud that I’ve done something that’s worked out as a success.

"I’m really keen about my own family history, and I’ve gone back to the 1590’s, so this was a new project I was keen to take on.

“I never intended it to be much more than a bit of text and a picture of Lavender Hills so people would be interested in the house, and it really has turned out successful and that amazed me. The pictures are so good, I’m pleased with how it turned out and I really enjoyed doing it.”

Stacey Astin reading Brenda's book (Image: Facebook)

Abi added: “Working on this project with Brenda has been so much fun. We set aside time each week to sit with each other planning, researching, and collating and seeing Brenda getting so passionate and excited when we found new things was a joy.

“Brenda said yesterday to a member of staff, ‘There aren’t many things in life I have done I can say are perfect, but I think the book is pretty much perfect!’.

"Hearing what she had said really warmed my heart as I had helped her achieve that and we are both very proud of what she has achieved.

“Keeping this passion and sense of achievement alive is what my job is all about."

After completing her first book, Brenda says she can’t wait for her next big project.

She added: "I would like to say big thank you to everyone who responded to the book Abi and I have produced about our beautiful old house.”