It comes as no surprise to us here at Coate Water Care that our hometown of Swindon, where it all started out for us and where we now have three acclaimed care homes, has been ranked as the third most caring place in England.
When times are tough, communities pull together. But which parts of the country can claim to be the most caring? To find out, pensionbee.com compared major towns and cities across England on a range of factors relating to their community spirit, charitable contributions and efforts to look after the environment.
Finishing in third place, Swindon scored highly in all categories (Happiness, Animal Shelters, Charity Shops, Registered Charities, Volunteering Searches, Recycling Rate, Number of Electric Vehicles, Lack of Fly Tipping and Low Rate of Homelessness). Wiltshire’s biggest town was only topped in the caring rankings by Norwich and Reading.
Pension Bee CEO Romi Savova said: “Our research highlights the caring nature of many residents in towns and cities across England, based on a range of factors relating to community, charity and the environment.”
“The past year has been difficult, but it’s also brought many of us together and shown how caring our communities can be.”
“We’ve seen people go out of their way to help vulnerable neighbours (and strangers) survive during tough periods of isolation, while furloughed workforces volunteered at local charities to support them through this challenging time.”
“And lest we forget, the cheers that could be heard on Thursday evenings as streets across the country were filled with people standing on their doorsteps to clap for our NHS. When times are tough, communities will often pull together in a show of strength and solidarity.”
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that Swindon is ranked so highly in the caring stakes,” says Coate Water Care CEO Geraldine Smith, who opened her first care home in the town in 1995 with her husband Chris. “You just have to look at the huge number of charitable and fundraising events that take place in the town every year to see how caring people are here.”
“The community spirit in Swindon during lockdown and all the volunteers running food banks is another example of how caring people are in the town.”
“Coate Water Care is still a family-run concern with family values at the heart of everything we do. And that means building a team of caring professionals who love what they do.”
“Happily, I can say that finding outstanding carers in Swindon has never been a challenge. We can train people with all the necessary skills, but it really helps when people are naturally caring.”
Which is now officially the case in Swindon to which we can only say hip, hip, hooray!
Coate Water Care has three outstanding residential care homes in Swindon:
Ashbury Lodge Care Home, 261 Marlborough Road, Swindon, SN3 1NW | Tel: 01793 496827 | tracy@coatewatercare.co.uk
Church View Care & Nursing Home, Rainer Close, Stratton St Margaret, SN3 4YA | Tel: 01793 820761 | tracy@coatewatercare.co.uk
Downs View Care Centre, Badbury (Near Chiseldon), Swindon, SN4 0EU Tel: 01793 740240 | tanya@coatewatercare.co.uk
