We’re well into the second year of the Covid pandemic now. It has been a difficult time for many people so thank you for bearing with us when our services were affected. While many of these services have now returned to a ‘new normal’ we are still seeing big impacts in other areas. Our repairs and maintenance services are running as usual and the backlogs of work that built up over the 2 lockdowns are shrinking. However, some work is still taking longer than it used to. Key reasons for this are Covid itself with staff off ill or self-isolating but also shortages of building materials. A combination of Covid, Brexit and a rush of construction work due to the ending of the Government’s stamp duty holiday means that there are now significant shortages and price increases for a whole range of building materials. This problem is getting worse at the moment and is affecting both our repair work and slowing the construction of our new affordable homes. So, while you may now be less worried about Covid these wider national issues look likely to continue to have an impact.
Nigel Howlett Chief Executive
Sunflower Nurseries – Cambridge & Cambourne – Children at our Sunflower Nursery in Cambourne have been exploring nature and looking out for different animals, including ducks at the local lake and rabbits in the surrounding woodland. At the Cambridge nursery, staff members have recently reintroduced the ‘Living Eggs’ experience for the children, a two-week educational programme that provides nurseries with everything they need to hatch chicks. Over the past few weeks, children have been waiting patiently for the eggs to hatch and now have an unmissable opportunity to look after the baby chicks for two weeks at the nursery, gaining a better understanding of the life cycle of a chicken. We also have caterpillars at the nursery – they arrived as tiny little things and are growing fat and long, eating nectar in their jars. In time they will turn into chrysalis and then into beautiful butterflies.
Following on from the article by our Board member Tendai in the last newsletter which received a very positive response by readers, we wanted to continue the discussions on equality and diversity. This is a subject which has been widely talked about over the past year, and at Russell Street (our scheme for adults with a learning disability) staff and residents have held a number of discussion group meetings to encourage some difficult and important conversations. The hope is that our residents can feel empowered to speak their mind in a safe space. As one resident pointed out “open discussions are important because it’s how we learn and grow as individuals”. There have been several group discussions on topics from LGBTQ+ matters to islamophobia and following the killing of George Floyd a number of residents approached staff voicing the need to get everyone together to discuss the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement. One resident told staff that change needed to happen now as what he saw on the news brought him to tears.
Just a reminder that you can look up your rent statement online 24 hours a day using the CHS customer portal. Just click on this link to the 
In recognition of the inaugural National Day of Reflection on 23rd March, CHS Group, organised a series of activities to show support and say thank you to its staff and customers for all they have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
We want to tell you about one of our tenants Mary, and to wish her a very happy 100th birthday. Mary lives in Moorlands Court, our purpose built Housing with Care scheme which opened in April 2008 and is located in the village of Melbourn, South Cambridgeshire. Her son Barry told us her story. Mary Longbottom (née Fallas) was born on March 14th 1921 in Selby, Yorkshire. She was christened in Selby Abbey where her parents Nellie and Robbie were married. At the age of 14 Mary left school and started work as a weaver near Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, At the outbreak of WW2 she joined the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as a teleprinter operator and in 1943 Mary married Arthur Longbottom, who was serving in the Coldstream Guards, and their daughter Margaret was born a year later. After the war Arthur joined the Prison Service and the family moved to Wakefield where Mary and Arthur had 2 more children,
Holi, also known as the Festival of Colour, symbolises the start of spring and is a festival of love. A Hindu festival originating in India, it’s since spread to Nepal and western countries. It is a time for family to get together, eat, drink, dance, play music and paint each other with coloured powder and water. Every year the Festival of Colours in Cambourne brings people together strengthening friendship and bonds in the community and despite the pandemic, this year CamCare UK held the festival in an innovative way to ensure the festival went ahead. Founder and chair of CamCareUK, Cllr Shrobona Bhattacharya invited the local community to celebrate the festival by offering a wide selection of sweets, packaged in an assortment of colours, outside her home that people come and enjoy Local residents were also invited to display different colours in their gardens and music was played for residents to dance to. 300 free packets of sweets, paid for by CHS Neighbourhood Grant, were given out to residents of Cambourne and the nearby villages from lots of different communities and faiths to help celebrate the Festival of Colour. Covid may have prevented a lot of our usual community activities over the past 12 months but thankfully, CamCare UK found a way to hold this day of fun and celebration!
Over the past year visits to our care homes have been limited due to Covid restrictions but thanks to the lovely people at Go Glass Design, our Langdon House care home received a custom made visiting booth so that residents and visitors could meet in a safe and secure space. It made a huge difference to our residents during the last lockdown allowing them to see family and friends and although restrictions have eased, the booth will continue to be used for visitors who are unable to have an indoor visit.
Alison House is our new supported housing project at Mill Road in Cambridge which is just a
stone’s throw away from our Railway House project for young people. The new service is named after Alison Booth, our Corporate Services Manager who passed away in June 2020 from cancer and who played an invaluable role in promoting the organisation to the local community. She had worked for CHS in various key roles for 15 years covering governance, communications, Board support and as the Chief Executive’s Assistant. Alison cared deeply about all the services CHS provides and was a champion for those who need our support. We all miss her no-nonsense, witty and fun personality and our thanks go to her partner Sandy and family for allowing us to remember her in this way. Alison House is an extension of our Russell Street service for people with learning disabilities or autism for which we receive many applications. When a building became available, we thought it would be an exciting opportunity to open a sibling project. Residents at Alison House can grow, thrive and flourish together under one roof learning new skills before they move on to independent living. All residents are independent, and the project is not staffed 24/7. The team at Russell Street drop in regularly to pop the kettle on for a cuppa, and to see how the residents are doing. You will often find many of them in the garden attending the vegetable patch and we are already looking forward to hosting BBQ’s in the spacious garden come summer.