Special delivery service for residents at care home in Birstall

A Birstall pharmacy has seen customers and patients rally round to spread Christmas joy at a care home.
Presents were donated by the local community at Knights Oakwood Pharmacy in Birstall and delivered to the residents at nearby Priestley Care HomePresents were donated by the local community at Knights Oakwood Pharmacy in Birstall and delivered to the residents at nearby Priestley Care Home
Presents were donated by the local community at Knights Oakwood Pharmacy in Birstall and delivered to the residents at nearby Priestley Care Home

Community-focused Knights Oakwood Pharmacy asked Priestley Care Home how it could help this festive season.

Thanks to the generosity of customers, boxes upon boxes of gifts were donated and given to the residents.

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Paula Greenwood, manager at the pharmacy, explained how a simple idea snowballed and saw a room full of presents delivered to the care home.

Posing for a selfie with SantaPosing for a selfie with Santa
Posing for a selfie with Santa

“We have always been a community focused pharmacy and want to help people in the area,” she said.

“Obviously we have not been able to do as much as we would like because of the pandemic.

“We talked to the care home about what we could do and one of the things they were in need of was presents for residents.”

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So a Christmas gift tree was created in the pharmacy with present suggestions for residents put on decorations.

Santa and his elves load up the van ready for deliverySanta and his elves load up the van ready for delivery
Santa and his elves load up the van ready for delivery

Customers and people coming in for their Covid-19 vaccinations were told about the project and Paula said the response has been incredible.

“We were simply telling people about what we were doing for the care home and everything just snowballed from there.

“It is really overwhelming the response we have had from the community and we cannot thank everyone enough who donated a present.

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“We’ve also had so many volunteers who have come to help us load up the gifts and deliver them, so I would like to thank them as well.”

To make the donations even more special they were delivered by Father Christmas, who collected the gifts from the pharmacy on Blackburn Road in his sleigh and travelled through the town before arriving at the care home.

Staff and volunteers then sang Christmas carols outside the care home for residents.