Providing all the festive feels, local lady Helen Elliott and her Smiley Tunes Alley Cats Escape choir dropped into Minerva Place to lead a seasonal singalong at Lymm’s innovative multigenerational development.
Members of Helen’s local choir joined residents from Minerva Place, the over 55s retirement apartments on Whitbarrow Road, plus residents from Statham Manor care centre and children from Back to the Garden day nursery, for a feel good festive singalong followed by mince pies, refreshments and mingling.
Delighting all ages with their love of singing, the Alley Cats Escape choir performed a number of new songs plus seasonal favourites and ended with some rousing classic Christmas carols.
Accompanied by music, the choir delivered its repertoire in an informal and engaging way which actively encouraged spectator interaction and participation. Residents joined in where they knew the words and the children had a great time moving to the music.
Lifestyle manager at Minerva Place, Helen Murphy, said: “It’s great to be able to bring the different age groups together and we have hosted a number of activities with the care home and day nursery since we opened.
“The magic and traditional celebrations of Christmas provide an extra special reason to bring old and young together and we were delighted to be joined by the Alley Cats for what was a fantastic morning of good cheer. A wonderful time was had by all with everyone taking part in the carols and really getting into the Christmas spirit.”
Helen Elliott added: “Carols and singing are the essence of Christmas and a really uplifting way to bring individuals of all ages together. It is our mission to help more people discover the joy and pleasure that singing can bring, and seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces as we sang at Minerva Place today was amazing.”
Established by Helen Elliott in April 2019, Smiley Tunes is a local singing company that encourages everyone to feel the joy and health benefits of singing. No previous experience is necessary, and the Alley Cats Escape Choir meets every Wednesday during term time in Lymm Village Hall.
The McGoff Group is on a huge upward trajectory as it hits a landmark turnover of £100million. Group revenues have been derived through its wholly sustainable approach to development and care provision for both children in their early years and the elderly, often most vulnerable, people within our society.
The Group, which now employs over 1,500 people, seamlessly transitions from site acquisition into exemplary design, expertly navigating the build process and ultimately operating class-leading facilities all under a wellbeing centric family stewardship.
The diverse portfolio and range of activities include early years & elderly care, private & social housing, development, construction, specialist subcontracting, facilities management, residential sales & lettings including all-encompassing professional asset management services.
Over recent years the Group has amassed a valuable portfolio, notably 15 award winning elderly care facilities operated by New Care, providing excellent residential and dementia care within the most inviting and comfortable settings.
Back to the Garden Childcare is paving the way as a natural child-led children’s day nursery group with settings in Altrincham, Lymm and Bowdon focusing on outdoor learning, natural products and nutritious food.
At the beating heart of the organisation is McGoff Construction, a 50 year old contracting business, alongside Panacea Building Systems, a category 2 MMC approved Metframe installer. McGoff Group Facilities Services (MGFS) provide hard and soft planned and reactive maintenance as well as specialist passive fire and fit out services, whilst EdenCroft the latest addition to the pack, offers specialist Mechanical and Electrical services.
Appreciating the ever-increasing responsibilities bestowed upon landlords of high -rise multi-occupancy buildings post Grenfell, as well as the need to provide luxury hotel style amenities and five star customer experience to an ever more discerning renting cohort, the Group established its own Asset Management Business in 2018.
By bringing this service in house, the Group ensures every building within the portfolio is professionally managed and fully compliant in an ever more stringent environment. Downtown Asset Management (DAM) is a fully accredited Asset Management Business proving a range of services including 24-hour concierge, resident engagement & wellbeing and planned & reactive maintenance, all expertly tailored to ensure residents are kept safe and enthused.
McGoff Group in its 50th year of uninterrupted trading is putting its revered build experience to good use within the residential sector also. Along with multiple care home and mixed use schemes currently under construction, the Group is currently helping service the deficit of public and private homes within our communities with 500 new homes currently in build and hundreds of more homes in the pipeline for next year. The Group’s continued diversification into retirement housing is also moving forward with the acquisition of their first retirement village site in the Southeast to provide 121 units alongside a 67 bed care home.
McGoff’s flagship project is Downtown Victoria North, a Manchester City Centre build to rent development of 237 luxury apartments, located in the historic Angel Meadow district. Downtown Victoria North marks Puma Property Finance’s 11th and largest loan into the Group to date of £50million, emphasising the strength of confidence in the Group’s unique ability to consistently deliver top quality operational real estate.
McGoff have fostered long standing relationships with a number of funders including a host of high street banks, including Allied Irish Bank, Barclays and Virgin Money, institutional funds including such as Aviva, US REITs and boutique lenders such as Beaufort Capital & Octopus. Multiple deals have also been agreed with Housing Growth Partnership, a UK Government initiative backed by Lloyds Bank.
Other exciting opportunities recently secured for the group include a multi-generational scheme in Bowdon comprising a 51 bed care home and 95 place day nursery, a 70 bed care home and 80 retirement apartment scheme in Congleton and a £40m scheme in the Southeast consisting of a 67 bed care home and 121 retirement properties. In addition, McGoff are shortly due to commence on a £16m brownfield regeneration site in Old Trafford Manchester delivering 80 affordable living apartments for Southway Housing Trust.
The Group has been managed and backed by the McGoff family for over 50 years, and is now rather uniquely under the stewardship of a close-knit group of brothers who have demonstrated their commitment to growth plans with substantial levels of private financial backing of over £15m into a number of exciting new projects.
Chairman of McGoff Group Projects; Dave McGoff comments; “McGoff Group are taking self-sustenance to a whole new level within the built environment harvesting our own brown field land, self-delivering low carbon buildings, embracing modern construction techniques whilst providing much needed care and residential provision within communities through our own award-winning operating businesses.
Being able to exercise influence over each phase of the development and operational cycle drives alignment and invariably unlocks previously unviable developments which de -risks the proposition for funders and statutory stakeholders alike.”
The Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Mohammed Ayub, along with the Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Cllr Linda Thomas, have officially opened a new £13m care facility in Bolton.
Located on Blackburn Road, on the site of the former Egerton House Hotel, Egerton Manor is a purpose-built, state-of-the-art 64-bed care centre, the latest care facility to be opened by Altrincham-based New Care. It will provide outstanding residential, 24-hour nursing, dementia and respite care for those in Bolton and the surrounding areas.
The Mayor and Cllr Thomas were invited to open the new facility, joining the New Care team to cut a red ribbon and declare Egerton Manor officially open.
Impressed with the design and build of the new care centre, they enjoyed a guided tour of the new facility, meeting the first residents and seeing first hand the exceptional levels of care that the leading operator would be delivering in the local area.
Working closely with the local authority, Egerton Manor has been expertly designed to combine style and function to ensure a safe, secure and comfortable home-from-home environment for residents.
Each of the 64 fully furnished bedrooms features an en suite private wet room, and the home boasts a selection of communal lounges, reading rooms and dining rooms, spa-assisted bathrooms, a nail bar, hair salon and access to landscaped gardens and outdoor terraces. It really is a stunning living environment for its residents who will enjoy person-centred individual care, freshly prepared nutritious meals and a daily programme of wellbeing activites.
Retaining a nod to its previous life as the popular Egerton House Hotel, New Care has worked hard to incorporate many of the historical features of the well known local landmark into the new build including the entrance and bay windows that now form part of reception and the leafy grounds and woodland that form part of the external landscaping.
Commenting on the opening, Cllr Thomas said: “The Mayor and I are delighted to officially open Egerton Manor and meet the New Care team. This will become an incredible asset for the people of Bolton, the facilities are superb and there’s simply nothing like this currently in our borough. It’s great to see how the development team has retained the recognisable frontage of the Egerton House Hotel which is now protected for many years to come. We wish the team the best of luck with the home in the future.”
Commissioning director at New Care, Dawn Collett, added: “It has been our pleasure to welcome the Mayor and Cllr Thomas to Egerton Manor. We were delighted that they were able to perform the official opening for us and spend some time chatting with our staff team and first residents. It was a great morning.”
Now officially open and welcoming its first residents, Egerton Manor is recruiting locally with approximately 100 jobs expected to be created over the next 12 months in multiple roles including nurses, carers, hospitality, housekeeping, wellbeing and activities, maintenance and catering.
McGoff Construction Services led by Group MD Dean Johnston, comprises multi-award winning principal contractor McGoff Construction, offsite pioneer Panacea Building Systems and total FM, Fitout & passive fire specialists McGoff Group Facilities Services. To further complement this like-minded Group of self-delivery entities, McGoff have set up a new M&E company known as EdenCroft Building Services and a dedicated Housing Division; McGoff Housing.
Following the launch of EdenCroft, Peter Croft joins the Group as Managing Director of the new M&E business. With more than 35 years’ experience, Peter plans to develop a dynamic team responsible for full M&E delivery of McGoff Group schemes together with other third-party opportunities. These projects will seamlessly align with the bespoke and often complex requirements of the McGoff Group operational businesses.
Peter says: “The self-delivery approach is really refreshing within the sector and offers far more control from within. I’m really excited to bring my skill set to the business to help continue the successful growth of the Group.”
The new housing division residing within McGoff Construction, known as McGoff Housing, will be led by Lee Sale who is appointed as Director of Housing for the UK. This new division will develop a social housing offering through partnerships, frameworks and relationships with social housing providers who deliver services to Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
Lee, who brings with him a wealth expertise, having worked for Bellway, Wates Group and Lovell Partnership over the course of the last 20 years, will initially be working on current and future McGoff Group schemes in Herne Bay, Bovington, Congleton and Glossop.
Lee says: “There are over a million households currently on social housing waiting lists in England. Unfortunately, the current chronic shortage of social homes means there are not enough homes for the people who most urgently need it. I am delighted to be part of this new division and support The McGoff Group in the creation of affordable, high quality housing.
“The societal benefits will be a fundamental mantra in our collective ambition to providing decent, secure and stable homes for millions of families who might otherwise struggle to find or afford suitable accommodation, whilst supporting the reduction of homelessness.”
Dean Johnston Group MD for McGoff Construction Services comments: “My key focus is to build on the extensive track record the business has successfully garnered over the last 50 years. We offer a unique, vertically integrated approach, and I want to continue to bring more expertise ‘in house’ ensuring sustained future growth. I am delighted to welcome Peter and Lee on board and look forward to seeing these new divisions to our business flourish.”
Principal contractor McGoff Construction Limited is celebrating its 50th year in business with the launch of a short book called ‘The Future is McGoff’.
Established in 1973 by Jim and Ethna McGoff, the company has evolved from trusted regional contractor to market leading national build partner delivering innovative new build and turnkey development solutions across the care, residential and commercial sectors.
Formerly McGoff & Byrne, McGoff Construction now sits at the heart of the privately-owned McGoff Group; a dynamic collective of likeminded construction and integrated support services businesses employing more than 1500 people across its head office and multiple operational locations with an annual turnover of £150 million.
Driven by family values, the McGoff Group is managed by Jim and Ethna’s four sons, James, Declan, Dave and Chris, along with an experienced team of divisional business directors and managers who share the Group vision for continued growth.
Specifically McGoff Construction, along with Panacea and McGoff Group Facilities Services, have consolidated and are now known as McGoff Construction Services and are expertly led by Dean Johnston as managing director.
Chairman of McGoff Construction Services Declan McGoff commented: “Thanks to the hard work and support of our employee team, McGoff Construction has come so far and is almost unrecognisable from the company first established by Mum and Dad in 1973. However, our vision is to continue to expand, delivering a wholly sustainable approach to the built environment while fully embracing our values of excellence, passion, innovation and collaboration.
“In an ever changing and challenging environment, the McGoff name signifies quality, agility and an unbreakable force for future generations to come. The importance of family values and a strong work ethic that we hope is reflected in the narrative of our book.”
Designed and conceived by marketing director Sarah Sanderson, the full colour illustrated book called The Future is McGoff will be gifted to all employees and all operational Group settings including care homes, nurseries and apartment settings with special readings at schools and children’s settings across Greater Manchester.
Marketing director Sarah Sanderson added: “I have worked for the McGoff Group for just over 11 years and witnessed the amazing evolution into the fantastic business that it is today. Anyone who knows the McGoff brothers will have experienced their hard work and determination, leading the business with passion and pride. We wanted to do something a little different to mark the 50 year milestone and it seemed fitting to go ‘back to the future’ with the story book that illustrates the business transformation and will easily accessible by young and old alike.”
The Lord Mayor of Chester, Councillor Sheila Little, and children from Kids Planet on Hare Lane in Chester joined the team at a top-rated local care home to celebrate its fifth birthday.
81-bed Grosvenor Manor, on Hatchmere Drive close to the centre of Chester, is one of the area’s most highly regarded care homes. The purpose-built care centre welcomed its first residents in 2018 and has since gone from strength-to-strength cementing its position as a valuable part of the local community.
Residents Joan Hall, age 100 from Liverpool, and Jean Jones, age 89 from Chester moved into Grosvenor Manor when it first opened and are still very happy at home there today.
They are joined by more than 15 employees including nurses, carers, wellbeing, catering, housekeeping and hospitality who all joined within a few months of opening and are still with the company today.
The Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Sheila Little, was delighted to lend her support to the care centre’s birthday celebrations joining residents, the Grosvenor Manor care team and pre-school children from Kids Planet for a wonderful ‘Jurassic disco’ party in the home’s beautiful garden.
Singer Leeann James provided exceptional vocal entertainment and there was fun for all ages with appearances from the Grosvenor dinosaurs, a bouncy castle from White Cloud Events and dinosaur costumes and props made by the home’s residents and supplied by The Prop Hire team.
Residents, friends and guests gathered to enjoy a Jurassic barbecue and sing happy birthday before cutting a delicious cake made by the home’s head chef Julian Davison that featured a bespoke cake topper made and donated by the daughter of Grosvenor Manor receptionist Annette Doherty, Jessica Sullivan from Peggy Doll Designs.
Councillor Sheila Little said: “I am delighted to be invited today to share this special day with some of the oldest and youngest in our local community. I wish you all a happy 5th birthday and keep up the good work.”
Home manager Anne Hughes added: “One of the things that attracted me to the role of manager here at Grosvenor Manor was the sense of belonging, not only between the residents and care team, but also with our wider local community. It’s super to have the Lord Mayor and the children from Kids Planet here with us to celebrate and help make today such a memorable occasion for us all.”
New Care’s Grosvenor Manor is a superb care facility close to Chester city centre, offering outstanding residential, dementia and 24 hr nursing care services in a safe and comfortable environment. For further information, please call Anne on 01244 305330.
