The residents and care team at Orford House, our Coulsdon-based residential care home, have been celebrating and marking Brenda’s landmark 90th birthday with a scrumptious afternoon tea party complete with balloons, gifts cards and, of course, a delicious birthday cake.
Brenda, who has been a resident at Orford House since 27th March 2025, chose to move to the care home as she and her family thought it would be the perfect place for her. “I settled in really well and, to be honest, it’s lovely here. There’s nothing not to like about anything and nothing to be unhappy about at all,” said Brenda.
Born and raised in Dartford, Kent, Brenda enjoyed her school years. “One of my favourite classes was English as I loved, and do still love, reading. I suppose the term ‘Bookworm’ suits me down to a tee. However, my absolute favourite lesson was History. I adored learning about all the different historical figures and events of the past. I was also rather good at Gymnastics. I still like to keep as fit as possible today and make sure I join in with all the exercise classes at Orford House,” added Brenda.
As a child, Brenda also like to go to the traditional Saturday Morning Pictures with her friends. “We used to go to the ABC Cinema Minors each week,” said Brenda. “Going to the cinema back then only cost a Sixpence, which is a bit different to today.”
After leaving school, Brenda studied hard and became a Nurse, working for the NHS. “I loved being a Nurse,” continued Brenda. “Being able to care for and look after those who needed my help was extremely rewarding. No two days were the same and the people I met and cared for were lovely.”
Brenda and her Husband became proud parents to their Daughter, Pamela and Brenda is now a proud Grandmother to four Grandchildren. “To help my Daughter with bringing up the children, I gave up my role as a Nurse and became a Granny Nanny, as this helped Pamela to go back to work,” added Brenda. “It was lovely to be able to spend quality time with my Grandchildren and, when it was warm, spend time with them outside playing games like Hopscotch that I enjoyed with my friends when I was growing up.”
Brenda is rather well travelled, having visited many places in Europe with her family. “We were very fortunate to be able to go on lovely family holidays,” continued Brenda. “We visited many European countries, but Italy was magical and we went there on more than one occasion. We also spent many happy holidays in England in Devon and Cornwall.
“The food was so tasty, and I remember learning that whilst Cornwall is famous for its pasties, the oldest recorded recipe for a pasty actually dates back 500 years to Devon, and of course, who can go to those beautiful counties and not enjoy a cream tea? We always tried to adhere to the Devon versus Cornwall conundrum of how to have your scones – jam or cream first – and did our best to do it the right way depending on where we were.”
“Brenda is a wonderful lady and a pure joy to have living with us at Orford House,” said Michelle Kennett, the Registered Manager at the care home. “She is extremely kind and so caring towards the other residents. You can tell that caring for others comes so naturally to her.”
“Brenda also like to keep active and fit,” added Mary Bradley, the Activities Coordinator at Orford House. “You’ll definitely always find her taking part in many of our meaningful activities on our wide activities calendar, but especially anything to do with exercise, music or singing – she loves it.”
“I think it is particularly important to keep as fit as possible, especially as the Chef here cooks such delicious meals. I am exceptionally partial to the Pie and Mash, Fish and Chips and Roast Dinners, and can never so no to Ice Cream for pudding,” added Brenda.
“To mark Brenda’s milestone 90th Birthday, we wanted to give her a day full of her favourite things,” continued Michelle. “We arranged for an afternoon Birthday tea, complete with a scrumptious birthday cake that the Birthday Girl enjoyed with all of her care home friends.”
“I have had a wonderful 90th Birthday and have been spoilt rotten. Like I said before, it’s lovely to live here at Orford House, I’ve made so many friends, and all the care team are lovely too. There’s always something to do, or something going on – I’m never bored or short of anything to occupy me. There’s absolutely nothing I’d change about it,” concluded Brenda.
Find out more about Orford House care home by calling 020 8660 2875 or emailing [email protected].