Altrincham care home resident receives magical surprise

The team at Care UK’s Halecroft Grange, on Hall Road, helped 93-year-old Doreen Hawley, a former principal ballet dancer for The International Ballet revisit her dancing days as part of a wishing tree initiative.

Keen to grant Doreen’s wish, the team first arranged for her to see a ballet performance of Bon Voyage at the Garrick Theatre in Altrincham. The surprise didn’t stop there, however, as the home also arranged for the L.A. School of Dance to visit Halecroft Grange to perform in the home’s lounge for Doreen and her fellow residents.

Doreen’s wish formed part of the care home’s ‘Wishing Tree’ initiative, which allows residents to suggest ideas for new hobbies they’d like to try, places they’d like to visit or even activities linked to a past career. This encourages residents to live fulfilling lives – from skiing to a fish and chip supper, no wish is too big or small.

Commenting on the surprise performances, Doreen said: “I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed the day! Both the performance at home and the visit to the theatre took me back to my dancing days and reminded me of all the wonderful years I had travelling the world as a dancer.”

Suzanna Sumegi, General Manager at Halecroft Grange, said: “Here at Halecroft Grange, we love to go above and beyond for residents. Doreen has a life-long passion for dance and performing, so we were really excited to organise this wonderful surprise.

“We strive to help residents live fulfilling lives and our wishing tree is just one of the ways we are able to achieve this. Doreen had such an amazing time; it was great to hear her share stories about when she used to dance on stage.

“We want to say a massive thank you to the L.A. School of Dance for helping us fulfil Doreen’s wish to reconnect with her passion. The performance was amazing, and the dancers were all outstanding. We hope to see the dancers again and we look forward to creating more memorable experiences for residents that draw on their past passions!”

Designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence, Halecroft Grange, which remains open to potential residents, incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities. The building has been configured into a series of neighbourhoods to help facilitate the creation of close-knit communities and encourage social interaction among the residents.  

For more information on Halecroft Grange, please email the Director of Community Relations, Sharon Parkes, on [email protected], call 0161 8202 779 or visit careuk.com/halecroft-grange