A big fan

Beryl Osborne is a big fan of our monthly community coffee club and very rarely misses an event.
She says she enjoys the company and likes the different activities we put on, especially the bingo.
“I live by myself and apart from the carers who come, I don’t really see anyone else, so it’s nice to get out and be social,” she says.
Beryl has always been a very sociable person, whether it was working for the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS), for which she received a Queen’s Medal, or working in special school for 21 years where she was affectionately known by the children as ‘Mrs O’.
Beryl is Mansfield born and bred. She married her husband Malcolm within two weeks of meeting him as he was about to join the Army as a Radio Operator, which meant being stationed in other parts of the country.
“I was 16 at the time and we met at a dance hall through mutual friends from school,” recalls Beryl.
When Malcolm left the Army, the couple bought their first house, with Beryl remembering it cost £3,000 and they put £300 down as a deposit.
Malcolm retrained and worked as a plumber. The couple had a daughter and spent many happy years to together, including holidays to places such as Barbados.
Malcolm, who sadly died five years ago, loved trains and even built a model railway in their garden, which the local children used to come to see in action.
Beryl has been receiving support from Caremark Mansfield & Ashfield for the last few years, with our carers visiting each morning and evening.
She says: “All my carers are very good and respectful, and we have a good old laugh when they are here.
“I am very happy with the support I receive from Caremark and I enjoy the company of the carers.”