Sutton care home residents launch repair shop to give old clothing new lease of life

Residents at a care home in Sutton have joined a nationwide campaign ahead of International Repair Day (Saturday 18 October).

 

91-year-old Angela Whitehead and 92-year-old Beryl Haines, who are both residents at Care UK’s Tennyson Grange, on Westmead Road, have been rolling up their sleeves and giving old items of clothing a new lease of life.

As part of Care UK’s ‘Fixer Uppers’  programme, residents are reviving traditional repair skills, such as fixing furniture, mending clothes and tackling small maintenance jobs. The initiative, launched in the run-up to International Repair Day, aims to celebrate the invaluable knowledge older generations can pass on while promoting sustainability.

At Tennyson Grange, former seamstresses Angela and Beryl have been encouraging residents, family members and team members to drop off their items of clothing which need ‘fixing’ back together. 

Helping the residents to revisit their sewing skills was local alteration shop, Thread & Needle, who invited Beryl and Angela for an exclusive workshop, where they enjoyed using the machines and talking to the store’s team about their sewing techniques. 

Beryl commented: “I have always loved creating something personal that others can wear, whether it is fully created, or mended and given a new lease of life. I used to spend hours going round the fabric markets when I was younger, and always enjoyed creating items with the materials I would purchase.  

“My mother used to say, ‘if you are good with your hands and have that skill you will always have something to fall back on in hard times’ – and it’s very true!”

Angela added: “Sewing brings back so many fond memories. I loved working at the Queen Marys Children’s Hospital, mending and sewing the bed sheets, nurses’ uniforms, and children’s clothes.” 

Harriet Mensah-Mandley, Deputy Manager at Tennyson Grange, said: “Residents have so much life experience to share, and taking part in the ‘Fixer Uppers’ project has been a wonderful way for them to inspire people to get creative.

“Many residents learned to sew, knit and mend clothes in their younger years, so having the chance to revisit those skills has been incredibly rewarding. Whether they’re threading needles, sharing stitching techniques, or talking about how things were ‘made to last’, there’s a real sense of pride and purpose in creating something useful and beautiful by hand.

“It has been wonderful to see Angela and Beryl swap stories, stitches and smiles, and genuinely enjoying the process.”

Designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence, Tennyson Grange, incorporates plenty of space for hobby and leisure activities. The layout of the home has been configured to help facilitate the creation of close-knit communities and encourage social interaction among the residents, and it has its very own cinema, hair and beauty salon and café.