Love, dance and a good sense of humour – Cheltenham care home residents share relationship advice for Valentine’s Day

Residents at a Cheltenham care home have shared their heart-warming and hilarious relationship advice for Valentine’s Day.

Love will always find a way — but sometimes it needs a nudge in the right direction, which is why residents at Care UK’s Sandfields, on St George’s Road, have shared their secrets to a happy marriage, with words of wisdom including ‘don’t be horrible’ and ‘treating a woman like a lady’. 

 

89-year-old resident, Patricia, revealed the key to love is to be true to each other, while 71-year-old Ernest stressed the importance of dressing well to impress. 

Geoffrey, aged 79, chose to share his top tips to keep a woman happy – love, dancing and flowers – with 86-year-old Consuelo recommending those receiving flowers to offer ‘a big kiss as a reward’.   

Meanwhile, Michael, aged 92, summed up the recipe to a good marriage in a few words – ‘trust, loyalty and a sense of humour’.

Finally, when approached to share his best tips, 84-year-old resident Mervyn simply laughed and replied: ‘Don’t ask me.’ 

Malaika Charles, Home Manager at Sandfields, said: “The course of true love never did run smoothly, which is why we could all do with some advice from the older and wiser members of our community.

“Writing our relationship advice provided the perfect opportunity to reminisce, which can be incredibly beneficial for older people, especially those living with dementia. Reflecting on strong memories from the past helps to boost confidence and offers the chance to re-live happy times, which can then prompt conversation.

“We have some fantastic people living here at Sandfields, who have so many wonderful words of wisdom to share. We learn a lot from their lifetime of experience each day, which is why their advice is so special – and often gives us all a good giggle too!”

Sandfields is a state-of-the-art care home which provides full-time residential, dementia, nursing and short-term respite care. The home, which features 90 en-suite bedrooms, has been designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence. The care home incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities and includes its own cinema, bar, hairdressing salon and café.

For more information on Sandfields, please contact Laura Sayburn, Customer Relations Manager, by emailing: laura.sayburn@careuk.com or calling 01242 801 867.

For more general information, please visit careuk.com/sandfields.