I am ridiculously proud to tell people that I am the manager of Canterbury House.  The building is beautiful, spacious, bright and extremely well equipped. We opened our doors on the 12th of July and already have a steady stream of residents moving in. I am delighted that they have chosen us, and I will work hard to ensure that anyone who lives with us feels safe and secure here and that they enjoy every day.
I like nothing more than to be given the opportunity to show off Canterbury House and this week I was honoured to be able to welcome the mayor of Faversham, Alison Reynolds into our home. Alison had graciously agreed to preside over a formal opening ceremony and after she had cut the ribbon, under the watchful eye of our staff and residents, she took the time to look around the home and chat with anyone who wanted to speak with her. 
To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we opened our doors to visitors for the remainder of the day and were delighted to receive a visit from our local GPs as well as NHS clinical commissioning staff and many others including resident families.
As if that wasn’t enough, we also had a very charismatic gentleman from Kinetic Circus come along to teach us circus skills, imagine our delight when our very own mayor asked to join in. Turns out she is quite the dab hand at plate spinning. The plate spinning did prove easier than the juggling, which was difficult to master but so much fun to watch, we spent more time chasing the balls than we did juggling with them. 
Our chef prepared sandwiches and cakes for our guests, and these were gratefully received by all. As we gathered to enjoy the refreshments the mayor told us how impressed she was with the home, even stating that she fully intends to book herself a room here if the time comes. High praise indeed.
It was heart-warming to hear visitors describing our home as beautiful, it was likened to a five-star hotel on more than one occasion and another visitor thought it was like being on a cruise ship. But even more heart-warming was seeing just how proud our residents are to be living here. I am all too aware that there can be an element of embarrassment surrounding accepting help. People are afraid to be seen as having failed, so to see the residents chomping at the bit to show off their home was touching.
 We have created something very special here at Canterbury House, I know it, the team knows it and the residents know it and now thanks to a very successful open day, many more people know it. 
If you or a loved one are looking for residential care, we would love to show you around, we can’t guarantee a lesson in circus skills, but we can promise cake, a smile and a home that’ll blow your socks off.