Reports and statements of accounts booklet for Penylan House, Cardiff, 31 December 1990

Description

A booklet giving the reports and statements of accounts for the Jewish Home for the Aged, South Wales, Monmouthshire and West of England, which was located at Penylan House, Penylan Road, Cardiff. The cover of the booklet features an illustration of Penylan House's exterior and states that the information inside covers up to and including 31 December 1990.

Throughout the booklet there are advertisements for local businesses, mostly Cardiff-based, such as ABM Leisure Ltd, Curran Insurance, A. Krotosky (Kosher Butcher), Webb's Nurseries, Colin Turner Painting and Decorating and Frozen Food (South Wales) Limited. As well as these, there are messages from individuals such as a page which states 'Wishing the Home every success from Stewart and Jackie Greenberg and Laura-Jane, Emma, Jodie'.

There is a list of the Board of Management, with the president being Mr H. Shatz, Honorary Secretary being Mrs B. Fox, Vice presidents being Mr I. Lightman and Mr C. Harris and Honorary Treasurer being Mr F. Toffler. Assessment officers, Trustees, Life Governors and the General Board are amongst other groups which are also named. An 'URGENT APPEAL' is given, emphasising how the Home is not state-controlled, therefore is dependent on voluntary contributions. Further donations are encouraged and towards the back of the booklet, there is a form which is titled 'Covenant to contribute' to the Home. This allowed readers to promise to pay a certain amount annually for the next four years as a donation to the Home.

In addition, the booklet contains reports from the President, the Treasurer, the Matron and the Welfare Committee. The President's Report (by Harold Shatz) details the development of the Home, stating that rooms have been redecorated and refurnished, the sluice room has been enlarged and the front and rear gardens have been landscaped (thanks to the Welfare Committee). Future development plans include re-equipping the kitchen to fit health and safety regulations as well as forming a psycho-geriatric unit, for which a committee has now been set up. The Home's role as a dual registered home is now "well-established", now being registered to care for 25 nursing patients, rather than the previous 16. Shatz predicts that in the future, Penylan House may become a complete Nursing Home. Thanks is given to the Matron, the Welfare Committee, volunteers who distribute and collect the donation boxes and "a group of young ladies who have organised a fundraising committee calling themselves "Penfriends" (Friends of Penylan House)". This group plans to fit up and equip a hairdressing salon and install patio doors in the lounge.

The Honorary Treasurer's Report announces a surplus for the year and the Welfare Committee Report (by Anita Glaser) lists some of the activities which had been run such as bingo afternoons and 'Keep Fit' sessions (run by Judy Hornung). Matron Varner's 'A View of Penylan House' outlines the Home's transition from a Residential to a semi-Nursing Home, due to the changing needs of its residents. Socially, there seemed to have been more activity in the Home, which the Matron is thankful for.

A subscription list is included as well as the Revenue Account, the Balance Sheet and the George and Betty Fox's Project Account. The booklet ends with a note of thanks for people who have donated money, time or goods to be sold in aid of the Home. On the back cover of the booklet gives thanks for all the donations in 1989 and encourages readers to include residents in any celebrations they may be having the following year. Readers are encouraged to help in the "tremendous task we have in running this Home" by endowing a room, bed, furnishings or a plaque, which would both leave an everlasting memorial and improve the Home. For example, to endow a bed cost £650 and to endow a double room cost £5000.

Pencare (formerly known as 'The Trustees of Penylan House') is a charity, which offers care for elderly people of the Jewish faith and is currently based in Cardiff, although the catchment area for the home covers South Wales and the West of England. Pencare has been working with Linc Cymru to redevelop their care home, Penylan House, to ensure high quality care to Cardiff's elderly Jewish community and extending the care to elderly people not of the Jewish faith.

Mr Henry Silver and other members of the Cardiff Jewish community had originally founded a Home for the Aged in 1946 in Canton. In December 1948, the Home moved to Holme Towers in Penarth to provide more space for its large number of applications. Despite the beautiful surroundings, the Home in Penarth was quite isolated, so the difficult decision was later taken to move the Home to Penylan Road in Cardiff, meaning many residents were now closer to their friends and relatives. Residents moved to Penylan House in February 1959.

Sources:
http://opencharities.org/charities/243968;
http://www.housingcare.org/downloads/facilities/generated-brochures/134508-penylan-house-nursing-home-cardiff-wales.pdf;
Cajex, Magazine of the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men and Women (Cardiff), Vol. IX, No. 1, Ninth Year - March 1959, pp. 60- 65.

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.