Royal visitor to Cromer Royal British Legion unit

New facilities at Halsey House in Cromer.

TRACEY GRAY

11 March 2010

A stunning open space conservatory and a reminiscence room are just some of the new features included in the rebuild of a care home in north Norfolk.

The Royal British Legion's Halsey House at Cromer, which is home to many ex-servicemen and women and their families is to open its doors to a Royal visitor later this month to officially open their new buildings.

The Duke of Kent is visiting the care home on Thursday, March 25 to officially unveil the rebuild, funded by the Poppy Appeal.

The rebuild, which has taken four years, includes new wings housing 30 nursing and 30 residential beds along with a 16-bed dementia unit - the Danbury Unit.

There are also courtyards for the residents, gardens and a conservatory link from the old part of the building to the new building, a games room and a waterside fishpond.

The Danbury unit includes a reminiscence room for residents based on the 1940s, with artefacts from the era, and residents' artwork has also been given pride of place in a newly built art gallery.

There are just a few finishing touches to be made, including landscaping of the new gardens and courtyards.

Matron manager Petronelle Fowler-Watts, who joined the home in September last year and will stay until May when the rebuild is fully completed, said: “The rebuild was important because we wanted to improve the environment for our residents and most important of all, give the best quality of life to our ex-servicemen and women and their families.

“The reaction we have had from residents with the new build is that they have loved it, they are thrilled with the new rooms and having en-suite facilities in them, they love the size, comfort and views they have from the windows.”

When he visits, the Duke of Kent will meet with residents, staff and relatives as well as viewing the rebuild and the resident's art gallery.

Ms Fowler-Watts said: “The residents are delighted the Duke will be coming here. He visited the home I used to work in before coming here in Rippon, North Yorkshire, and he does have a great empathy with residents, having been an ex-serviceman himself.”

The house regularly hosts a range of activities from craft sessions to sing-a-long sessions and has its own hairdressing suites for residents.

Ms Fowler-Watts, said: “We really try hard to meet the individual's needs and encourage them to take up hobbies they used to have or teach them new ones.”

The home was opened in May 1948, as a country home for aged and physically disabled ex-service men, and was named after Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey who president of the eastern area British Legion at the time.

During his tour on March 25, the Duke of Kent will also open the new museum at Sheringham, a £1.1m project which has seen the Mo building on Sheringham seafront transformed a new lifeboat and town museum, and visit the town's lifeboat station.

In the evening he will attend the 10th anniversary dinner of the East Anglian Air Ambulance in Cambridge.