Grapevine

Morris Feinmann Home

Autumn/Winter 2012

Adding life to your years

Grapevine
In this

2012 - A Year to Remember Kashrut Celebration Tea Bridge Brunch Strawberry Tea Coffee Morning And Much More...

A few thoughts from the chair

Morris Feinmann has its roots in 1947 and was established in 1960 as a care home for Jewish refugees and holocaust survivors. Since then, the home has developed to become a home for residents from all strands of Judaism and is still the only Jewish care home in South Manchester. It has achieved an excellent reputation for its range of services and quality of care and is much loved by residents, families, volunteers and staff. Whilst the home has celebrated many special occasions and events, these have not all been chronicled and therefore the trustees have decided that it is time to write and publish a history of Morris Feinmann. This onerous task has been given to our trustee, Vanessa Goldstone, who is a qualified librarian and Vanessa is now deep into her research. Whilst the original founders of the home have now sadly all passed away, there is still a vast fund of knowledge held by people such as Peter Kurer, Tom Einstein and Marie Levy as well as a hoard of archived material in the cellars of the building. But do you know more? Can you add any interesting stories, insights or photos to our story? Vanessa is particularly interested in the early days of the Home. In the first instance, please contact Ingrid in the office and she will pass the message on to Vanessa. We hope to publish by the end of 2012.

Thanks to our Sponsors

Our Partners are selected for their professionalism, knowledge and experience in advising families about their choices when it comes to paying for care. One area that gives rise to questions for those who find they need more support is the issue of how best to pay for care. You should bear in mind these points: First make sure that you actually need to pay for your care - on some occasions the state will contribute. Are you are receiving all of the state benefits that you are entitled to? The two main ones are the Attendance Allowance and the Registered Nursing Contribution. Have you fully considered all ways of paying for care? It may be about using your capital and assets effectively to provide the income that you need. Above all else, we strongly recommend that you seek expert advice from an appropriately qualified financial advisor. Apollo Wealth Management PO Box 197 Sandbach CW11 5AY Tel: 01270 761412 Fax: 01270 761412 Mobile: 0773 041 9952
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Daniel Dunn of Apollo Wealth Management Ltd presents a cheque for 1000 to Alan Wilkins and Heather Naylor

Lyndhurst

The building that became the Morris Feinmann Home

2012 Summer of celebrations

Thanks to a very successful coffee morning there is now a super size television in the lounge large enough for the residents to have enjoyed watching the Jubilee celebrations, Wimbledon and the Olympics and Paralympics.
120 Palatine Road was originally the home of the Shasha family. They had moved there from Withington with their five children in 1925. The house was called Lyndhurst and remained a family home until 1957 when it was sold to become the Morris Feinmann Home. The Shasha family needed their large house; in addition to the five children was a cousin, a governess, Ossie who stayed after the children had grown up and became a housekeeper for the family, two maids and a cook general! After buying the house in 1925, Joseph Shasha made many alterations when he moved in, particularly to the bedroom, dining rooms and morning room. There were formal rooms, paintings on the dining room walls and a large nursery with a table tennis table. The nursery was the site of games, play and even an operation, which was carried out on Marjorie! The garden was also large (2662 sq yds according to the Deed of Sale) big enough for formal gardens, a grass tennis court and a kitchen garden with its own chicken run. Presumably the family never ran out of eggs or Friday night dinner! What remains of the house today? Some of the panelling, the parquet flooring .most of all, the feeling of being a home.
Thanks to Donald Shasha for his account and to Peter Kurer for this article from the archives.

Everyone is looking forward to watching future televised events as well as their favourite TV programmes and DVDs.

Sponsor a Social Committee event

We pride ourselves on the large number of activities we offer our residents. Costs of Happy Hour, monthly entertainments and hiring a minibus for outings have risen rapidly. Please help the Social Committee with its wonderful work by sponsoring any of these events. We look forward to hearing from you.

Ann Samuels, Chairman of MFH Social Committee.

Please send your donation to Ann Samuels, Morris Feinmann Home, 178 Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2YW.
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What weve been up to...

Cheers!
Kashrut Celebration Tea
Sponsor a Lchayim

Gifts of bottles of whisky, gin, vodka, kosher wine, kosher brandy and tonic water are always welcome or indeed the cash to purchase these items as you can see the residents enjoy these twice weekly happy hours.

From left to right Rabbi Portnoy, Rabbi Lewis, Rabbi Silverman, Helen Lister (Deputy Chair of Trustees of MFH), Rabbi Jaffe, Rabbi Shlomo Ellituv, Rabbi Amir Ellituv.

Aloha!
Fun on our Hawaiian Day

Helen Lister welcomed everyone to the Morris Feinmann Home to celebrate the successful conclusion to the improved kitchen facilities with an approved standard to kashrut. Generous donations have been received towards the significant structural improvements and the installation of new equipment. All the staff in the Home have been fully trained in all areas relating to the purchasing, preparation and serving of food in the kitchen, dining rooms, residents bedrooms and all public areas.

Rabbi Ellituv, who is the chaplain to the Morris Feinmann Home, personally supervised this project from start to finish and his dedication to the project has inspired the staff. When the Beth Din conducted an audit of the kitchen Rabbi Ellituv and the staff were proud to show off what had been achieved. We are all most grateful to Rabbi Ellituv for his humour, patience and complete commitment to this project.

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Home away from Home

When you have had a rich, fulfilling long life where would you like to live in your twilight years?
Usher Cohen was a feisty 94 year old with a twinkle in his eye. He moved to the Morris Feinmann home four months ago from his home in Wilmslow. His wife of sixty years died four years ago and in that time he had been well cared for by a housekeeper and her husband. His son lives locally and seen him on a regular basis and his daughter lives in Australia and comes back to the UK twice a year but Mr Cohen admitted that he had been lonely since his wife died and relished the company and the activities that the Feinmann home had to offer. A well travelled man, Mr Cohen said he felt totally at home at the Feinmann and loved to talk to other residents and to the staff who always had time to stop for a smile and chat with him. An active bridge player Mr Cohen also enjoyed the many varied activities at the Feinmann home - as he said there is always someone to talk to and something to do! Work was exciting and kept the blood in his veins, and at the Feinmann he enjoyed the food, comfort and ambience but to him the best part was the company which allays the loneliness that he felt before his move. Mr Cohen felt that the Morris Feinmann home is a wonderful place which he would have been very happy to unreservedly recommend to anyone - what a testament!

This article is written in memory of Usher Cohen and is a tribute to him.

Lunch with Rabbi Haim Shalom

Menorah residents of MFH and Barfield House met for lunch on Tuesday 28 August at MFH to meet Rabbi Haim Shalom, the new rabbi of Menorah Synagogue. Rabbi Haim plans to visit the Home regularly for residents discussion groups as did his predecessor Rabbi Brian Fox. These are held on a Friday morning at the Home and are very popular indeed with the residents.
Gloria Ordman, Joan Levy, Joan Lee, Ruby Milner, Doris Angel, Helen Lister (Deputy Chair of Trustees of MFH), Peggy Wolfson, Freda Malies, Rabbi Haim Shalom, Mona Godfrey, Barbara Jacques
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Fundraisers...
Coffee Morning
Debra Sciama and Marcelle Abrams opened the annual coffee morning on 16th May this year. The coffee morning is a shared fundraising event for MFH and WIZO.
Debra, speaking on behalf of MFH, spoke of her close connections with the Home. She began with her paternal grandmothers residency in the late nineties, followed by her Dad at too young an age, and now her maternal grandmother who came to the home just a few months ago. Both Debra and Marcelle gave us a marvellous start to our coffee morning, which raised the fantastic sum of 1,000!

Strawberry tea
Despite the lack of summer weather, a good crowd gathered for the Morris Feinmann Home Strawberry Tea on 17th June. With an imaginative touch, our chef decorated the scones with a Magen David design and they were enjoyed with luscious strawberries and cream. Organised by the MFH Social Committee, the opener for the event was Mrs Thelma Smith who was accompanied by her husband Sidney Smith and members of their family. Accordionist John Jones MBE entertained everyone with his lively music.

Ann Samuels, Marcelle Abrams, Debra Sciama, Ruth Fink

Sidney and Thelma Smith accompanied by members of their family.

Grand Slam!
The Annual Bridge Brunch held at Dunham Forest Golf Club was a great success and raised in the region of 2000. Ann Samuels thanked everyone for coming to the biggest of the Social Committees fundraising events and asked Jackie Mesrie to introduce the opener, Gloria Spencer. Gloria is a member of The Sparklers and is often at the Morris Feinmann Home entertaining the residents She commented on how much she loves seeing the expressions of joy on the residents faces during these events and spoke of this special hotel with its wonderful facilities and attentive staff.
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She hoped that support for the fundraising events for the home will continue into the future and declared the Bridge Brunch open.

Jackie Mesrie; Gloria Spencer; Ann Samuels

Bridge Brunch in action

Whos Who...
Tricia Pawelek
I am a registered nurse and I have worked at Morris Feinmann in the Levy unit suite for twelve years and look after the residents with nursing needs. My role is to assess, evaluate and provide appropriate care for the residents so that all their needs are met, ordering/receiving residents medication, creating care plans that describe residents needs such as poor mobility, swallowing problems, falls and social activities such as much needed help to get bathed, dressed and walk from their bedroom plus staff training. I always enjoy partaking in the events and activities at Morris Feinmann and I have interests outside of work such as painting and drawing. I like dancing and keeping fit.

Vanessa Goldstone
Vanessa may be a new trustee but is no stranger to the Morris Feinmann Home, having spent many happy hours visiting her grandmother during the 1980s. She was educated locally at Manchester High School and Manchester University. She worked first as a specialist law librarian, later moving to the Human Resources department of a major law firm where she became Head of Training and Development. Now retired, she is delighted to have the opportunity to give something back to the Home where my grandmother and so many others have been given so much. In her spare time, she is a magistrate, life coach at Styal prison and a keen golfer; she is also a devoted wife to Clement and a doting mother and grandmother.

Natalie Angus
My name is Natalie, Im 23 years old and I have only worked at the Morris Feinmann home for a few months. Before I worked here I spent my time either at university studying Fine Art or working for various farms and co-operatives around England. There I used to help out with various charity based projects alongside the practical side of the projects. My work at Morris Feinmann is, on the surface, a lot different from my previous jobs yet because I always enjoyed the people focused elements of my work Ive found that Ive settled in well. I really enjoy my job here, there is always a new challenge for me and I find the work stimulating and rewarding.

Anita Samuels
Anita moved from Liverpool to Manchester to be nearer her family and enjoys the care offered by the Feinmann home. Anita held many positions in Merseyside including President of the Merseyside Jewish Welfare Council, Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside, Councillor of the University of Liverpool, High Sheriff of the County of Merseyside, Justice of the Peace and was awarded Hon LLD from the University of Liverpool. She was given an OBE for her services to the City. Having been Chairman of the Liverpool Area Health Authority and a Mental Health Commissioner she keeps a watchful eye on the goings on at the Feinmann!
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Ways of giving
Cheques or charity vouchers should be made payable to The Morris Feinmann Home and sent to the office. To donate to Morris Feinmann online, please log on to our website, www.morrisfeinmannhome.com, and click on to the donations tab. You can also go directly to our Just Giving page at www.justgiving. com/morrisfeinmannhome/ Donate.

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Leave Something Behind

Legacies are vital to Morris Feinmann Home. As a registered charity, any proportion of your estate left to Morris Feinmann will be deducted from the value of the estate and is free from Inheritance Tax. If your estate is liable for Inheritance Tax, this will reduce the overall tax due and the residents really will benefit from the entire legacy. For further information contact: Jonathan Sugarman, Treasurer, on 0161 445 3533.

Giving Efficiently Gift Aid

For UK taxpayers, any donation made large or small, regular or one-off will qualify for tax relief. Therefore, for every 1 donated to MFH, we can claim another 25p. In order for us to claim the tax back directly from H M Revenue & Customs, the donor needs to sign and return to us the simple Gift Aid Declaration Form, which is available from the office. This only needs to be done on the first occasion, as all future donations are automatically increased by current tax rates unless the donor ceases to pay at least that amount of tax. For further information, contact Jonathan Sugarman, Treasurer, on 0161 445 3533.

Barfield House
Barfield House is administered by the Morris Feinmann Home. For more details please contact Heather Naylor on 0161 445 3533.

Short-term and respite care

In addition to permanent residency, Morris Feinmann also offers short-term care. Since we have been offering this service, it has proved to be extremely popular. People may choose to have a break or stay at Morris Feinmann when their family have gone on holiday. Others have used our extensive facilities in which to convalesce. For further information, contact: Heather Naylor, General Manager. Contact details for Heather are below.

Contact information
Telephone: 0161 445 3533 Website: www.morrisfeinmannhome.com Email: info@morrisfeinmannhome.com 178 Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2YW.
Morris Feinmann Homes Trust Registered Charity No. 222814 With best wishes to Grapevine from Apollo Wealth Management.

Grapevine Sponsor
Would you or your company like to sponsor the next edition of Grapevine? If so please contact: Viv Alexander viv@firstinternet.co.uk 07768 860459

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