HRH Princess Alexandra officially opened Larkrise and Orchard Meadows, the new £9.5 million state of the art care development run by The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT) in Banbury, on Tuesday 18 October 2011.

The Princess toured the development, which comprises the Larkrise Care Centre and Orchard Meadows Extra Care apartments, before unveiling a commemorative plaque.

Orchard Meadows and Larkrise are run by OSJCT, in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council and bpha, which together form The Oxfordshire Care Partnership (OCP). 

Nearly 100 guests attended the opening ceremony to celebrate the completion of the 18 month project, including residents, staff, local dignitaries and executives from OSJCT, bpha, and the county council.

Larkrise provides nursing care, a specialist dementia unit and respite care for older people who may need a short stay at the home.  The 60-bed care facility also includes a number of features to promote reminiscence as therapy, including a beach-themed reminiscence room which has a seaside mural, ice cream machine and other sensory elements to evoke the smells and sounds of the sea.

A shop, hair salon and 1950s themed lounges add to the recreational areas for residents to use.

The extensive gardens of Larkrise have also been specially designed to evoke past memories, with an old fashioned washing line, bus stop and chicken enclosure.  An orchard and vegetable patch have been created with involvement from the residents.

Adjacent to Larkrise is Orchard Meadows.  The building of this extra care scheme was greatly assisted by a £1.35m Department of Health capital grant won by Oxfordshire County Council.  Orchard Meadows offers 40 one and two bed luxury apartments for people who are over 55 years of age and require care and support.  20 of the apartments are for sale on a shared ownership basis, whilst the remainder are for rent, including one which will be used as a ‘pathway home’ for short-term care and rehabilitation.  There is also a games room, library and communal lounge and dining areas. 

Most importantly, the on-site care team enables residents to live independently but with the reassurance and security of having support available 24 hours a day.

During her visit, the Princess met with Anita Hopper, resident at Orchard Meadows, whose husband Richard has dementia.  Mr Hopper was admitted to Lincoln House care home in January 2010 and transferred with other residents to Larkrise in June this year.

Mrs Hopper found it increasingly difficult to visit her husband, who requires 24-hour care, while he was at Lincoln House.  However, they have been reunited since Anita moved to Orchard Meadows in June.  Anita said: “Moving into Orchard Meadows has not only allowed me to retain my independence, but it also makes visiting Richard much easier.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Peter Loyd, Chairman of OSJCT said: “The Orchard Meadows and Larkrise developments are part of an ambitious programme to develop care schemes that meet the current and future requirements for the care of older people in Oxfordshire, and will be great assets to the local community.

John Cross, Chief Executive of bpha said: “As more and more people move into retirement and their care needs increase, apartments offering a combination of independent living with on-site care will continue to grow more popular.  These developments – and our future projects like it – meet this need and will continue to do so in the future.”
 
Councillor Arash Fatemian, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: "This new development will provide high quality specialist care for people who have a range of different needs.  The extra care housing element of the scheme is part of an overall council policy to extend choice for local older people and to help them to continue to live in their own homes."

For more information, please contact Catherine Dearden on 01865 202356.