Penylan House Nursing Home
Market researcher Renee Woolf, 66, is the entertainment officer for Cardiff-based Penylan House Jewish Residential and Nursing Home. She has been volunteering for the home since 1965. She is also a Wizo volunteer and has been chairman of Cardiff Ziona for the past five years
Why Penylan?
I had been taken by a friend to visit the home and enjoyed talking to the residents. I’ve got more patience with elderly people than I have with children. I found the residents so entertaining and interesting and loved the idea of helping them. I was asked to join what was then the welfare committee. It is now known as Penfriends.
What does your volunteering involve?
My role is to care for the residents and think up ideas for entertainment. We arrange weekly concerts, bingo, group discussions, art sessions, outings to the seaside and shopping trips, and take the residents out for tea. It is a challenge for me to find different forms of entertainment. Some of the residents suffer from Alzheimer’s and don’t know our names, but they enjoy singing along in a group. I think of several fundraising functions each year. Unfortunately nothing comes free, so I rely on non-Jews and members of the Jewish community to support the functions and give donations. People are kind and give money when we have a project, such as buying a specialised electric bed. In the past six months, we have raised £6,500.
What do you enjoy most about being a volunteer?
It’s the funny side of the residents which I enjoy. What is good is that so many of the residents don’t have the fear of coming into the home as it has a great atmosphere.
What is your most memorable volunteering moment?
On one occasion we took the residents to the pantomime. One of the ladies slept throughout the entire performance only to declare afterwards that it was the best show she had ever seen. I was also very honoured at being presented with the Helping Hands Award in 2004. I have never known, to this day, who put me up for the award.