WEDNESDAY 5 JANUARY - The New Year starts with a Plan

The break is over and the Blog is back and sending New Year greetings to all. I hope that everyone enjoyed a very good Christmas and New Year. In saying that I am acutely conscious of the tremendous amount of work the festive season brings for so many care staff. The work for so many of our colleagues goes on without a pause throughout the holiday period as they continue every day to ensure those who depend on them get the care and support they need. They deserve our thanks and appreciation for the commitment to the service that they show.

So now it is back to face the year ahead and for many of us the early months of the year is a time for planning for the future. We look to the start of the next financial year in April and now is the time for the preparation of budgets and business plans.

These early days of January are also a time for the planning of other activities. This week there are meetings taking place to plan our 20th Anniversary events that will mark the end of the first two decades in the life of Somerset Care and the start of the third. The Company birthday is 14 January so we are planning a major event at Bridgwater next Friday together with parties in care homes and bases across Somerset.

We are also planning for the completion in April of our latest new care home, Croft House in Williton. This major project is nearing completion and the team from Kennett Construction are now working inside the building installing all the mechanical and electrical elements. The move from the old building to the new one is a major operation that requires the most meticulous planning.

We are also now entering the final stages in the planning and putting together our first venture into book publishing. This week we will be delivering to the publishers the accumulation of stories and pictures for book "Somerset Centenarians". The publication of our book will also mark our 20th Anniversary and the book will contain life stories of 20 of the centenarians who have been supported by Somerset Care during their most senior years. So today we were at Calway House for a photo shoot taking some of the last pictures of residents and staff needed for the book.


In the picture for a change are our regular photographer Alan Lockyer and our very own PR and Marketing Manager Hannah Rowe.

The year ahead will be one of serious pressures on our businesses as we face the consequences of the most severe cuts in public spending in most of our lifetimes. We must think ahead and be ready to respond to the changes and challenges of the economic climate. It is going to be a testing time. With the benefit of careful planning and our customary ability to respond to change with a spirit of innovation and creativity I am confident that the Somerset Care Group is well placed to survive and thrive in the months and years ahead.

Best wishes to all Blog readers for all good things in 2011!
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!

Location:Taunton