MONDAY 10 JANUARY - Central Office Celebrates

As parties take place throughout the week in our Somerset homes and bases to celebrate our 20th Anniversary, on Monday it was the turn of Central Office to mark the occasion with a tea party in the boardroom. We were treated to some tales of reminiscence from those who were involved in the creation of the Company, particularly John Parrott. John shared his memories of the day he, along with other staff, departed from County Hall with no ceremony to embark on the adventure of creating and building Somerset Care from the ground up.


This photo shows the original Central Office, located adjacent to Victoria Park in Taunton. The portacabin offices were home for the team in the early days before they moved to the first Acacia House at Bathpool.

Alyson Martin, now Director of Care Services, was then the manager of Sunnymeade in Chard, and she told us of the atmosphere of apprehension amongst staff in the homes back in 1991 when overnight some 1800 employees of the County Council had their employment transferred to the new company.


Our tea party was organised by our tireless Executive Assistant Jo Hopkins (left) and a delicious cake was made for the occasion by Martina Spriggs (right) of the Finance Department. By good fortune the beautiful cake cannot be recognised in the picture which means it's origin will not be compromised in the company wide cake competition that will be judged at our main celebration event on Friday. I can however report that it was quite delicious!

Location:Taunton