A local care home resident who helped raise £300 for his fellow residents has been rewarded with a trip to Newark Air Museum.
Charles Carey, 77, has lived at HC-One’s Silverwood Care Home in Beeston since 2022 and is a keen aircraft enthusiast who loves talking about his passion with staff and residents, as well as reading up on the subject and drawing sketches of old aeroplanes.
He recently expressed a wish to visit Newark Air Museum to see the exhibits on view and see the subject of his hobby up close.
So, after spending the whole day fundraising on a stall at Silverwood Care Home’s Open Day last month, staff at the 80-bed care home wanted to reward him and make his wish come true.
Mr Carey travelled to the museum with fellow residents Gwen Wheeler and Jean Ward, and they thoroughly enjoyed the scenic countryside drive to the Newark exhibition, spending the journey identifying farm animals and wildflowers.
Once they arrived at the museum, they took a leisurely tour of the exhibits, before sitting down for a packed lunch picnic.
The highlight for Mr Carey was seeing the ‘Blackburn Buccaneer’, a robust carrier-borne strike aircraft which served both the Royal Navy and RAF. He was overjoyed to see it in real life and described the experience as the culmination of a lifetime’s interest.
Speaking after returning from his trip, Mr Carey said:
“I enjoyed the whole day very much. Going into the country and traveling was great, and then to see all of those amazing aircraft just meant the world to me!”
Mr Carey’s father was a motor mechanic by trade and would often take his son to work with him, and Mr Carey has many fond memories of these times. While at his father’s garage Mr Carey would tinker with old engine parts to see how they would work and all fit together to create moving parts.
As he got older, Mr Carey became a motor mechanic himself, and loved nothing more than getting his hands on a broken engine and being able to make it work again.
Mr Carey always wanted to work on aircraft but sadly this never became a reality due to his health, but he continues to show his love for aircraft through his drawings, books and models.
Silverwood Care Home’s Wellbeing Coordinator, Jemma Mellard, who arranged the trip, said:
“Charles loves anything to do with transportation and has a real passion and keen interest in aircraft. Visiting the aircraft museum with him and his friends was fantastic, and it was wonderful to see how happy the residents looked and how much they enjoyed themselves.”
Debra Meynell, Home Manager at Silverwood Care home, said:
“Charles ran his own fundraising stall and worked tirelessly throughout our Open Day to try and raise money for his friends here at Silverwood.
We therefore thought it would be really nice to do something for him, as he's always going above and beyond for other people.
Charles has always been a huge aircraft enthusiast, so we thought where better to take him than Newark Air Museum?
He seems to have had a wonderful trip out and has talked of little else since he got back!”