We sat down and had a chat with Les, who cares for his wife June, at his home near Cambridge. Over a cup of tea we chatted about Les’ journey as an unpaid carer, how Caring Together Charity has helped him and his wife, plus the reason he chose us to nominate as Kingsway Golf Clubs’ charity of the year. 
Les started off by telling us about his own personal experience as a carer, “At the very beginning, it was quite easy because my wife was mobile but she was showing early signs of mixed dementia. When you’re at that stage, you laugh a lot of it off but as it gets worse, you start to suffer a bit yourself and it took us a long time to get her diagnosed.” After June had been diagnosed she then faced problems with her mobility, “She had a knee replacement in 2009 which then became infected and had to be redone, meaning eventually she lost a lot of movement in her knee.” After an accident at home which resulted in a compound fracture, June’s mobility significantly decreased alongside her mental wellbeing, “I could have a conversation with her but if you asked her 2 minutes later, what we were talking about, she probably wouldn’t remember.”
Les had to eventually make the heart-breaking decision of moving June into a care home. “The biggest feeling I faced was guilt,” Les reflected, “even though I’ve got my own health problems, you still feel like you can actually care for them. But what you’ve got to do is think about is their safety and your safety, because if something was to have happened to her and I couldn’t help due to my health I don’t know what I would have done.”
When asked what difference Caring Together Charity has made for Les, he was incredibly passionate and complimentary about our professional Homecare service. “If I wanted to get my hair cut, go shopping sometimes for example, it would arrange for someone to come and sit with her when I was away. We had a lovely lady called Sophie who used to come and provided good peace of mind so I didn’t have to worry about anything.”
Les also told us about our how our Shelford hub helped the couple as he and June used to attend twice a month. Les is continuing to attend the hub now. “There were lots of other people in the same situation as us and as you start talking between each other, you then get to hear how their role has changed over time and the different aspects of it. It’s also so nice to be greeted by a friendly face that knows your name, Beth and the team know me so well now, and they’ve usually got a little tag ready for me. I’ll get there, the kettle will be on and I get a coffee in minutes! You also end up making your friendship group a lot bigger and you feel like you have lots of people that support you there too.”
Les also found our speakers provided invaluable information on social care, legal advice and how to spot scams. “They gave us a lot of information that you probably wouldn’t have found out without going.”
Then we got on to Les’ favourite topic, golf! “ I spent more time at the club than the owners and I got a part time job so I reduced my games to three times a week Monday, Wednesday and Saturday this then reduced again to two games Wednesday and Saturday as June got worse, but the Golf became very addictive. It’s a good social event, we go round and have a joke with people, you’re talking to other players and taking the mickey if something goes wrong – I manage to do 16 holes now and it’s a great way for me to take some time out for me and get some exercise in.”
Les nominated us as Kingsway Golf Club charity of the year at the start of this year due to his personal connection with the charity. “I recommended Caring Together as I’ve known the charity for a while since attending the Shelford hub I recommended Caring Together Charity to Paul, the Captain. They have lots of charities to choose from, but I wanted it to be a charity where the money goes back into the charity and that’s why I suggested Caring Together.”
As part of their fundraising efforts this year, Kingsway Golf Club is organising a variety of fun golfing activities, complete with fantastic prizes to be won. It’s shaping up to be a year full of generosity, good sport, and community spirit, plus they have set up a JustGiving page to encourage donations from the wider community to get involved too.
We asked Les if he could sum up why he recommended Caring Together Charity as the golf clubs charity of the year and he fondly replied; “Caring Together is a charity that is there when you need it. It covers quite a lot of advice and help and helps you with problems you may not even realise you have.”
When asked what he would say to other Golf Clubs considering supporting Caring Together Charity, he responded: “I’d say you can’t go wrong. If any Golf Club Captain is looking for a real charity that puts its time and money into the community I would say Caring Together is the one you are looking for!”
If you play golf, we’d love you to recommend Caring Together Charity as a charity partner to your golf club captain. All funds raised will enable us to be there when carers like Les need us.
