Championing Social Care are a volunteer-led group of leaders from across the social care sector. Their vision is to ensure a wider and deeper public understanding, appreciation, and respect for social care. They do not seek to represent the care sector or care workers. Rather, they are focused on delivering positive stories and initiatives about the sector about which we at Halcyon Care Homes care so passionately.

June 27^th to July 3^rd was Championing Social Care’s annual open week, a week during which care homes up and down the country are invited to open their doors to anyone who is interested in finding out a little bit more about social care.

At Layston we wanted to organise an event that would appeal, not just to our residents but also to the local community and after a lot of deliberation we decided to host a dog show and we are very glad that we did.

Layston Grove is a community of dog lovers and so it seems is Buntingford. We were absolutely blown away by the popularity of this event and we were delighted to meet so many lovely local people and their four-legged friends.

It was a marvellous day, there were so many gorgeous dogs entered in every category and we were delighted to have Hessa from Hessa’s Homeless Hounds join us to act as judge. We served up refreshments, the proceeds from which will be donated to Hessa to help her to continue with the vital work that she does ensuring that forever homes are found for the beautiful animals that end up in her care.

Everybody who came along had a great time, we were so proud to show off our beautiful home and to receive wonderful feedback from those visiting Layston Grove for the first time.

There were many calls to make the dog show an annual event, this made us all smile. It is so important for residents of Layston Grove to remain part of the community in which many of them have lived for some time. We would love to host this event annually, so watch this space for details of this and of many other plans that we have up our sleeves.