Jean’s joy at surprise visit

There were beaming smiles recently when a resident at our Ravenhurst home received a very special surprise - a signed copy of a treasured book, hand delivered by the author!  

After reading a book called ‘Kinlet: The Life of the Times of a Shropshire Village’, where resident Jean grew up, she discovered it included a photograph of her mother.  

Jean was delighted so Bijal Unalkat, activities coordinator at Ravenhurst Residential Care Home in Stourport-on-Severn, set about tracking her down a copy of her own.   

Thanks to the power of social media, Bijal was contacted by the author Francis Engleheart and organised a special surprise for Jean – a visit from the author, who came with a signed copy just for Jean.  

Bijal said: “It made my day to see this wonderful lady so happy. Jean was smiling all afternoon and said she was so happy she could cry. She couldn’t stop looking at her book and kept asking how I had found Francis.”

And the surprise didn’t end there…… After delving deeper into the book, Jean discovered even more of her family in there.

Home manager at Ravenhurst, Russ Kent said: “There are so many wonderful ways we can enrich the lives of our residents - Bijal brought such joy to Jean with this fantastic experience it was wonderful to see.  

“Jean treasures this book and it brings her so much pleasure, reading through it and feeling so connected to her heritage.”  

For more about how we are enriching lives at Ravenhurst, or any of our other care homes in Worcestershire, our Enquiry Hub are here to help, on 0800 331 7422.