History

In 1951 a new development was taking place on the corner of City Road and Corton Road where St Marks Vicarage had stood prior to being bombed during the 2nd World War. It was being built following a public appeal from the Free Church Council to provide the first purpose built voluntary run home for older people in England.

The idea for Corton House came after an Eventide Home in Chester Place had been so successful that it was decided to raise funds to build on the bombed site.

A Management Committee which included The Reverend and Mrs Sydney Myers was appointed and Youngs of Norwich Builders who were based opposite the site were given the contract to build the home.

In 1952 the Lord Mayor, Mr Eric Hinde, turned the key in the main front door and opened Corton House. The staff consisted of a Matron, Deputy Matron, day and night attendants and trained domestic help. As time has moved on we have continued to build on to Corton House and increased our rooms to 42 with a staff of 60.

We then built and opened our Warden controlled sheltered housing complex, Brakendon Close in 1970 which consists of flats and bungalows.

As a not-for-profit home with charitable status and a Christian ethos we pride ourselves on the quality of care and respect given to those who live with us. This is enhanced by our loyal and dedicated staff of which seventeen have over ten years service.

In August 2017 we were delighted to open 16 new independent living flats, finished to very high standards. This saw Brakedon Close grow to its current capacity of 51 residences, in this quiet location adjacent to Corton House.

Our history2

Our history4

Our Team

Members of Staff

Our home is run by a team of 60 staff covering all aspects of care, we also have a voluntary full time chaplain living on site.

Our staff receive regular training which we believe is vital to enhance the knowledge and skills of our team. All our care supervisors are NVQ level 3 qualified and most of our care staff have an NVQ level 2 or 3 qualification. Other staff training includes fire, first aid, safeguarding vulnerable adults, care of the dying, infection control and any further training which can help in personal and professional development.

Our Board of Trustees

Our Board of Trustees consists of qualified professional people who willingly give their services on a voluntary basis. They are responsible for the governance of Corton House Ltd in accordance with its Rules and Strategic Goals. Our Board has a wide- ranging and diverse background. If you feel you have skills which could enhance our team we would love to hear from you.

Find out more and to join us click here

Daphne Lloyd - Chaplain

Daphne’s career started in education and completed her teacher training in 1955. Daphne taught at St Mark’s County Primary, St. John’s C.E. School and worked her way to Head Teacher at Sevenoaks Girls County Primary School. Her career changed when she felt the ‘call’ into ministry after operating as a Lay Preacher for around 8 years. Daphne trained for the Ministry at Westminster College in Cambridge from 1977 to 1981. Her Ordination and Induction took place within the Purley Circuit of the Methodist Church at South Croydon United Church, this would be Daphne’s first Church as Minister. During her time in Croydon, Daphne also worked as a Supply Hospital Chaplain. Her further ministries took place as Debenham, Needham Market, Haughley, Mendlesham and Great Finborough.

At the turn of the millennium Daphne was called to be Minister at Jessopp Road United Reformed Church, where she became Chair of Norwich CRUSE. During this time in Norwich Daphne was invited to take Services at Corton House, and the initial introductions to a future relationship were made. Daphne went on to serve at Shipdham United Church util 2015. Starting her retirement in Swaffham, Daphne was invited to take the position of Presbyter (chaplain) at the local Methodist Church. It was during her time in Swaffham that Daphne was approached to take the position of Chaplain to Corton House. Daphne developed Services, Prayer groups, Bible study groups and Pastoral Friends to the Residents. Daphne moved into Norwich, and into our Independent Living accommodation, creating a greater level of access and involvement to her role. Over the years Daphne has equipped herself for he role with courses in Dementia, Care of the Dying and Palliative Care. Daphne meets with other Chaplains to form a support group, often leading into healthy discussions on well-being for those in care homes, including body, mind and spirit.

Lisa Brown - Registered Manager

Lisa started her career as a care worker when she was 18 in a local nursing home which had 28 beds. She then worked with adults with learning disabilities. As she was unsure where I wanted to progress her career in care she also completed part-time working in homecare and quickly took on the role of senior carer. She worked her way through homecare to being a coordinator and then a branch manager, managing a homecare branch which completed complex care at home for adults and children. To broaden her management skills she also worked in a recruitment office for care workers and recruited all over Norfolk for care homes and nursing.
She returned back to homecare opening new branches in Norwich and Newmarket for a company until they were registered and taking on clients. She was then offered a position at Manorcourt where she was the area manager / registered manager for West Norfolk. She internally transferred in this company to become a regional manager in the care homes covering Norfolk. Deciding she wanted to develop her role in service quality and compliance she moved to Kingsley where she worked alongside multiple sites as a service-quality manager completing audits and preparing for CQC inspections. After 12 months here alongside doing this she opened Kingsley Homecare registering the branch and developing the business in Manchester. After a long time of working regionally and across the country the opportunity to work closer to home at Corton House became available.

Sean Knox - Head of Catering

Annette Aldridge - Head of Care

Garry Mardle - Head of Maintenance

Tom Greenhill - Head of Finance

Tom’s career started at PKF Gt Yarmouth, working for two years in Accounts Preparation whilst completing his AAT qualification. He moved directly onto his ACCA qualification, as he moved across into Financial Audit; simultaneously PKF merged with BDO. More change followed soon after as the regional offices were merged and the Norwich office become his permanent place of work. Over the next six years Tom progressed through the audit ranks at BDO, completing his ACCA in two and a half years with first time passes throughout. In this time he continued to develop his skills, lead audits across a huge variety of clients, markets and industries, as well as project managing Audit Teams. Tom worked with clients of all sizes and functions, and some highly recognisable names within Norwich. During the latter stages of his BDO career, he also took on the role of a Lead Tutor on numerous national training courses for new BDO graduates and starters.

In early 2019 a change of career loomed, as Tom decided to make the popular move from Practice accountancy to Industry. Tom started his role at Corton House in June 2019, taking on the responsibility of the Accounts function and recruiting his new team.

Deborah Goulding - Deputy Manager

Qualifications - Deborah joined Corton House as our activities co-ordinator and part time Senior Carer, later becoming a full time Senior Team member. She has been the In-house manual handling trainer since 2001. Deborah became the In-house trainer in November 2011 after being Joint Head of Care with Bridget for over five years. She is NVQ 5 qualified , an NVQ Assessor and has completed Leadership and Management training. She also supervises Health and Safety. Deborah became a dementia coach in November 2013 with ongoing training through 2014.

Maria Widderington - Activities Co-ordinator

Year started employment - 2010

Qualifications - Maria has been a qualified yoga teacher with the British Wheel of Yoga for 10 years. She specialises in yoga for the over 60's and for people with Parkinson's Disease. She also has a qualification in Psychology. She has completed several courses since joining Corton House including Dementia and Care of the Dying. Maria has recently completed her NVQ level 3 in Health and social care.

Find out about joining our team

Join Our Team

Find out more about working at Corton House on our vacancies page.

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Our Mission

To provide excellent, loving care and support for older people.

To provide in line with Christian values, residential care and sheltered housing that recognises the individual rights, privacy, dignity and independence of residents and tenants.
To provide a quality of life for residents and tenants at a price which is comparable with the best Residential Care Homes and Sheltered Accommodation in the Norwich area.
To enable all residents and tenants to exploit fully their chosen physical, spiritual and emotional potential.
To maintain our charitable status.

To achieve annual surpluses to maintain sufficient reserves.
To be a fair and trustworthy employer that maintains good employment practices and seeks to train and develop staff to their full potential.
To meet the standards set by Regulators.
To meet the appropriate Standards of Governance.
To communicate effectively with all interested parties.

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"I admire the dedication of the staff to care without condescension or impatience but with good humour and competence. The companionship is conclusive to help in raising the spirit and the ethos is enabled by the attitude and atmosphere provided by the staff – lucky us!"

"Can only say I could not be in a more comfortable and pleasant place. Can find nothing to criticise or grumble about. I am so very comfortable and contented."

"To all the staff at Corton House, being good natured is second nature to you, so you may not realise how your small gestures and many kindnesses touch so many people . You’re generous without even thinking about it, and that’s an uncommon gift. When my mother found her home with you she was truly blessed. The care she received and the peace of mind given were reflected in Mum’s smile as she arrived back in her room after her final day in hospital. A beautiful memory for the family to hold onto. Sincerest thanks to each and every one of you."

"I would just like to say a huge thank you to all the fantastic staff for caring for my mother over the last, nearly two years. A hugely independent lady, who found it difficult to give up her own home but she realised she could no longer cope on her own. All the staff from every department have been so influential in her being happy at Corton House. She so enjoyed all the lovely meals and all the music events she could sing alone to. All the loving care given, with a huge amount of patience, is so very much appreciated. I don’t know what we would have done without you all. She died calmly and peacefully at home where she wanted to be."

"Thank you so much for the care and devotion you gave to my mother. It is a great comfort to know that she was so well looked after at the end of her life."

"Thank you to everyone who cared for my mum and my family during the last weeks of her life: you were truly amazing. I really enjoyed the cheese and biscuits and the porridge for breakfast."

"We just want to thank you so much for the love and care you provided our Grandma, she was happy living there and we felt so reassured that she was being so well looked after. She thought so highly of you all as do we, and it was so wonderful to see living so happily there. You all provide such a special, caring ‘family’ home, you really are one in a million. We are so thankful we stumbled across you for our Grandma to live in. We will greatly miss coming to Corton House and chatting with you all."

"I want to thank you for the care of my husband and myself in the past four years. Many times I’ve told you “this is a lovely place” and that’s what it has been for us both."

"May I express my sincere gratitude to all your staff for taking care of my Aunt so diligently over the past ten years. Whether it was laundry, room cleaning, entertainment, catering or caring I feel that she has been well looked after and has been able to enjoy a safe, secure and welcoming home. I know there is sadness on all sides that she been unable to last out her days withy you but I appreciate the efforts you made to look after her as her mental state deteriorated and the support given whilst I was looking for alternative accommodation."

"Myself and my wife want to thank you and your team for all of the care and understanding that was given to our late friend and loved one. Without people such as yourselves she would not have enjoyed her twilight years. Your organisation is a jewel in the crown for care of the elderly especially those going from independent living into an unknown perhaps challenging life. We thank you all."

"'Thank you for everything'
There are far too many people to thank for making the last nine and a half years of my mother's life at Brakendon Close and then Corton House so contented - every single one of you. My mother could not have been appreciated more - and nor can we - the care and companionship that you always gave her, right up to the very end of her long life.
You all helped her to continue to be as independent as possible while sensitively giving her the support she needed, enabling her to carry on her life-long love of music, history, poetry, playing Scrabble and enjoying excellent home cooking."