Eastlake care home celebrate Anchor’s 50th anniversary

Eastlake residential care home in Nightingale Road, Godalming, opened its doors to the public, to celebrate 50 years of Anchor on Saturday 21st of April.

The special day started in the garden with a mobile farm called Kids Rome filling it with joy.

The event organisers brought along a sheep (Graham), a lamb (Larry), a donkey (Nougat), a pony (Annie), a goat (Willow), chickens (Queenie and Rex), ducks (Splash and Jemima), a dog (Dolly) and a rabbit (Honey).
These unusual guests to the care home brought a smile to everyone’s faces, seeing all the animals running around, brought so much joy.

In the afternoon residents, guests and the Mayor Anne Bott, were treated to an afternoon with entertainers Ben and The Show Girls. Ben sang many favourite songs from musicals (including Viva Las Vegas, I Dream a Dream, and My Way), and was joined by residents singing along. The Show Girls wore stunning sequinned costumes and danced superbly, showing everyone a variety of different dances and techniques including such dances as the Lambeth Walk. 

The guest speaker of the day, Anne Bott was invited to say a few words about the founder of Anchor and how the organisation came to be, which everyone found very interesting.

Team leader Tara Gransden thanked the Mayor Anne Bott for coming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Anchor, adding; “I can’t believe it has been 50 years of Anchor. I have seen big changes over the years, all for the good and wellbeing of our residents. Eastlake has been part of Anchor for 20 years, as it was a council home prior to that.

“Many of the council staff stayed with us, which means some of us have worked for here for 40 years. Along with the staff we have today, Eastlake has built up a good reputation, continuing the great work that Cecil Jackson Cole started all those years ago.

“I know how lucky we are here at Eastlake, to have dedicated, loyal and hardworking staff, I wish to say on behalf of myself and Anchor a very big thank you to you all.”